[PRCo] PRCo Route 59

Tue Jul 9 13:17:34 EDT 2013

New Orleans had two man/women crews on St. Charles into the 'exact fare' era.  On a 1971 visit, the women conductors only job was to open and close the door - maybe also give a 'two bell' signal.   About all I recall of that visit was:  "this is beyond stupid".   As a disclaimer, this biased viewpoint was probably due to two summers driving buses for Chicago Transit Auth.

> From: fwschneider at comcast.net
> Date: Tue, 9 Jul 2013 12:57:24 -0400
> To: pittsburgh-railways at mailman.dementix.org
> Subject: Re: [PRCo] PRCo Route 59
> 
> The route cards ended near the onset of World War II when PRC realized they did not have the staff resources for such petty trivial things as keeping paper records of every little diversion.     Those route cards showed everything….  If a fire downtown required a diversion for two hours, they were posted to the cards.    If a route was altered over night so a switch could be replaced, the route cards were annotated.
> 
> I did not waste my time typing every trivial detail.   I only copied permanent route changes.     In an era where where schools are no longer teaching children to read and write cursive, my objective was to create a file that dumbed-down people could read if they were no longer able to read the original route cards (which are in cursive).     
> 
> I did not have access to my old ERA Headlights magazines at the time.   They had been moved to the library at Arden and I was temporarily in an apartment.   I have inserted final abandonment dates but there are other things that I don't have such as when the northside routes were shifted from the 7th St/6th St loop to the 6th St. Bridge (it was sometime in 1957).  
> 
> I also created several ancillary files such as the dates that low-floor cars went into service on each route (they were usually in the route cards) and the dates that the lines were fully one-man.
> 
> By the way, if anyone gives a s**t, the one-man conversions were a problem.   There were sometimes dates posted in the route cards that conflicted with scheduled manhours.   I went with the hours.   When the weekday hours dropped to the point that it was obvious that the conductors had finally disappeared, I took that as the date.    The system was completely converted to one-man in 1937 when the last trailers on West View - Belleview (10, 11, 15) were replaced by single cars on Feb. 8, 1937 and route 13 lost its trailers 28 days later.   Route 27 (Carnegie) began weekday one-man cars in 1931 but the crew hours on weekdays did not drop sufficiently to indicate complete loss of conductors until March 15, 1937.
> 
> But the thing that amazed me about PRC was it had to be the largest system in the nation to begin conversion to one-man cars and perhaps the first to finish the job.   The company attempted to put one-man cars on the Castle Shannon - Mt. Lebanon shuttle in 1920 but went back to two-man cars when the crews refused to work them.   When they converted Bon Air, 36th St. Transfer and North Washington in 1923, the company's attitude was more along the lines of, 'we are the employer, you are the worker, you can work where we put you or find another job.   By 1930 route 82, one of the heaviest lines in the system was fully one-man, seven days a week.   Route 87 Ardmore, hauling people from Wilkinsburg to the Westinghouse Electric and Air Brake was one of the earliest conversions … November 10, 1924.   Route 88 Frankstown went one-man between 1930 and 1931.    
> 
> Now think of Chicago … the last routes in 1958 were two-man.   Philadelphia still had a small number of conductors in 1971.   Illinois Terminal never ran a PCC without a conductor.   Boston had those center-entrance cars that required conductors into the late 1940s.   San Francisco had conductors into the late 1950s.   New Orleans had the second man until the middle 1960s.   
> 
> 
> 
> 
> On Jul 9, 2013, at 11:50 AM, Dwight Long wrote:
> 
> > Fred
> > 
> > The final change to route 65, other than its discontinuance as a rail operation, was its extension from Munhall Loop to East Pittsburgh over the former route 55 trackage.  Not sure when this occurred (when the Glenwood bridge was closed to trams) but it was in effect, AIR, until the end of tram operations from Lincoln Place.  I took pictures of the operation in early 1965.
> > 
> > Dwight
> > 
> > From: Fred Schneider 
> > Sent: Tuesday, 09 July, 2013 11:35
> > To: Western PA Trolley discussion 
> > Subject: Re: [PRCo] PRCo Route 59
> > Route cards for route 506 Homestead and Homeville show the following (if I transcribed it correctly) … never did find anyone willing to proofread my work.   There are certain dates such as 1930 and 1937 where they simply listed the routes even if they didn't change so the dates are not always indicative of a change unless it is so stated.   Usually a change only shows the specific streets that were changed.  fws
> > 
> > January 1902 … from a point in Homeville along a township road through Munhall to 9th Avenue in Homestead and over 8th Avenue to Hays Street.
> > 
> > 1917:  From a point in Homeville-Greenspring Avenue, Ravine Street, 8th Avenue to Hays Street.
> > 
> > July 17 to July 19, 1919;  August 29 to Sept 1, 1919 and August 18 to August 22, 1919 … line split into two sections at bridge above Homeville Siding because of unsafe condition of bridge,
> > 
> > August 10, 1925:  Length of line:  round trip 5.23 miles.   
> > 
> > May 14, 1927 to June 19, 1927:  Shuttle service from Terrace Step stop to end of line, Homeville.
> > 
> > Feb. 14, 1928:  Route 506 combined with route 507 (Homestead-Mifflin).   One man operation began.   See route 507 for history 1928 to 1944.
> > 
> > July 9, 1944:  Began operation from Homeville to 18th and West Streets.   Route 65 operating SE PCC cars from Munhall Loop to Lincoln Place loop.   Route 59 used double end low-floor cars.
> > 
> > March 7, 1953:  Last full day of route 59.
> > ______________________________________________________________________________________________________
> > 
> > Original route 507 operated only November 1902.  Have not found route card.
> > 
> > April 1, 1928:   On this date, route 507 started under supervision of Pittsburgh Railways Company using schedules and equipment formerly used by Homestead and Mifflin Street Railway.
> > 
> > August 24, 1928:  Shuttle began operating between Lincoln Place and Main and McWhinney, also Main and McWhinney and 8th Avenue, Homestead.
> > 
> > November 21, 1928:   Through cars Lincoln Place to 13th and West Streets, Homestead.
> > 
> > November 23, 1928:  Through cars Lincoln Place to 8th and West Sts., Homestead.
> > 
> > December 14, 1928:  Combined with route 506 Homeville and one-man operation began.
> > 
> > January 1, 1930:  Main St., Center Ave., Main St., Walnut Ave., 22nd Ave., West St., Amity St., 8th Ave., Munhall St., Ravine St., Greenspring Ave. to Hays St. in Homeville.
> > 
> > March 15, 1937:  Lincoln Place along Interboro Avenue and Main St. to West St. to 12th St., Amith., 8th Ave., Munhall Junction, Ravine St., Greenspring Ave. to High St.  
> > 
> > July 9, 1944:   Homeville end split from Lincoln Place end and designated route 59.   Lincoln Place to Munhall loop designated route 65.  Muldfowney Loop in Lincoln Place opened this date permitting PCC service on route 65 and the line was extended eastward a short distance from Interboro Avenue to Muldowney Street.
> > 
> > October 31, 1956 Transit Guide:  Munhall to Lincoln Place over 8th Avenue in Munhall and McKeesport, Amity St., 12th St., West St., 22nd St., Interboro Ave. and private right-of-way to Muldowney Loop.   Unchanged from July 9, 1944.
> > 
> > Sept. 5, 1965:  Last full day of service route 65.
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > On Jul 9, 2013, at 9:52 AM, Lattner, Raymond wrote:
> > 
> >> Hello. I was looking at an older historic topo map and noticed that route 59
> >> traveled up Ravine Street and then split at  the intersection of Greensprings  Ave., Coal  Rd and Black Path (road names based on Google Maps).
> >> 
> >> One line continued up Greensprings Ave. to what is called Terrace and ends at what  I believe is High Street and Bowes Ave. The other line
> >> on PRW seems to follow  Duquesne Ave then Homestead Duquesne Rd to Coal Rd. to terminate at Coal  Rd. Extension and Bellwood Rd.
> >> 
> >> I have attached that section of the map. My first question is, is this correct?  If so, how did these lines operate and what destinations signs
> >> were used?  When did PRCo stop using the line to Bellwood Rd.? Maybe I have this wrong and it could be a coal mine RR?
> >> 
> >> If this was discussed before I apologize.
> >> 
> >> Oh, map web site in case some of you do not have it.  http://geonames.usgs.gov/pls/topomaps/f?p=262:1:4149522851964442
> >> 
> >> Thanks.
> >> 
> >> 
> >> Raymond E. Lattner
> >> 
> >> 
> >> 
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