[PRCo] Re: PRR Remains

[Fred Schneider]

Totally out of context to the subject of the drain at East Brady ...

Thanks Bob for bringing back memories.

I am reminded of photographing the Schenley and Kiski Junction trains coming down from East Liberty to the Brilliant Bridge in May 1964 with an old friend from Lancaster who was then working on his doctorate at Carnegie Tech ... his name was Norm Vutz.   Some may remember him from his tenure at PTM, then PERC.

Norm married one of the Carnegie office secretaries whose family lived up the Allegheny River and on occasion he rode that Schenley train in its final months.   

I recall his stories about the the conductor who had a room for the night in Schenley.   He would get up in the morning.   Report on.   Take his train to Pittsburgh.   Mark off for the day.   Visit with his wife all day.   Then in the late afternoon he would go back to his train for the afternoon commute back to his room in Schenley.   Come October the fun and games were all over and he had to take a real job with the Pennsy ... one of those freight jobs where you didn't know when you were leaving and when you were coming home.   

I also recall Norm's stories about how the Port Authority was string the PRR along that they wanted to keep the commuter service but the Pennsy would have to keep running it on their own until the money could be found.   Obviously the Pennsy didn't accept the B. S. for very long.  In the October schedule change to standard time, the last Pittsburgh commuter trains quit.  

That one remaining train had come a long way from the hourly trains that once ran in the Allegheny Valley.   When my parents were first hitched, dad was employed by Gulf Oil at the research facility in Harmarville and mom was working for Kauffman's downtown.   They lived in Oakmont.  Mom commuted by train.   Dad said he would start dinner and then dash to the station to get her.   If she wasn't on that train, he would go home, finish dinner, and then go back down to the Oakmont station and meet the next train.  Ah memories.

Mine were looking out over Turtle Creek from a coach window during World War II.   The only way you would ride in the family car was to take the train to Irwin on Saturday morning, meet the old man, and ride home in the car.   Remember gasoline rationing.   And the trains were busy.   I also remember huge crowds at Wilmerding from the WABCO plant in 1956.   Times change.   Old timers retire and the next generation doesn't understand trains.   







On Jan 12, 2012, at 2:49 PM, Bob Rathke wrote:

> 
> Attached is a scan of the last Pittsburgh-Kiskiminitas Jct. commuter timetable, 4/26/64. 
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> The PRR also had a commuter train on the west side of the Allegheny River between Pittsburgh and Schenley. Plus commuter trains to Derry, Steubenville, Elrama and Beaver 
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> Falls.  All were discontinued in October, 1964, but the Elrama run ended earlier. 
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> In the 1950's the line through Brady's Bend was a point of interest described at the observation platform above the r iver, but I never saw a train moving on the line at that point. 
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> Bob 
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> ----- Original Message -----
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> 
> From: "Derrick Brashear" <shadow at gmail.com> 
> To: pittsburgh-railways at dementix.org 
> Sent: Thursday, January 12, 2012 1:30:15 PM 
> Subject: [PRCo] Re: PRR Remains 
> 
> On Thu, Jan 12, 2012 at 11:48 AM, Herb Brannon <hrbran at cavtel.net> wrote: 
>> In the photo of Brady's Bend Tunnel there is a steel structure similar to 
>> an incline plane running above the entrance. Is this an incline? I'm not 
>> familiar with the location of this tunnel. 
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> Looks like a drainage flume to me. 
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> Derrick 
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> -- Attached file removed by Ecartis and put at URL below --
> -- Type: image/jpeg
> -- Size: 56k (58266 bytes)
> -- URL : http://lists.dementix.org/files/pittsburgh-railways/PRRkiskiminetasTT042664.JPG
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