[PRCo] Re: 80 years ago today

[Edward H. Lybarger]

It's a little more than "finds," Matt...and there is more to this story than
is obvious.

It was at my request that Dennis read the Valley Daily News and some of the
New Kensington Dispatch as part of PTM's and my effort to understand the
times in which West Penn and its subsidiaries operated.  This was not a
project that anyone could walk in off the street and do, because the
microfilm and equipment is not routinely available to the public.  Because
we know the paper's owner, I had made arrangements to do this several years
back, then found myself unable to do so because of time and distance
constraints.  Dennis's retirement, plus his competence as a researcher, made
it a reality at this time.

What Matt refers to as "finds" are simply what one expects when one reads a
newspaper of general circulation in a town where the streetcar company is a
focus.  It's not just the good news (that railfans like to hear) or the bad
(that politicians sometimes like to promote), but is a chronicle of how the
company interacted with its environment.  It is essential to anyone
attempting to put together a real-life history of a company (and this is
true for any industry, not just trolleys).  Dennis was familiar with the
process, having gone through it with the history of the upriver West Penn
lines some years back.

I have spent a great many hours myself in the State Library in Harrisburg,
reading the Connellsville Courier, and am finally into 1943, so there's an
end in sight!  But the effort has been deeply worthwhile...the clippings
filed chronologically fill about four feet of bookshelf space (and are
duplicated, by subject, on the same-size shelf above) in notebooks, and
reveal facts about the company, its people and its surroundings that are
available nowhere else at this point in time.  The fact is that this has to
be done, and that someone has to do it. Dennis's hundred hours of work made
my life a lot easier, and it's appreciated!  How many notebooks will his
AVSRy research fill?  That remains to be determined, but I'm guessing six!
(Times two.)

Ed



-----Original Message-----
From: pittsburgh-railways-bounce at lists.dementia.org
[mailto:pittsburgh-railways-bounce at lists.dementia.org] On Behalf Of Barry,
Matthew R
Sent: Friday, February 12, 2010 3:05 PM
To: 'pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org'
Subject: [PRCo] Re: 80 years ago today

These are great finds!   

Thank you,
Matt

-----Original Message-----
From: pittsburgh-railways-bounce at lists.dementia.org
[mailto:pittsburgh-railways-bounce at lists.dementia.org] On Behalf Of Dennis
Fred Cramer
Sent: Friday, February 12, 2010 7:38 AM
To: pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org
Cc: Gary Nesteruk; Bob Riddle
Subject: [PRCo] 80 years ago today
Content-Type: text/plain;
	charset="iso-8859-1"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable On February 13, 1930, both the
Valley News Dispatch of Tarentum and The = Daily Dispatch of New Kensington
ran multiple page sections featuring = the new cars being implemented on the
Allegheny Valley division of West = Penn Railways.  According to all
accounts, "they rode like Pullmans".  A = parade of cars was held on
Valentine's Day, 2/14/1930, with many of the = cars being christened along
the route with Billy Baxter Ginger Ale (It = was during prohibition).  As
the parade progressed, the cars were = christened in their named communities
by young ladies from that = particular community. =20

2/3/1930

The West Penn Railways Band, under the direction of HF Welch, will = perform
"Spirit of West Penn", composed by JE Carrow assistant director = of the
band, during the trolley parade.

=20

2/13/1930

The trolley parade will take place on February 14th and will begin in =
Natrona and proceed to each location listed.  Each car will be = christened
with locally produced Billy Baxter Ginger Ale by girls = selected from each
varying neighborhood. =20

=20

Miss Natrona-7:35 PM-Natrona end of the line, Helen Agnes Murdock

Miss Brackenridge-7:40 PM-Trees Siding, Dorothy Rupert

Miss Tarentum-7:35 PM-Tarentum Carbarn, Madeline Britton

Miss Creighton-7:45 PM-Crucible Siding, Martha Hill

Miss Parnassus-7:50 PM-Parnassus end of line, Florence Hankey

Miss New Kensington-7:55 PM- New Kensington office, Elizabeth Surowski

Miss Springdale-8:00 PM-Springdale Siding, Charlotte Fisher

Miss Blawnox-9:05 PM-Blawnox Avenue, Sarah Ireland

=20

These cars will not be in the procession.

Miss Glassmere-7:40 PM-Crucible Siding, Helen Wilson

Miss Arnold-7:45 PM-Arnold end of line, Lois Slocum

Miss Cheswick-8:25 PM-Highland Avenue, Edna May Davis

Miss Aspinwall-9:15 PM-Aspinwall, Nancy Lee

=20

The 12 cars cost the company $200,000.


Car 832, Miss Brackenridge,  is set to undergo restoration at the =
Pennsylvania Trolley Museum.
http://www.pa-trolley.org/Roster/WP832.htm

          Dennis F. Cramer
http://home.windstream.net/dfc1




-- Attached file removed by Ecartis and put at URL below --
-- Type: image/jpeg
-- Size: 107k (109809 bytes)
-- URL :
http://lists.dementia.org/files/pittsburgh-railways/NKDD-1930-2-13-pg9-AVSRC
Valentine'sDay.jpg


-- Attached file removed by Ecartis and put at URL below --
-- Type: image/jpeg
-- Size: 566k (579632 bytes)
-- URL :
http://lists.dementia.org/files/pittsburgh-railways/VDN-1930-2-13-pg20-AVSRC
.jpg