[PRCo] Philadelphia Then and Now Curbside loading Ridge and Midvale

[Dwight Long]

Fred

Re McKeesport, yes, see my earlier response to Bill.  

The City of McKeesport tried for years to get PRC off this loop but C.D. Palmer and Clyde Ligo resisted all efforts to do so until the State Highway Department condemned a portion of Murray Avenue in Squirrel Hill in 1958.  The H.D. also wanted PRC off the street in Duquesne (so it could be rebuilt without tracks)  where the hillside had slid down onto the track (also former WP) and temporary bi-directional running over the inbound track had been instituted,  wanted the Railway’s PRW from the end of the Rankin Bridge  up to Kennywood for expansion of S.R. 837, and wished to replace the bridge (also 837) over Thompson Run at the other end of Kennywood.  All this was just too much for even Palmer and Ligo to countenance and they threw in the towel on Rt. 68.  Rt. 60, which also used Murray Avenue, was collateral damage.  However, as I have recounted a few times, they kept the Rt. 68 trackage on Browns Hill Road and the Homestead High Level bridge intact all the time up til PAT in expectation of rerouting Rt. 55 over it when the Glenwood Bridge would no longer be available for trams.  Startup of PAT put paid to that plan in short order.

Dwight

From: Fred Schneider 
Sent: Wednesday, 07 August, 2013 11:43
To: artwheeler at trolleybuses.net ; Bill Volkmer 
Cc: Dwight Long ; Tom DeFazio ; Richard Vible ; Rich Allman ; Alan Fishel ; Alan Buchan ; Ashok Joshi ; BRUCE C BENTE ; Becwar Bill ; C.K. Leverett ; George Kanary ; Terrell Colson ; Ralph Cantos ; Norman Carlson ; Dick Hasselman ; Frank DiBugnara ; Russ Davies ; James Graebner ; Hank Raudenbush ; Herb Pence ; Paul Harris ; Wayne Koch ; Ken Spengler ; Louis Marre ; Lew Schneider ; Jerry Pinkepank ; Peter Weiglin ; Wally Young ; Jack May 
Subject: Re: Philadelphia Then and Now Curbside loading Ridge and Midvale

Funny how you punch the memory button from time to time.

1.   That McKeesport picture, if my memory is correct, was former West Penn track.   Did it not have a West Penn style car stop sign there, which you cannot see, and which had white lettering on a black field?   PRC signs had black letters on a white field.

2.   Funny thing about that Midvale Avenue location.   I had not been there in years until four days ago.   I had to meet friends in Chinatown for a lunch at a real Chinese restaurant and we were so early that I had to find a way to kill time.  So I got off the expressway at City Avenue … and then change my mind again and instead of going in East River Drive (now called Kelly Drive after Grace Kelly's family), I used Ridge Avenue to kill more time.

My wife thought I was giving her a grand tour of Philly's slums.   I explained I was only showing her were our granddaughter's husband came from.   Well, we got to Midvale and I pointed over behind the former car stop and explained that there used to be a sidewalk news vendor there who sold the Sunday Philadelphia Inquirer on Saturday evenings … we used to stop there in the 1950s and get copies on the way home to Lancaster.   

The track connection may have been severed at Midvale and Ridge but I am questioning in my mind if there might have been a positive wire connection to the 61 trackless at that time??????

fws


On Aug 7, 2013, at 9:16 AM, Bill Volkmer wrote:




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