[PRCo] Reading - Pgh. Press - March 1 thru 9.

Wed May 21 11:43:51 EDT 2014

Ed

Not only would the write down have been deleterious to their stock values, it would in a much more practical sense have removed their ability to run their power plants at an efficient level.  The railways provided the base load needed for efficient operation of them.  It was not until the boom times (in electricity consumption, inter alia) after WW II that power demand in WP territory became high enough to take up a sufficient amount of installed capacity to make elimination of the rail demand an attractive thing.

Also, I doubt that the railways, on a true net/net cash basis, lost money at least until the post war period. (individual lines were hopeless losers and got axed early on.)  Of course an enterprise cannot sustain itself in the long run if it does not make a profit that includes not only positive cash flow but also coverage of depreciation, amortization, taxes and interest.  So you are correct, the handwriting was on the proverbial wall not long after the Great War, and I believe WP management was fully aware of that.  The way they executed gradual rundown of the transit assets was, IMHO, rather clever.

Dwight

From: Edward H. Lybarger 
Sent: Tuesday, 20 May, 2014 14:38
To: 'Western PA Trolley discussion' 
Subject: Re: [PRCo] Reading - Pgh. Press - March 1 thru 9.
Peak year for coal and coke was 1916.  Clairton opened full time in 1918.
Last year West Penn paid the bond interest out of the fare box was 1920.  It
all fits very precisely.  The terminals were joint ventures with the power
company, which eased the burden a bit.  The 830s were part of a $400,000
upgrade of AV Street Ry and were needed to convert to one-man operation.

They didn't exactly know when they finished the system in 1914 what loomed
on the horizon.  And if they had dumped the railway company as soon as it
became unprofitable in the fullest sense of the word, it would have killed
the power company...the organization simply couldn't have taken that big a
write-down and still been viable.  But since Railways owned (in 1916) 100%
of Power, it wasn't an issue to subsidize one from the other.

Ed

-----Original Message-----
From: pittsburgh-railways-bounces at mailman.dementix.org
[mailto:pittsburgh-railways-bounces at mailman.dementix.org] On Behalf Of Fred
Schneider
Sent: Tuesday, May 20, 2014 11:01 AM
To: Western PA Trolley discussion
Subject: Re: [PRCo] Reading - Pgh. Press - March 1 thru 9.

Yup.   I chuckled two about Mitchell making it one of the most modern
transportation companies in the country.  Maybe up to the early 1920s until
the public quit riding.   

But we also know that the mines were already fading in 1910 when West Penn
built their last routes.   If memory is working, it was about 1910 that the
Clairton by-product recovery plant was built and that killed a lot of the
beehive coke ovens along the West Penn.

The last investment was around 1927-1930 . the new terminals in
Connellsville, Uniontown and Greensburg and the attempt to get the cars off
some of the busiest downtown streets in Uniontown.  The 800 series cars for
the Allegheny Valley were quasi-modern, meaning sealed gear boxes and 300
volt motors but the brake and control package was anything but modern.   

On May 19, 2014, at 8:40 PM, Dwight Long wrote:

> 
> Fred
> 
> I love the part about Mitchell helping to make West Penn one of the most
modern transportation companies in the country!
> 
> I think Federal pre-emption of local ordnances came as a result of lots of
similar things to the McKeesport fiasco.
> 
> Dwight
>  ----- Original Message ----- 
>  From: Fred Schneider 
>  To: Western PA Trolley discussion 
>  Sent: Monday, May 19, 2014 8:07 PM
>  Subject: [PRCo] Reading - Pgh. Press - March 1 thru 9.
> 
> 
>  The Pittsburgh and West Virginia Terminal fire .. look in March 22, 1946.
The fire happened over night Mar. 21-22.
> 
>  Philadelphia Company wins delay
> 
>
http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=E1MbAAAAIBAJ&sjid=1kwEAAAAIBAJ&pg=3000%
2C15764
> 
>  No page forward to page two, same edition.  Bottom of column one.   Look
at that picture at the bottom of the first column of
>  the clothing department in Albert J. Mannsmann's department store in East
Liberty.   Hard to believe a neighborhood department store when we don't
even have them downtown in our cities any longer.
> 
>  The next link is two columns over to the right . same page.  I put this
in for Ed Lybarger.   AFL and CIO are battling over who should represent the
employees at Champion Stores, the company store for Pittsburgh Consolidation
Coal Company.   So when "I owe my soul to the company store" and it is shut
down and I have no money, do I starve?   Or do I stick my shot gun in
someone's face to get money to eat?  
> 
>
http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=E1MbAAAAIBAJ&sjid=1kwEAAAAIBAJ&pg=3639%
2C25910
> 
>
http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=FlMbAAAAIBAJ&sjid=1kwEAAAAIBAJ&pg=2188%
2C938893
> 
>  It is hard to believe how primitive aviation was back then.   This is
also for Ed but the rest of you might get a kick out of "Moon Township
Airport Due to Get Funds."   
> 
>
http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=E1MbAAAAIBAJ&sjid=1kwEAAAAIBAJ&pg=3707%
2C83272
> 
>  Personnel action at Pittsburgh Railways
> 
>
http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=E1MbAAAAIBAJ&sjid=1kwEAAAAIBAJ&pg=3707%
2C8327
> 
>  We won't give up harassing the power company
> 
>
http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=FFMbAAAAIBAJ&sjid=1kwEAAAAIBAJ&pg=1579%
2C291182
> 
>  The Pittsburgh, Shawmut and Northern Railway was sold in March for 1.5
million dollars.   Doesn't say so here but the last trains ran about 27 days
later.
> 
>
http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=FVMbAAAAIBAJ&sjid=1kwEAAAAIBAJ&pg=3055%
2C650711
> 
>
http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=FlMbAAAAIBAJ&sjid=1kwEAAAAIBAJ&pg=2557%
2C905732
> 
>
http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=GVMbAAAAIBAJ&sjid=1kwEAAAAIBAJ&pg=1940%
2C2206355
> 
>  Pittsburgh Railways unhappy that Montour Bus Company wants to serve
Spring Hill
> 
>
http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=FlMbAAAAIBAJ&sjid=1kwEAAAAIBAJ&pg=2136%
2C940320
> 
>  This link is about eight hurt on a Greensburg-Blairsville bus when an oil
truck slid into it on the Lincoln Highway west of Latrobe.   But the story
to it's right is a real winner too.
> 
>
http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=FlMbAAAAIBAJ&sjid=1kwEAAAAIBAJ&pg=5161%
2C1032106
> 
>  Baldwin Locomotive Company shut down temporarily because they could not
get steel.   There were peripheral stories that I did not send about coal
strikes and a lack of gas that also affected steel mills.   The second link
comes a few days later when the United Mine Workers and John L. Lewis lost
in the Supreme Court for breaching a contract with the government.    The
entire page of the paper in the third link gives some idea about what was
going on in the coal fields in 1947.
> 
>
http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=FlMbAAAAIBAJ&sjid=1kwEAAAAIBAJ&pg=1546%
2C1062045
> 
>
http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=GFMbAAAAIBAJ&sjid=1kwEAAAAIBAJ&pg=5426%
2C1466133
> 
>
http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=GVMbAAAAIBAJ&sjid=1kwEAAAAIBAJ&pg=1945%
2C2013973
> 
>  This guy must have loved his work.   H. L. Mitchell of West Penn achieves
45 years in harness.
> 
>
http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=FlMbAAAAIBAJ&sjid=1kwEAAAAIBAJ&pg=5121%
2C1062595
> 
>  Philadelphia Company's hearing is recessed
> 
>
http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=F1MbAAAAIBAJ&sjid=1kwEAAAAIBAJ&pg=5770%
2C1287583
> 
>  Same old - same old.   I love this.   They had clean coal back in 1947
except that they were unable to find it.   Coal industry accused of
attempting to sabotage Pittsburgh's smoke control program.   I find the
whole thing rather amusing.  This is the only item I have posted so far but
the papers have been filled with it.   One of the better items prior to this
was an editorial cartoon showing Harrisburg aiming a canon at Pittsburgh's
attempts to clean up the city because the coal companies were buying the
legislators.
> 
>
http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=F1MbAAAAIBAJ&sjid=1kwEAAAAIBAJ&pg=6205%
2C1324122  
> 
>  Sounds like this chap employed the law firm of Dewey, Cheetum and Howe to
sue Pittsburgh Railways.   
> 
>
http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=GFMbAAAAIBAJ&sjid=1kwEAAAAIBAJ&pg=2250%
2C1494659
> 
>  Fantastic article about all the rules McKeesport inflicted on the B&O.
I can only wonder when the ICC or the FRA told the city to go pound sand.
I know of similar cases where cities were told that they had no control over
railroads.
> 
>
http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=G1MbAAAAIBAJ&sjid=1kwEAAAAIBAJ&pg=4302%
2C2502871
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
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