[PRCo] Facebook page for posting photos of old andabandonedbuildings in Western Pa.
John Swindler
j_swindler at hotmail.com
Tue Apr 9 10:09:12 EDT 2013
Hi Dwight My first was the 295 fantrip that included Dickerson Run. But only 4 and a half at time. There isn't even an vague impression of that trip. Total blank. But there is a photo of my dad sitting next to a small kid peering over a seat back that was used in Headlights magazine around 1985. There was also the 832 move from Charleroi to Ingram. There's a vague recollection of Black Diamond Jct, Carson at Smithfield, and coming down a hill towards Ingram. Because of attached pix, assume these impressions were from this trip. Probably around seven. This wasn't my dad's 620 camera.
> From: dwightlong at verizon.net
> To: pittsburgh-railways at mailman.dementix.org
> Date: Tue, 9 Apr 2013 00:56:03 -0400
> Subject: Re: [PRCo] Facebook page for posting photos of old andabandonedbuildings in Western Pa.
>
>
> John
>
> I was on that trip too. It was my very first enthusiast tour. But it was
> not several months before the final abandonment, it was only about a month
> removed from that. Some time I'll have to look thru my fots from that trip
> and see if I can spot a six year old.
>
> Dwight
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "John Swindler" <j_swindler at hotmail.com>
> To: "Western PA Trolley discussion"
> <pittsburgh-railways at mailman.dementix.org>
> Sent: Tuesday, April 09, 2013 12:37 AM
> Subject: Re: [PRCo] Facebook page for posting photos of old
> andabandonedbuildings in Western Pa.
>
>
> It was the 711 trip several months before the final West Penn abandonment.
> But the worse part is being only 6 years old and having only a couple vague
> impressions from the trip. If it were not for the two attached family pix
> would wonder if just wishful thinking. > From: fwschneider at comcast.net
> > Date: Mon, 8 Apr 2013 17:51:30 -0400
> > To: pittsburgh-railways at mailman.dementix.org
> > Subject: Re: [PRCo] Facebook page for posting photos of old
> > andabandonedbuildings in Western Pa.
> >
> > And now, how many of yins remember when route 21 was the last route in the
> > city to have full time scheduled service with a single - end yellow car?
> > I do not know, off hand, when it was but I remember it. Was after we
> > moved from Pittsburgh to Lancaster. That was 1949. I remember going
> > back to Grandma's home and seeing it … so it was by the time I was
> > wandering around on my own. Maybe by the time I was 12. That could be
> > the spring of 1952.
> >
> > John Swindler always reminds me how a couple of years difference in our
> > ages makes a huge difference in the things we remember. Even though he
> > grew up in Edgewood and I was out in Penn Hills (called Penn Township
> > then), I remember DE low floor cars on route 78 Laketon Road and he has no
> > memory of them.
> >
> > I think I can come up with a memory I can guarantee he doesn't have. A
> > rather famous 1937 animated Disney film was rereleased in 1944. My
> > mother took me to downtown Pittsburgh on Deere Brothers bus to see it.
> > After enjoying Snow White and the seven little sons-a-bitches, I was taken
> > out to Grandma's home on the streetcar. But during the war, Route 8
> > PERRYSVILLE did not have those modern 5500s. No sir. It had low-speed,
> > single-end low floor cars that had been removed from storage and returned
> > to work. If memory serves, they might have been 5100 or maybe 5000s.
> > During the war, if it ran, they used it. The speeded up cars were
> > rebuilt with helical years but those unrebuilt low-speed cars had spur
> > gears and the one I was one that day in '44 had probably the most badly
> > worn set imaginable. They were so bad that to this day I can still
> > remember the pain to my ear drums caused by the loud grinding of those
> > worn gears. There were probably some people on that car who long
> > remembered the pain my crying gave them. I wonder why I like streetcars
> > after such an event so early in life.
> >
> > When we are that young, I think there is very little we remember unless it
> > is traumatic. I have a German buddy who is a month younger than I am who
> > has some very stark memories of World War II while I have almost none.
> > Why? His memories are of his mother carrying his younger brother on her
> > back while Helmut walked across Germany with bombs exploding around them.
> > We remember trauma. And that is probably why one of the few things I can
> > remember from age 4 is a freaken noisy streetcar.
> >
> > But I am still jealous …
> >
> > John's next door neighbor took him for a ride on the final West Penn
> > fantrip. He rode a West Penn 700 at about age 8 or 9 or 10. I rode 289
> > for a few blocks in West Jeannette with my dad chasing the car in the
> > family Chevy. You know all those stories about "shoulda, woulda, coulda?
> > I shoulda just stayed on the car and ridden into Greensburg instead of
> > worrying about what the old man might have said.
> >
> >
> > On Apr 8, 2013, at 4:58 PM, Bob Rathke wrote:
> >
> > >
> > >
> > > Dwight,
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > "The second half of the last trolley day" referred to the last regularly
> > > scheduled trip on 6/14-Avalon which occured immediately following the
> > > last regularly scheduled trip on 21-Fineview..
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > The last regular service day for 21 and 14/6 was Saturday, April 30,
> > > 1966. The last car on 21 arrived back downtown from Fineview a little
> > > before Midnight, and then went to Tunnel CH. A few minutes later the
> > > last regular service car on 14/6 left downtown for Avalon, and returned
> > > back downtown around 2am on Sunday, May 1.
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > I was on the last regular service trips on both 21 and 6/14. I 've
> > > heard that there was a charter that ran on Finview after the last
> > > regular service trip there, but I don't know when that occured . I'm
> > > not sure if there was also an after-service charter on 6/14.
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > Bob
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > ----- Original Message -----
> > >
> > >
> > > From: "Dwight Long" <dwightlong at verizon.net>
> > > To: "Western PA Trolley discussion"
> > > <pittsburgh-railways at mailman.dementix.org>
> > > Sent: Monday, April 8, 2013 2:32:30 PM
> > > Subject: Re: [PRCo] Facebook page for posting photos of
> > > old andabandonedbuildings in Western Pa.
> > >
> > >
> > > Bob
> > >
> > > Not sure to what you refer. I was on the last trip of Rt. 21 and then a
> > > few
> > > of us retired to a Brass Rail in the Triangle (on Liberty or Penn??) to
> > > cry
> > > in our beer over the loss. What was the "last trolley day?" Some
> > > enthusiast tour?
> > >
> > > I'm sending this from my portable and don't have my records at hand or
> > > could
> > > tell you the exact date. It was in 1966 for sure.
> > >
> > > Dwight
> > >
> > > ----- Original Message -----
> > > From: "Bob Rathke" <bobrathke at comcast.net>
> > > To: "Western PA Trolley discussion"
> > > <pittsburgh-railways at mailman.dementix.org>
> > > Sent: Monday, April 08, 2013 1:17 PM
> > > Subject: Re: [PRCo] Facebook page for posting photos of old
> > > andabandonedbuildings in Western Pa.
> > >
> > >
> > >>
> > >>
> > >> Dwight,
> > >>
> > >>
> > >>
> > >> There was a Brass Rail on E. Ohio St. Did you skip the se cond half of
> > >> the
> > >> "last trolley day" on 4/3 0/66?
> > >>
> > >>
> > >>
> > >> That night I rode the last 21-Fine view car out to Fineview and back to
> > >> downtown, then caught the last 6/14 trolley and rode out to Avalon and
> > >> back. I took the attached photo as a group of fans on Penn Ave. made
> > >> the
> > >> dash to board 1799.
> > >>
> > >>
> > >>
> > >> Bob
> > >>
> > >>
> > >>
> > >> ----- Original Message -----
> > >>
> > >>
> > >> From: "Dwight Long" <dwightlong at verizon.net>
> > >> To: "Western PA Trolley discussion"
> > >> <pittsburgh-railways at mailman.dementix.org>
> > >> Sent: Monday, April 8, 2013 11:43:33 AM
> > >> Subject: Re: [PRCo] Facebook page for posting photos of old and
> > >> abandonedbuildings in Western Pa.
> > >>
> > >>
> > >> Bob
> > >>
> > >> My last (somewhat faint) memory of the Brass Rail is consuming mass
> > >> quantities of beer in one of their outlets after I had ridden the last
> > >> ever Rt. 21 Fineview car,
> > >>
> > >> Dwight
> > >>
> > >> From: Bob Rathke
> > >> Sent: Monday, 08 April, 2013 12:23
> > >> To: Western PA Trolley discussion
> > >> Subject: Re: [PRCo] Facebook page for posting photos of old and
> > >> abandonedbuildings in Western Pa.
> > >>
> > >>
> > >> Fred,
> > >>
> > >>
> > >>
> > >> While you're remembering Fifth and Liberty Avenues, don't forget Frank
> > >> &
> > >> Seder, Spear and May Stern department/furniture stores. Also 5&10's
> > >> G.C.
> > >> Murphy and Grants; the Brass Rail and Bards (similar to Isaly's, but
> > >> Bard
> > >> stores were in the neighborhoods, not downtown ).
> > >>
> > >>
> > >>
> > >> My grandmother worked at Rosenbaums before she was married. The
> > >> Rosenbaum
> > >> building was a solid structure , and it took months to dem olish it
> > >> before
> > >> they could start building the parking garage that's on the site now. My
> > >> grandfather worked at Boggs & Buhl and was an office boy for R.H.
> > >> Boggs,
> > >> but his family encouraged him to leave the store and learn a trade. The
> > >> R.H. Boggs home on the Mexican War Streets is now a B&B.
> > >>
> > >>
> > >>
> > >> My paternal great grandfather was fire engineer at the City of
> > >> Allegheny
> > >> fire station No. 2 on Concord St. from 1868 to the early 1900's (see
> > >> attached photo). I also have a photo of him working in Johnstown after
> > >> the
> > >> 1889 flood (I assume that Allegheny sent fireman to Johnstown to help
> > >> out). And I have copies of his Civil War records and pension.
> > >>
> > >>
> > >>
> > >> About the Brass Rail: the restaurants had a large (probably 5 'X10 ')
> > >> copy
> > >> of a painting behi nd the bar. The painting depicted a 1930-style bus,
> > >> but
> > >> the bus was five stories tall and looked like a cruise ship on wheels.
> > >> The
> > >> title of the painting was, "A bus salesman's dream in 1960". I wonder
> > >> if
> > >> that painting survived the restaurants.
> > >>
> > >>
> > >>
> > >> Bob
> > >>
> > >>
> > >> ----- Original Message -----
> > >>
> > >>
> > >> From: "Fred Schneider" <fwschneider at comcast.net>
> > >> To: "Western PA Trolley discussion"
> > >> <pittsburgh-railways at mailman.dementix.org>
> > >> Sent: Monday, April 8, 2013 10:43:23 AM
> > >> Subject: Re: [PRCo] Facebook page for posting photos of old and
> > >> abandoned
> > >> buildings in Western Pa.
> > >>
> > >> You know you are old, Bob, when someone asks "What's a McCrorys?" Think
> > >> of
> > >> all those old store names that are no longer there. I will confine
> > >> myself
> > >> to western Pennsylvania … Woolworths, Gimbels, Kaufmans, Joseph Horne,
> > >> Rosenbaums, Boggs and Buhl, Isalys.
> > >>
> > >> Yup…. And you now have to be in your 40s to understand what communism
> > >> was
> > >> like in eastern Europe. In a way, I guess I am rather glad that I
> > >> vacationed in East Germany before the wall came down and saw it. I
> > >> guess,
> > >> as ugly as history can be, I guess it was also good for me that I
> > >> experienced the segregated southern states … black and white drinking
> > >> fountains, toilets, restaurants, etc.
> > >>
> > >> Now, how the hell do I explain to my granddaughter and her husband, who
> > >> is
> > >> of African descent, what it would have been like living in this country
> > >> 60
> > >> or more years ago?
> > >>
> > >>
> > >> On Apr 4, 2013, at 1:19 PM, Bob Rathke wrote:
> > >>
> > >>>
> > >>>
> > >>>
> > >>> Here's a Facebook page containing photos of old and abondoned
> > >>> structures
> > >>> in Western Pa. It contains a few rail photos. I've posted some of my
> > >>> 1956-82 photos in the section for, "Recent posts by others".
> > >>>
> > >>>
> > >>>
> > >>> See:
> > >>>
> > >>>
> > >>>
> > >>>
> > >>>
> > >>> https://www.facebook.com/pages/Abandoned-Old-Interesting-Places-Western-PA/237114536307967?sk=photos#!/pages/Abandoned-Old-Interesting-Places-Western-PA/237114536307967
> > >>>
> > >>>
> > >>>
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> > >>
> > >>
> > >>
> > >>
> > >>
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