[PRCo] The rest of the month of March 1947

Tue May 27 08:32:15 EDT 2014

I read it.  The papers contain other things of interest beyond trolleys.

-----Original Message-----
From: pittsburgh-railways-bounces at mailman.dementix.org
[mailto:pittsburgh-railways-bounces at mailman.dementix.org] On Behalf Of Fred
Schneider
Sent: Monday, May 26, 2014 10:04 PM
To: Western PA Trolley discussion
Subject: [PRCo] The rest of the month of March 1947

I would be curious to know who reads this stuff.   Might be easier to just
send it to a few people who care.

Railroads are now saying they are now against smoke control if the county
instead of the city runs it.   Sounds like "we don't mind as long as we can
make smoke."   Page 2 in this issue is all about the smoke control
wrangling.   I think you understand this . we all favor smoke control as
long as it cost nothing and we lose no jobs and nobody has to do anything.
We believe in magic.  

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=djft3U1LymYC&dat=19470323&printsec=fro
ntpage&hl=en

Nice advertisement on page 28 of the March 23, 1947 edition . the
Philadelphia Company was telling how great they were.   If the SEC was going
to tell the newspapers they were evil, they were going to lobby for public
opinion in their favor.   If someone can capture this and screen print it .
I would be obliged.   

For those who have no recollection of the automobile market after World War
II, it was very much a seller's market from 1946 through 1948.   The buyer
was simply lucky to be able to buy a car.   Because my mother was watching a
new baby, my father took me a lot of places to five mom a break . grocery
store, hardware store, barber shop, even the Chevrolet dealer in Oakmont.
My old man was tight . he refused to go along with the antics the dealers
were playing . he would not pay extra to get moved to the top of the waiting
list.  Dad waited until the 1949 model year and then took a marked down '48
left over.   My father-in-law was in a different position . one local dealer
in Lancaster put doctors coming home from the military at the top of the
list and therefore he got a brand new 1946 car right away.   But this tells
what tricks the dealers were doing to sell cars (and make long term
enemies).  

But notice what some of the optional extras that we would consider mandatory
today:   oil filters, windshield washers, heaters.   Can you imagine how
long an engine lasted without an oil filter?   

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=eHYbAAAAIBAJ&sjid=20wEAAAAIBAJ&pg=3888%
2C2779621

Pittsburgh's four major railroads all agree to smoke control.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=enYbAAAAIBAJ&sjid=20wEAAAAIBAJ&pg=4602%
2C3342720

John Moran, obit., was Asst to President of Pressed Steel Car Company

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=enYbAAAAIBAJ&sjid=20wEAAAAIBAJ&pg=1565%
2C3513119

I have already checked with Ed Lybarger on this . I wanted to know if it was
really built.   His response was, "I dunno.  Doesn't sound at all familiar,
though."  And he spent his entire life on that side of Pittsburgh.   So we
have a big promise of a coal gasification plant to solve the smoke problems
and it was, to the best of our knowledge, smoke in itself.   The next day
there was a story that it was vital to our defense . front page news.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=enYbAAAAIBAJ&sjid=20wEAAAAIBAJ&pg=4602%
2C3342720

Edmund Stone of Duquesne Light retired.   Probably of interest to a very
limited number like Ed.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=e3YbAAAAIBAJ&sjid=20wEAAAAIBAJ&pg=2552%
2C3751106

US Steel had best year in history in 1946 . made 88 million net on 1.496
billion in sales . a fantastic return of 2.2%!!
Be curious to know what that return was on investment.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=e3YbAAAAIBAJ&sjid=20wEAAAAIBAJ&pg=1947%
2C3777962

Click on this link . it isn't the article but the political cartoon to it's
right that is so damn fascinating.    Not sure whether you put an elephant
or a jackass at the bottom of Fibber Magee's closet but regardless, it would
be just as funny today.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=e3YbAAAAIBAJ&sjid=20wEAAAAIBAJ&pg=1947%
2C3777962

Two stories this page and only one will produce a link.  The first is the
residual cost to the taxpayers of the 1946 Duquesne Light Co. strike.   The
second, at the bottom of the page, is the opening of the Arlington loop for
PCC cars complete with poor photo.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=fXYbAAAAIBAJ&sjid=20wEAAAAIBAJ&pg=3780%
2C4479068

Trucker unaware that his rig hits streetcar; gets nailed for hit-and-run.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=fXYbAAAAIBAJ&sjid=20wEAAAAIBAJ&pg=2949%
2C4668102

On March 25th, 1947, one of the worst mine disasters hit the newspaper but
not where you might expect it.  I later found it in a list of important
national events in 1947.   One hundred eleven were killed.   Where?
Centralia, Illinois.   I remember that from Dave Morgan and Phil Hastings
goiing there in 1955 for the Steam in Indian Summer series in Trains
magazine . the Burlington had knock off 2-10-4s there identical to those the
Bessemer and Lake Erie used until about 1952.   

But this mine disaster had the potential for taking the governor of Illinois
with it.   Seems one of the dead had asked the governor to investigate
unsafe conditions in that mine in 1946 and it appears that nothing was done.
Four days after the explosion that killed 111 miners, the word impeachment
was being tossed around.   (Wonder who paid to keep the governor out of the
mine?)   Then we find there had been a mine safety inspection a week before
the explosion that found many of the same problems found in the previous
inspection.  My the end of the month, John L. Lewis had called all the
nation's miners out in sympathy.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=e3YbAAAAIBAJ&sjid=20wEAAAAIBAJ&pg=5511%
2C3693874 

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=fXYbAAAAIBAJ&sjid=20wEAAAAIBAJ&pg=1767%
2C4571792

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=fnYbAAAAIBAJ&sjid=20wEAAAAIBAJ&pg=6577%
2C5044480  

Weight limit on Rankin Bridge . limit is about 2 1/2 times the weight of a
PCC.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=fXYbAAAAIBAJ&sjid=20wEAAAAIBAJ&pg=1872%
2C4675576

 [Editorial comment by typist:  Whitaker is the borough at the south end of
the bridge .. south of Rankin, east of Homestead and west of Kennywood Park.
It's peak population was after World War II when it reached 2217 people ---
the 2012 census estimate was 1271.   The mayor never got his wish for clover
leaf.]    

The battle for a feeder bus line in Spring Hill continues.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=fXYbAAAAIBAJ&sjid=20wEAAAAIBAJ&pg=4396%
2C4694285

McKeesport capitulates to the Best and Only . agrees to raise speed limit
for trains after rigid adherence caused horrid blockades in the city.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=fXYbAAAAIBAJ&sjid=20wEAAAAIBAJ&pg=1517%
2C4751265

Pittsburgh, Shawmut and Northern ran it's last trains on Saturday March 29,
1947.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=gHYbAAAAIBAJ&sjid=20wEAAAAIBAJ&pg=4036%
2C5694475

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