Category: Transit

  • Gateway Station

  • Upper Station of the Monongahela Incline

    Upper station, Monongahela Incline

    The Monongahela Incline opened in 1870, and it has run since then with a few interruptions for maintenance. There has never been a serious injury on it, as far as old Pa Pitt knows, making it just about the safest form of public transit ever devised.

    The engineer who designed it was John Endres. He was assisted by his daughter Caroline and by Samuel Diescher, who would later go on to design the Duquesne Incline and most of the other inclines around here. Diescher would also go on to marry Caroline Endres, making them certainly one of the first husband-and-wife engineer pairs in the country. They had three sons and three daughters; the sons all became engineers.

    Front of the station

    This upper station has gone through various renovations over the years, but it seems to be the original. The lower station was replaced in 1904 with a much grander building designed by MacClure & Spahr.

    Perspective view
    Canon PowerShot SX150 IS.

    Comments
  • Why We Have Pennsylvania Broad Gauge

    Pennsylvania streetcars do not run on standard-gauge track. This is not just a local quirk: it was a law of the Commonwealth. Streetcar companies must not lay standard-gauge track. Why did we have such a law? Well…

    From Pittsburgh Illustrated, 1889.

    This is Liberty Avenue in 1889, where a railroad ran down the middle to serve the wholesalers. Now imagine one backroom deal with the streetcar company, one little switch, a few extra feet of track, and suddenly the Pennsylvania Railroad has access to every major street in the city.

    But that can’t happen, because the streetcar tracks are a different gauge.

    That is why, to this day, streetcars in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia use Pennsylvania Broad Gauge or Pennsylvania Trolley Gauge, 5 feet 2½ inches, instead of the standard American rail gauge of 4 feet 8½ inches. (Actually, Philadelphia is off by a quarter-inch at 5 feet 2¼ inches.) Most other American transit systems use standard gauge, although New Orleans streetcars use Pennsylvania Broad Gauge, too.

  • Outbound Trolley on Broadway, Beechview, in 1999

    Outbound Route 42S car

    Outbound car 4133 rounds the curve on Broadway, Beechview, in 1999, on route 42 (now the Red Line). The Siemens SD-400 car is in its original 1980s livery. It was later rebuilt as part of the 4200 series.

    And that should be enough numbers to leave the trolley geeks drooling.


    Comments
  • Station Square Station

  • Westfield Stop in 2001 and 2024

    Westfield stop in 2001

    Almost 24 years ago, old Pa Pitt had occasion to wait on the inbound platform of the Westfield stop on what was then the Route 42 streetcar line. The picture above was taken in March of 2001. The other day Father Pitt found himself at the same spot and took a similar picture, with sun instead of snow.

    Westfield stop in 2024

    Not much is different, because Beechview is a neighborhood that changes slowly. A few trees along Rockland Avenue in the background have grown. The automobiles are more recent models. The most obvious difference is the stop itself, where the sodium-vapor lights have been replaced with LEDs and the old brown sign has been replaced with a blue one. The destination no longer mentions Library, because Library cars no longer run on this route (they go through Overbrook instead).

  • Monongahela Incline

    Nonongahela Incline

    The Monongahela Incline on a rainy day. The incline opened in 1870, but the ornate lower station was built in 1904; it was designed by MacClure & Spahr.

    Lower station
    Lower station with car approaching
    Incline cars passing
    Incline car
    Incline car arriving at upper station
    Lower station with two cars on incline
    Lower station
    Lower station
    Lower station
    Monongahela Incline
    Fujifilm FinePix HS10; Kodak EasyShare Z1285.
  • Abstract Forms in Gateway Station

    Patterns of light in Gateway subway station

    Is this the oddest subway station in North America? It’s in the race, at least.

    Gateway Center from Gateway station
    Stairway
    Escalator
    Escalator and walkway
  • Potomac Station, Dormont

    Potomac Station on the Red Line
    Kodak Retinette with Kentmere Pan 100 film.

    Potomac gives Red Line riders easy access to the Dormont business district, which is full of odd little shops and restaurants that make it well worth a visit. Some of the houses in streets nearby are architecturally significant, and a walk through the back streets of Dormont is always pleasant.

  • Arlington Streetcar Loop

    Streetcar loop shelter

    This odd little building in the middle of a gravel lot is a remnant of the largest streetcar system in the United States.

    Arlington Avenue at the streetcar loop, 1968
    Arlington Avenue on March 30, 1968, with Route 48 streetcar coming out of the streetcar loop, by David Wilson from Oak Park, Illinois, USA, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

    We’ve already seen this picture of Arlington Avenue with the Route 48 streetcar poking its head out of the streetcar loop. That loop is still there, though the tracks have been taken up. You can see this little shelter right behind the trolley in the 1968 picture.

    In the 1960s. Pittsburgh had the largest remaining streetcar system in the country. We had lagged behind other cities in converting to bus transit, but the Port Authority, newly responsible for the transit system, was canceling streetcar lines right and left. (Some lines have survived—the lines that had their own right-of-way for most of the route, and thus would have been expensive or impossible to convert to buses.) The Arlington line would not survive long after that picture; the Route 48 streetcar became the Route 48 bus.

    Route 48 bus passing streetcar loop

    Here the Route 48 bus passes a mural with a picture of its predecessor, the Route 48 streetcar. The “Arlington Memories” murals are fading and will soon be memories themselves. The Route 48 streetcar line used to make a loop around the shelter and head back inbound on Arlington Avenue.

    Shelter again
    Shelter
    Front of the shelter
    Shelter with streetcar mural

    Shelter with wall of murals
    Canon PowerShot SX150 IS.