[PRCo] Testing post and hello there!

[Robert Spangler]

Stumbled across this site as I'm laying around with the flu and waxing
nostalgic about the Burgh (like so many, I left for economic opportunities
elsewhere about 30 years ago).

I didn't realize my days on trolleys in Pgh meant so much to me - I think I
knew a fair amount but I've learned so much more here.  I have a couple
questions I'll ask in subsequent posts, but this is just to introduce
myself.

For someone born relatively late (1957), I was privileged to have had a
pretty good immersion in the PCC days.  I grew up in Bon Air on Institute
St, with the Bon Air stop literally behind my house, so I knew the 35-36-37
like the back of my hand.  Went downtown by myself all the time after about
the age of 10 or so - unimaginable today I guess.

My dad worked in a drug store on Brownsville Rd. where the old car barn
used to be, and my grandparents lived about 3 doors away from the 42/38 on
Potomac Ave in Dormont, so I used to take that to see them all the time,
transferring at the Junction of course.

I went to Overbrook for what we used to call Junior High, so I took the
Shannon lines there right from behind my house (took about 5 min as opposed
to a 20-25 minute bus ride, and it stopped right at Saw Mill Run behind the
school), and was even privileged to ride the 53-Carrick for the first few
months that I attended Carrick High School in the Fall of 1971.  I can tell
you from first hand experience that the buses could NOT handle nearly the
crush of students when class let out.

I even remember when the 53 used to go through the Southside (what is it
now - the "Flats"?) and I vividly remember being taken to Forbes Field on a
trolley when I was about 7 or 8.  Sadly, I think I just missed being able
to ride on the 77/54, although I may have done so when very young.  I DO
remember being on a car that caught fire - #1654,  Will never forget my Mom
panicking. Still, my parents were LIVID when PAT started to take the
streetcars away.

I do have tons of memories and loved those old PCCs.  Thanks to all of you
for contributing to this site and keeping some of the old days alive (and
getting me through a couple days of illness)



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