Father Pitt

Tag: Trolleys

  • Streetcars in Allentown

    Two-car train on Warrington Avenue

    All summer long, all the rail routes have been detoured through Allentown. Stop and consider for a moment how thoroughly odd Pittsburgh transit is: do you know of any other subway system that keeps up an alternate route over the top for times when one of the tunnels has to be closed?

    Trolleys on Warrington at Beltzhoover

    The few riders who look up from their phone screens have a chance to notice that Allentown is changing. Over the past few years, the Warrington Avenue business district has been going through a rapid trendification. It’s full of weird little shops too low-budget for the high rents of Lawrenceville.

    Trolley and bus passing

    A bonus bus coming toward you, for the longtime fans.

    Trolley on Warrington at Allen

    While the trolleys are going over the top, they stop at Allen Street in the middle of the Allentown business district.

    “Nothing beats public transit” on a mural

    Many people in Allentown would like to have their Allentown Trolley back permanently. They have been enjoying their summer of streetcars.

    Two-car train
    Nikon COOLPIX P100; Kodak EasyShare Z981.
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  • Transit-Oriented Development

    Red line tracks on Broadway Avenue in Dormont
    Konica Minolta DiMAGE Z6.

    “Transit-Oriented Development” is a favorite catch phrase among urban planners. In the early twentieth century, it was just the way development happened. Most people used streetcars to get to work, to shopping, and to all their amusements, so of course development and transit had to go together. Here we see a typical pattern: a main spine street—in this case, Broadway Avenue in Dormont—divided in two parts, with a broad median for trolleys. Many neighborhood main streets were built this way. Red Line trolleys still run here in Dormont, and Silver Line trolleys on a similar plan in Bethel Park.

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  • Potomac Station

    Outbound Red Line car at Potomac station

    An outbound Siemens SD-400 car on the Red Line arrives at Potomac station in Dormont.

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  • Steel Plaza Subway Station

    Steel Plaza subway station

    Following the example of Montreal, Pittsburgh had each of its subway stations decorated by a different artist. The neon installation in Steel Plaza, called “River of Light,” is by Jane Haskell.

    Blue Line car entering Steel Plaza
    Steel Plaza

    The style of the station itself combines Brutalism with Postmodernism.

    Steel Plaza
    4201 car
    Fujifilm FinePix HS10.

    Trolley Number One, the very first car in the sequential numbering of current Pittsburgh trolleys.

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  • 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.

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  • Station Square Station

    Blue Line car at Station Square
    Station Square station
    Red Line car at Station Square
    Fujifilm FinePix HS10.
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  • 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.

  • Stevenson Stop on the Red Line, Dormont

    Trolley arriving at Stevenson stop

    In the terminology of Pittsburgh Regional Transit, Stevenson is a “stop” rather than a “station,” meaning that you board from the low-level door—the one old Pa Pitt calls the “Pittsburgh door”—and walk up three steps, whereas at a “station” you enter by one of the platform-level doors.

  • Mount Lebanon Station

    Mt. Lebanon Station

    A two-car train enters Mount Lebanon station from the subway tunnel that goes under part of Dormont and Uptown Mount Lebanon. Part of the platform is under reconstruction at the moment, so only the front car will open its doors.

    The Red Line is partly closed for the next two months as Pittsburgh Regional Transit sorts out an accumulated backlog of construction projects. The section from Potomac south to Overbrook Junction is still open.

    Two-car train at Mount Lebanon
    Outbound train, with stairway
    Kodak EasyShare Z981.

  • Trolleys at Penn Station

    Penn Station

    Although the subway spur to Penn Station is not in regular use, it is kept in working order for emergencies and special events. The subway downtown has been interrupted at Wood Street for track reconstruction, so trolleys are diverted to Penn Station, with a shuttle bus to Gateway.

    Penn Station
    Pair of trolleys
    Fujifilm FinePix HS10.