[PRCo] Re: Question about 69 Squirrel Hill Route

[Dwight Long]

Herb

10-4 on that.

Dwight

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Herb Brannon" <hrbran at cavtel.net>
To: <pittsburgh-railways at dementix.org>
Sent: Tuesday, May 01, 2012 5:08 PM
Subject: [PRCo] Re: Question about 69 Squirrel Hill Route


> OK, 55A then. The point is it ran from downtown to provide the extra
> service to Kennywood.
> On Tue, May 1, 2012 at 5:05 PM, Dwight Long <dwightlong at verizon.net> 
> wrote:
>
>>
>> Herb
>>
>> I think that's a 55A car, not a 55.  A 55 going to Kennywood would be 
>> very
>> misleading, the paper sign not withstanding.  However, a 55A going to
>> Kennywood would just be a logical extension of the route.
>>
>> Dwight
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "Herb Brannon" <hrbran at cavtel.net>
>> To: <pittsburgh-railways at dementix.org>
>> Sent: Tuesday, May 01, 2012 4:37 PM
>> Subject: [PRCo] Re: Question about 69 Squirrel Hill Route
>>
>>
>> > The June, 1937 PRCo Trolley & Bus Guide indicates to reach Kennywood 
>> > Park
>> > customers should take Route 60 from East Liberty or Route 68, and any
>> > other
>> > route with a "Kennywood Park" destination sign, from downtown Pgh. This
>> > hints that several different routes were used to get people to the 
>> > park.
>> > The photo of 1600 and 1609 shows a Route 55 car sitting behind 1600 
>> > with
>> a
>> > 55 Destination Sign and a cardboard "Kennywood" sign on the dash. Thus,
>> > another route which ran Kennywood direct service.
>> > Also, It would be nice to know the date of the 1600/1609 photo. The Car
>> > Assignment List from 1/1/1952 shows both 1600 and 1609 housed at Craft
>> > Avenue CH.
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > On Tue, May 1, 2012 at 16:09, Fred Schneider
>> > <fwschneider at comcast.net>wrote:
>> >
>> >> My transcription of the route cards, Phil,  does not include any
>> >> reference
>> >> to route 69 being extended on down Murray and out to Kennywood.   But
>> two
>> >> cars side-by-side at Kennywood with that sign up suggests it was done 
>> >> on
>> >> peak days.   It would be very logical on Sundays or those days when
>> >> schools
>> >> were having their picnics at the park.
>> >>
>> >> Sixty-nine was essentially the same route except from the 1918 until
>> 1958
>> >> except for changes in the downtown loop and the fact that it was rush
>> >> hour
>> >> only before Oct. 28, 1927.   The Diamond, Ferry, Ross, Diamond loop 
>> >> was
>> >> used was used from 1937 until the end.
>> >>
>> >> Why was it rush hour only until 1927?   Probably because there was
>> simply
>> >> no demand until then.   For one thing, Squirrel Hill has long been a
>> >> heavily Orthodox Jewish neighborhood, so that there would limited 
>> >> lower
>> >> demand for through riding on route 69 than in other neighborhoods on 
>> >> the
>> >> Sabbath.   Why not just let the folks transfer from route 60 to the
>> trunk
>> >> lines?   Second point ... Oakland, Shadyside and Squirrel Hill were 
>> >> low
>> >> density neighborhoods ... homes of the rich ... mansions.   The 
>> >> students
>> >> who later filled the cars were not there until the teens and later.
>> >> Frick
>> >> Park, which is off base but it gives some idea, was part of Henry Clay
>> >> Frick's own back yard, until 1919.   It was private land.   Carnegie
>> Tech
>> >> was founded in 1900 and construction was going on in 1905 in an empty
>> >> field
>> >> in Oakland; it was probably about 1909 that the first class graduated
>> and
>> >> it only had about 100 students.   University of Pittsburgh adopted its
>> >> new
>> >> name in 1908 and began relocating to!
>> >>  Oakland in 1909; the monstrous Cathedral of Learning was a vision of
>> >> chancellor John Bowman in 1920 which he wanted to build on empty land 
>> >> in
>> >> Oakland ... part of the Schenley Farm.   It was finished sometime 
>> >> early
>> >> in
>> >> 1930s ... I have a picture of my mother standing on the unfinished 
>> >> roof
>> >> slab of that building in 1930.   Several sources say Squirrel Hill 
>> >> began
>> >> to
>> >> mushroom because of construction of the Boulevard of the Allies which
>> was
>> >> completed in 1923 to Oakland.
>> >>
>> >> Both those pictures have that certain smell like Charlie Dengler's 
>> >> hand
>> >> was on the camera.?   One of the clues is that CD never spent any 
>> >> money
>> >> on
>> >> panchromatic film as long as there was cheaper orthochromatic film
>> >> around.
>> >>   Verichrome was good enough even if the reds were rendered as black 
>> >> and
>> >> the blue skies washed out to white.
>> >>
>> >> That 1600 certainly exemplifies how one-off or one-of-a-kind cars lead
>> >> orphan lives.  It was all over the system, from barn to barn, only
>> >> lasting
>> >> ten years until the fire.  We have pictures of it working out of 
>> >> Craft,
>> >> Tunnel, Homewood, Herron Hill, Highland Park.  And yet it differs very
>> >> little from the Johnstown and Philadelphia (2100s and 2700s) and 
>> >> Boston
>> >> all-electrics.   But in Pittsburgh, the accelerator, the master
>> >> controller,
>> >> the line breaker, the window sash and many other parts were different
>> >> from
>> >> other cars.  Anything goes wrong, you wait for a part.
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> On Apr 30, 2012, at 3:17 PM, Edward H. Lybarger wrote:
>> >>
>> >> > Route 60 cars went to Kennywood at times.  Not sure about 69.
>> >> >
>> >> > -----Original Message-----
>> >> > From: pittsburgh-railways-bounce at lists.dementix.org
>> >> > [mailto:pittsburgh-railways-bounce at lists.dementix.org] On Behalf Of
>> >> Barry,
>> >> > Matthew R
>> >> > Sent: Monday, April 30, 2012 2:59 PM
>> >> > To: pittsburgh-railways at dementix.org
>> >> > Subject: [PRCo] Question about 69 Squirrel Hill Route
>> >> >
>> >> > A few weeks back, there was a photo being offered on eBay of 58
>> >> Greenfield
>> >> > on Loretta Street between Murray and Greenfield Avenue, with a date 
>> >> > of
>> >> June
>> >> > 1958.   The abandonment dates of routes 68 and 69 were in Sept. 
>> >> > 1958.
>> >> > I
>> >> > noted in this photo, that the wiring that would've taken route 69 on
>> >> > its
>> >> > loop from Greenfield Avenue back to Murray Avenue, had been removed.
>> >> If
>> >> > the date of the photo was accurate, I wondered if in the latter 
>> >> > years
>> >> > of
>> >> > service, route 69 cars travelled further, perhaps to Munhall Loop or
>> to
>> >> > Kennywood Park.
>> >> >
>> >> >
>> >> >
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >
>> >
>> > --
>> > Herb Brannon
>> > In Cuyahoga Valley National Park
>> >
>> >
>> >
>>
>>
>>
>
>
> -- 
> Herb Brannon
> In Cuyahoga Valley National Park
>
>
>