[PRCo] Re: The other Twin Cities - Oct 1891

[Phillip Clark Campbell]

I hope you have some fingers left Mr.Swindler; this is a tremendous amount
of work.  This goes back 120-years doesn't it.  Even though we didn't
experience this period it does seem like 'yesterday' because of our interest.

Phil






>________________________________
> From: John Swindler <j_swindler at hotmail.com>
>To: Pittsburgh Railways <pittsburgh-railways at dementix.org> 
>Sent: Saturday, September 29, 2012 10:01 PM
>Subject: [PRCo] Re: The other Twin Cities - Oct 1891
> 
>
>Final part - map might be attached - better image in pdf copy of Street Ry Journal   THE NUNNERY HILL INCLINE.The second of the Allegheny inclines ascends Nunnery riveted plate girders, five feet deep. The rails are sixty pound steel T, spiked to 10 x 12 ins. white oak ties.There is a powerful hoisting plant, consisting of a pair of 24x36 ins. engines, built by the Scaife Foundry & Machine Co. The drums are of cast iron, grooved for ropes, and eighteen feet in diameter. The cars are heavily built of iron, with floors 16x38 ft. There are three cables, two two and one-quarter inch hoisting ropes, and one two inch safety rope. The cables are supported on the incline by ten inch grooved cast iron pulleys. The gauge is ten feet. The entire structure is very massive in its construction, over 750 tons of iron being used in the bridge work alone, but the structure has considerable gracefulness in its bold step from the street to the hillside. The entire cost
 of the structure was about $320,000. The incline is used for both freight and passenger traffic, but the amount of travel has never been equal to expectations. From the top of the incline there is a superb view of Allegheny and the northern side of Pittsburgh.THE TROY HILL PLANE.The first inclined plane in Allegheny was the Mount Troy Incline, which starts at the Allegheny end of the ThirHill from Federal Street on the line of the Pleasant Valley railway. This is one of the recent inclines, having been built in 1887 by Samuel Diescher. It is used for passengers only, and has a total length of 1,100 ft, with a rise of about 300 ft There are several grades, ranging from sixteen to twenty-six per cent, and there is a curve of 250 ft radius, making an angle of seventy degrees in the direction of the plane. The structure is of wooden trestle work throughout. The cars hold twenty-four passengers, and the hoisting is done with a single drum fourteen feet in
 diameter, made of cast iron and grooved for th!
>e rope. Owing to the easy grade of the incline, a single one inch hoisting cable is of sufficient strength, and this is supplemented by a seveneighths inch safety rope. The drum is driven by a pair of 12 x 16 ins. Scaife engines. The single fare on this incline is five cents, and tickets are sold in packages of seventyfive for $1.50. The cost of the plane and equipment is reported by the company at $90,000.ST. CLAIR INCLINED PLANE.This incline is built much after the fashion of an ordinary steam railroad, as it lies on the ground all the way. It rises from Josephine Street on the south side to the summit of the bluff, a total distance of 2,060 ft., with a rise of 361 ft. The incline is not a perfect plane, but is really a section of a parabola. This incline was built in 1886, by J. H. McRoberts, of Pittsburgh, and is used for both freight and passengers. The gauge is seven feet, and the rails are forty-five pound steel T, spiked to white oak ties. The
 lift ing capacity is twenty-five tons. There is a single hoisting drum sixteen feet in diameter, with cast grooves. This is driven by a pair of 14X30 ins. Robinson-Rea engines, an intermediate countershaft being used between the engines and drum. There is a hoisting rope and a safety rope, each one and three-quarters of an inch in diameter. The cost of this incline was about $60,000.THE KNOXVILLE INCLINE.The longest of all the inclines is the Knoxville, which is located near the St. Clair incline, starting from Bradford Street, at the foot of the hill, and rising to Brownsville and Washington Avenues, at the top of the hill. This plane has a total length of 2,640 ft. and a rise of 375 ft. It was built by J. H. McRoberts, in 1890, and has been one of the most successful of these institutions in the two cities. The lower portion of the structure, for a distance of 980 ft. from the bottom, is built of iron bridge work in spans of twenty to seventy feet of
 plate girders, twenty-four to fifty-six inches deep. Above this the incline is built on solid ground. At a point a!
>bout 1,000 ft. from the bottom the tracks make a curve of eighteen degrees to the right, this curve continuing 350 ft. The cables are carried round this curve on thirtysix thirty inch pulleys on each track. The gauge is nine feet, and sixty pound steel T rails are used. On the iron structure 8 X 14-ins. oak ties are used, laid sixteen inches between centres, and on the ground the ties are 6x8 ins., laid two feet between centres and fastened to heavy stringers.The hoisting engines are 18x36 ins., connected to the drum shaft by a pinion and spur gear. There are two drums, one twelve and one-half feet in diameter and the other a trifle larger, in order to compensate for the additional length of cable required for the outer track of the curve. The drums are cast iron, with grooves, and in winding the cables lap back upon themselves once. This is the only incline on which this occurs. The hoisting and safety ropes are both one and three-quarter inches in
 diameter. Although the different lengths of hoisting cables are compensated by the different diameters of the drums, a different method of compensation is required for the safety rope, which is continuous and attached to both cars. This is accomplished by an ingenious arrangement designed by Mr. McRoberts. The cars are 16x47 ft. on the floor and will carry fifty tons. The fare is only one cent and there is a very heavy travel, both of foot passengers and wagons. The Suburban Rapid Transit electric road connects closely with the upper end of the incline. The cost of the incline and equipment was about $190,000.THE CASTLE SHANNON INCLINES.The inclines of the Pittsburgh & Castle Shannon Railroad are among the most interesting of the inclined roads. This railroad is a narrow gauge (forty inches) line running from the south side of Pittsburgh to Arlington, a distance of six and one-half miles. The road reaches Carson Street through a tunnel 1,700 ft. long,
 but the completion of the inclines will do away with the use of the tunnel, at least for passenger service. The first incline, which was built last year by Samuel Diescher, extends from Carson Street to Bailey Avenue on the hill top, a total length of 1,375 ft.The grade is thirty-seven and seven-tenths per cent, and the total rise is 451 ft. The gauge is ten feet, and the the track is laid with sixty pound steel T rails. Most of the incline is built on solid ground, but about 300 ft. of the structure is built in spans of sixty feet, of riveted plate girders five feet deep. The cars are for freight and passengers, a cabin being built for passengers. The hoisting capacity is twenty tons, and there is one hoisting rope two and one-quarter inches in diameter, with a safety rope two inches in diameter. There is only one hoisting drum, which is made of cast iron and grooved. This is driven by a pair of Robinson-Rea engines, with cylinders 18x24 ins. The
 hoisting machinery lies at an angle of seventeen degrees with the inclined tracks. The cost of this incline was about $160,000.Castle Shannon Incline No. 2, which is now being constructed by the same engineer, partakes more of the nature of a cable road than an inclined plane, as the grade is comparatively light, and an endless cable is used to draw a train of cars. This incline is on the opposite side of the hill, and is intended to bring a train of six loaded narrow gauge passenger cars from the railroad to the top of the hill,' where passengers may change to the No. 1 incline and descend to the city. This inclined road will be 2,112 ft. long, with a drop of 185 ft. in that distance. The estimated cost of this plane is about $60,000.    Tenth Annual ConventionOF THEAMERICAN STREET RAILWAY ASSOCIATION.It is estimated that, at least, 600 people will be in attendance at the Pittsburgh convention, which will be held in Convention Hall, Monongahela
 House, October 21, 22 and 23, Henry M. Watson, president. This being the tenth convention since the organization of the Association, special attention will be given to making it the most important, profitable and interesting meeting yet held.!
>Â  Programme.The first business meeting will be called to order at 10 o'clock A. M., Wednesday morning. At 2 p. M. the delegates and visitors, in parties, will, by invitation of the local companies, visit the different cable and electric power houses and places of interest in and about the city. For this purpose books of complimentary tickets will be issued to all delegates, good on any of the street railways and a number of the inclines of Pittsburgh and Allegheny, which can be used during the three days of the convention. In this connection we will state that the outlook from the top of the inclines is well worth the time and trouble spent in reaching them ; for the view of the two cities especially at night, is a magnificent one.A second business meeting will be held on Wednesday evening at 8 P. M. Thursday morning at 10 A. M., and again at 2 P.m. business sessions will be held. At 8 p. M. of the same day the annual banquet will be held in the dining
 room of the Monongahela House, at which plates will be laid for 300 persons.On Friday the loc!
>al companies will tender an excursion to the visitors, by the Pennsylvania and West Pennsylvania railways, to some of the plate glass works, and other important industries adjacent to Pittsburgh. The local committee will issue a souvenir of the occasion, containing engravings of some of the public buildings, bridges, power houses, car barns, and bird's eye views from different positions about the city.The subjects of the papers to be presented are as follows: "A Perfect Electric Motor;" "A Year's Progress of Cable Motive Power;" " Public and State Treatment of Corporations, No. 3;" " The Dependent—Overhead or Underground—System of Electric Motive Power ;" " The Independent—Storage or Primary Battery—System of Electrie Motive Power;" "Standards in Machinery and Appliances for Electric Railways."From the above programme it is easy to realize how much one will miss if he denies himself the privilege of being present.                  
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