Celebrating city of Pittsburgh's firsts in transportation
Share with others:
On Aug. 6, 1859, the city of Pittsburgh made transportation history when the first horse-drawn streetcar began operating along Penn Avenue from Downtown to Allegheny Cemetery in Lawrenceville. The streetcars, owned by the Citizens Passenger Railway, operated in all weather conditions at a speed of 4 mph.
To help celebrate the 150th anniversary of this momentous occasion, the Pennsylvania Trolley Museum, in Chartiers, is planning a weekend celebration Aug. 6-9.
During the celebration, the only Pittsburgh horsecar in existence will take center stage in a series of guided tours of six Pittsburgh area trolleys in the museum's Trolley Display Building.
"For the first time, the public will be allowed inside the horse car, and a costumed interpreter will explain the daily life of a horse car operator," said Scott Becker, museum director.
The tours begin 15 minutes past the hour on all four days starting at 10:15 a.m. and continue until the last tour at 4:15 p.m. Included in the six car program is the newly acquired former Pittsburgh Railways streetcar #4145, built in McKees Rocks in 1911 by the Pressed Street car Company. The classic "high-floor" streetcar carried passengers through Pittsburgh until the late 1930s and helped the city grow during the transitional period before, during and after World War I when transportation shifted from horse-drawn wagons to automobiles.
A special photo exhibit of more than 30 images titled "Let's Ride: 150 Years of Pittsburgh Transit History" is on display in the museum's main building and shows what museum educator Nancy Cain McCombe calls "the evolution of the region's public transportation over the last century and a half."
Starting with a photo of the city's first horse-drawn streetcar, the exhibit includes images of Pittsburgh cable cars, inclines (the city had 17 at one time), electric streetcars and electric powered trolley buses.
"Many people may not know that, from 1888 to 1896, Pittsburgh had a cable car system capable of moving at 8 mph until it was abandoned with the introduction of the electric trolley, capable of attaining speeds of up to 20 mph," Mr. Becker said.
The photos are arranged in chronological order and end with an image of a hybrid-powered vehicle introduced into service on Earth Day 2005 that ran on a combination of diesel and electric batteries mounted on the roof that cut fuel consumption by 30 percent.
Other notable photos in the exhibit include the first passenger incline built to connect South Side with the Allentown section of Mt. Washington, the first electric streetcar that ran from Downtown Pittsburgh to Glenwood that started service in March 1890, double decked streetcars that operated in the 1910s and '20s, and the last of the Presidential Conference Committee cars, retired in 1999 after 63 years of service.
"The PCCs were named after the presidents of the streetcar companies who got together to develop a new line of streamlined cars," said museum volunteer, Frank Chickis of Cecil, who drove streetcars and buses for the Port Authority for 25 years before his retirement in 1994.
On Aug. 8, the museum will feature a special "Operator for and Hour" program in which streetcar-operator wannabes can take the controls of a car under the supervision of an instructor for a $70 fee which includes museum membership for a year.
On Aug. 9, visitors can trace their family tree with the genealogical Society of Southwestern in the Visitor Education Center.
"The fact that Westinghouse was located in the Pittsburgh area meant that a lot of transportation innovations were developed in the region," said Mr. Becker. "More transportation technology was developed in Pittsburgh than in any other place in the nation.''
Times for the exhibit are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is $9 for adults, $8 for seniors, and $5 for children 3 to 15. For more, call 724-228-9256 or visit www.pa-trolley.org.
First Published July 30, 2009 6:23 am
