[PRCo] First Harmony Car Enters Pittsburg

[Edward H. Lybarger]

Unquestionably.  But who pays, and how do you get south of McKnight Road?
Center of the freeway works most of the way, but the subway connection would
be circuitous.

-----Original Message-----
From: pittsburgh-railways-bounces at mailman.dementix.org
[mailto:pittsburgh-railways-bounces at mailman.dementix.org] On Behalf Of
Derrick Brashear
Sent: Saturday, November 09, 2013 8:41 AM
To: Western PA Trolley discussion
Subject: Re: [PRCo] First Harmony Car Enters Pittsburg

On Fri, Nov 8, 2013 at 5:24 PM, Edward H. Lybarger
<trams2 at comcast.net>wrote:

> You have to wonder how many other companies nationwide were built, 
> like the Harmony Route, to satisfy the gigantic ego of the guy behind 
> it.  It went the long way to Butler (and probably drew just enough 
> traffic from the Short Line to render it insolvent); New Castle was a 
> long way off and although it had people, not enough of them wanted to 
> go to Pittsburgh.  In between was a lot of nothing, plus Evans City 
> and Ellwood City.  Oh, yes, there was also a nice camping area along 
> the Connoquenessing that Mr. Boggs favored.  He also favored the most 
> expensive construction that could be had...only the best.
>
> Mr. Boggs built the line with the expectation that everyone adjacent 
> to it would come to his department store.  This just didn't happen.  
> David McCahill compounded the misery by acquiring the Short Line out 
> of receivership in about 1919...now he had two companies that couldn't 
> earn a living, and when the bonds came due, there was no money.  Some 
> of the bridges sat for years after abandonment because no one could 
> earn enough in scrap value to justify the labor cost of dismantling them.
>
> Just another company that never should have been built.
>

While today, a fast rail route to at least Cranberry would be fantastic.



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