[PRCo] Re: Roll signs Interurbans

[richard allman]

Philadelphia Suburban-destination; Boston-destination(no well -known route 
numbers or names); Washington-route number and destination: Wilkes 
Barre-signs hung on cars for route name, roll sign for destination; 
Detroit-route name and destination; P&W-destination boards-no roll signs 
until PSTCo. era; Brooklyn-route name and destiation. This is fun, eh?!


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Fred Schneider" <fwschneider at comcast.net>
To: <pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org>
Sent: Sunday, October 31, 2010 11:12 AM
Subject: [PRCo] Re: Roll signs Interurbans


> And my father, who was new to Pittsburgh in 1928, disliked that system 
> that PRC used because if you were unfamiliar with the geography, you had 
> no idea where the car was going.
>
> Company laziness then if you don't like motorman laziness.    While 
> Pittsburgh had "route" signs, many other companies had "destination" 
> signs.   Philadelphia for example would have displayed 10 63rd and Malvern 
> or 10 City Hall via Subway not simply the outer destination or the route 
> name.
>
> Lehigh Valley Transit would have displayed Norristown or Philadelphia on 
> southbound interurbans, Allentown on northbound cars.   Even their city 
> cars had destinations:  Allentown-17th St, or Bethlehem - Minsi Trail.
>
> I have no idea which was most common.   Here in Lancaster, route signs 
> were used.  When, in the early 1950s, they combined routes because you 
> could drop one bus out of a schedule on a combined route and not shorten 
> the headway more than a minute (in the first cutback), they added new 
> route names.  Instead of changing from Duke Street-PRR Station northbound 
> to 7th Ward southbound, they stitched a new sign on the roll reading 
> Duke-7th Ward.   That way the sign never had to be changed until midnight 
> when GARAGE was rolled up.
>
>
>
> On Oct 31, 2010, at 9:31 AM, Herb Brannon wrote:
>
>> Hardly "motorman laziness". The proper way to set destination signs at 
>> both
>> PRCo and PATransit was to set the sign and forget it until you changed to 
>> a
>> different line or ran a 'short turn' out of downtown. Then the sign was
>> changed to the new line designation or to the short turn terminal. *This 
>> is
>> what was taught by the Instruction Department.* No one was being "lazy".
>> This method prevented the passengers from being lazy. Passengers had to 
>> know
>> in what direction each terminal was, from their location, when boarding a
>> car or bus. So now you don't have to "guess" any longer.
>> On Sun, Oct 31, 2010 at 02:18, Dwight Long <dwightlong at verizon.net> 
>> wrote:
>>
>>> Fred
>>>
>>> But there WAS in the PCC era, short turn service between Charleroi and
>>> Elco.
>>>
>>> Also, there was (inexplicably) a reading in the PCC interurban sign 
>>> rolls
>>> of FINLEYVILLE.
>>>
>>> PITTSBURGH was a useful reading to distinguish cars going through.  You 
>>> are
>>> right, though, that it was used in the minority of cases.  Motorman
>>> laziness, I guess.
>>>
>>> Dwight
>>>  ----- Original Message -----
>>> From: Fred Schneider
>>> To: pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org
>>> Sent: Saturday, 30 October, 2010 19:09
>>> Subject: [PRCo] Re: Roll signs Interurbans
>>>
>>>
>>> What year?
>>>
>>> WASHINGTON
>>> CANONSBURG
>>> PITTSBURGH
>>> CHARLEROI
>>> RIVERVIEW
>>> CASTLE SHANNON
>>> LIBRARY
>>>
>>> After about 1952 two other signs were added for off peak service to
>>> distinguish local service in the non-rush hour periods
>>>
>>> SHANNON-WASHINGTON
>>> SHANNON-CHARLEROI
>>>
>>> In 1953 you can add
>>>
>>> SHANNON-LIBRARY
>>> SHANNON-DRAKE
>>>
>>> The Pittsburgh signs were seldom used.   That would be like taking an
>>> 8-PERRYSVILLE sign and changing it to PITTSBURGH.  Everybody was 
>>> supposed to
>>> know an inbound car was going there.   In the early years there were 
>>> cutback
>>> like extra service between Washington and Canonsburg but that didn't 
>>> happen
>>> in the PCC era.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On Oct 30, 2010, at 10:44 AM, rayprco53 at verizon.net wrote:
>>>
>>>> Hello, I know this was posted before but I can't find it. Could someone
>>> repost the route destinations
>>>> for the two interurban lines? I talking about the PCC roll signs.
>>>>
>>>> Thanks
>>>>
>>>> Ray
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>> -- 
>> Herb Brannon
>> In Cuyahoga Valley National Park
>>
>>
>>
>
>
>