[PRCo] Rt 56 ROW

[George W. Gula]

Hi everyone.

I just got back from Scout camp and a vacation where computer access was not
avaiable and I'm just catching up on all the mail.

Lets examine the entire route. Heavy traffic made for a very slow-going ride
in and outbound on Second Avenue along the J&L Mill and though the Hazelwood
and Glenwood areas. By the time Route 56 was abandoned in 1963, ridership
was going down and these neighborhoods were changing. With the opening of
the Parkway East, many local residents left for cleaner neighborhoods and
roomier homes. Small business in the area also began to close up in response
to a fall in local sales and the crime brought in by some elements who
replaced the locals who left. The mill itself was in decline, with fewer
workers to patronize the Railways trolleys. And jobs and shopping were also
beginning to decentralize away from the transit lines

Beyond the Glenwood neighborhood and the Glenwood Bridge, the PRW stretched
fairly straight through Hays and Lincoln Place to Dravosburg. Between Hays
and Lincoln Place, the line ran alongside a very narrow Mifflin Road, which
everyone wanted to see widened. The classic ROW was actually between Lincoln
Place and Dravosburg, but served a moderate to lightly settled area and
provided only light traffic outside the rush hour beyond Lincoln Place. In
fact there were 56A cars that ran out only as far as Lincoln Place. There
was some traffic in Hays and in Lincoln Place but very little along Mifflin
Road. The ROW entered the street in Dravosburg and crossed the Monongahela
River to enter McKeesport. The constant parade of slow-moving auto and
pedestrian traffic on Fifth Avenue in McKeesport and the daily delays at the
infamous B&O RR crossing slowed the ride considerably. Fifth Avenue between
the Yough River and the end of the line at Pirl Street loop was so narrow
that any car not parking at the curb and on the sidewalk was going to stall
a streetcar. As cars became wider, this situation occurred constantly,
voters complained to their representatives and McKeesport became even more
hostile toward the trolleys then they already were.

In addition, the construction of the new Mansfield Bridge in 1951 moved the
trolleys away from the central area of Dravosburg and out of the heavily
populated Tenth Ward of McKeesport. The additional walk that patrons had to
endure to get to the cars resulted in more business for the independent bus
lines and the auto dealerships.

The PRCo was interested in getting out of the streetcar business on these
marginal lines. There is an letter I found in the PTM archives some years
ago in which PRCo had told PennDot around 1957 not to plan for tracks in the
Glenwood Bridge when it was replaced. This occurred in 1963 and the line was
abandoned.

PRCo was interested in maintaining rail service on the heavy lines in the
East End and South Hills where it made economic sense but operating
streetcars on the rest of the system would only occur if it made economic
sense. Today, McKeesport, Glenwood, Hazelwood and Hays have lost significant
population. One can shoot a cannon and it wouldn't hit anything for blocks.
PRCo saw this coming and correctly got out of the rail business there.


George Gula