Hi Justin's Rail Video, Thanks for watching and for adding that extra bit of interesting information, which I was glad to learn. All the best for 2023. Cheers, tassiebaz.
I grew up in Baldwin Township, and rode the Mt. Lebanon and Beechview routea as well as Shannon and Library and Drake. A special thanks for the Castle Shannon footage. And there was a small trolley route connecting Castle Shannon and Clearview Loop right by the Denis Theater in Mt Lebo. I recall old wooden cars where motormen walked to either end, there were controls at either end.
Hi Gary, Thanks for watching and for sharing your memories. I'm glad you enjoyed the video and appreciate you taking the time to let me know. I think the route between Castle Shannon and Clearview was the 38A. I actually rode it a few times with PCCs when it was still single track with very limited trips. Great memories. Cheers, tassiebaz. 😄
@@tassiebaz ..For me it's decades later. Instead of counting sheep at bedtime, I imagine streetcars, the PCCs, the Mt. Lebanon/Dormont and Brookline routes, also the Shannon ones. As a kid, I sat on the front porch at Grandma's house with a borrowed railroad pocket watch, and timed the cars in Beechview. Big time for a small boy.
Hi@@garyburg9504, Wow, more great memories. At least you still have some "light rail" to enjoy, although I think it's not the same without the PCCs. I'm not from Pittsburgh, but have visited many, many times in the good old days and always enjoyed my time there. Cheers tassiebaz. 😄
@@tassiebaz ===You were correct............38A Mount Lebanon Castle Shannon Shuttle A double end shuttle between Castle Shannon and Clearview loop. Replaced by a rush hour extension of 38 Mount Lebanon.
Hi toetankgr, Thanks for watching and for your comment. The Smith station I found does look very different to the one in the video, but it is over 30 years since the video was taken. The stations in that area are: Castle Shannon Martin Villa St. Anne's Smith Road Washington Junction The information I found was: Location Library Road at Smith Road Castle Shannon, Pennsylvania Coordinates 40.3568°N 80.0292°W Smith Road appears not to be a very long street, so I would guess it could only be that one, but modernized so it looks very different. Cheers, tassiebaz. 😄
@@tassiebaz Thanks, I found the location and it is right next to the Denise station (currently), and it is at Denise Ave. Furthermore, other videos list this as Denise station. Are you sure that you didn't write the wrong caption?
@@toetankgr Hi, both at 0:53 and at 1:20 the streetcar passes the station with the name "Smith" clearly on it. This is in Castle Shannon and is what I used as a reference. It seems that Denise was not opened until 2004, (13 years after the video was taken), is in Pittsburgh, one of eight new platform equipped stations which replaced 33 streetcar style stops along the Overbrook branch. Cheers, tassiebaz.
In 1991, 92, and 93, I spent the summers in Pittsburgh with my Uncle, Aunt, and cousins. I had the time of my life each summer. Coming from rural Northeast PA, the city blew my mind. They lived on Sebring Avenue, which if I remember is in the Beechview? section. My cousin Sara was around 17 then, so she took me on the trolley everywhere. It seemed like endless steps from Sebring Avenue down to the trolley stop in the summer heat. It was even worse walking back up. We went to Kennywood, Three Rivers Stadium, and the Carnegie Science museum and I fell in love with the city more each summer. Where I come from, we have a Rattlesnake Round Up each summer. People chase rattlesnakes, grab them, and throw them into a barrel. Yeah, I know….🙄 Sorry this is a long comment, but this video really brought back some good memories. God bless Pittsburgh.
Hi John, Thanks for watching and for sharing your interesting memories. You are correct, Sebring Avenue is in Beechview. I started visiting Pittsburgh in the 1960s and have always been fascinated about how geographically unique an area it is. Getting around to photograph the trolley lines was always an adventure, but a delightful one. I always enjoyed my visits there and am glad I have some photographic records of my memories. Cheers, tassiebaz.
@@tassiebaz Yes I remember seeing some of them. Seemed like every car was different. I also heard they are all gone. A part of Pgh died when they left.
@@bobesposito7235 Hi, agreed, it's not like the good old days. The Internet shows that at least three ex-Pittsburgh PCCs are still around in museums. That's better than nothing. Cheers, tassiebaz.😄
Hi ClassyWhale, Thanks for watching. You can absolutely use whatever clips you need for your project, and my best wishes for producing it. Cheers, tassiebaz. 😄
Hi Sabi, hanks for watching and for your comment. Sorry I can't help with your question. I don't live in the area and haven't been down that way in a while. Regards, tassiebaz.
@@tassiebaz Alright, I think I found a list that keeps track of where all of the Pittsburgh PCC's have ended up. I may be able to do some more research into that. I was recently allowed into one of these cars that has been kept on display in Bethel Park, and would like to find some old video of this exact car to incorporate into my own video. Thanks for getting back to me!
@@SebisRandomTech The one at the Bethel Park Historical Society (old schoolhouse) is (or was) 4007. It has since been repainted to approximate the original Pittsburgh Railways paint scheme for PCCs and renumbered in the 1700 series
@@jonmuse166 From what I read it was originally car #1719, was renumbered as PAT #4007, and when they repainted it in Pittsburgh Railways colors they numbered it as #1729.
I remember when this first opened . I was in middle school, living in the Hill District. Thanks to the subway I was able to visit friends from school that lived in safer neighborhoods than mine. Probably kept me out of a lot of trouble.
Hi Lemon, Glad this brought back some good memories for you. Sounds like a good promotion campaign "Ride the light rail, stay out of trouble. Cheers, tassiebaz.
Hi Katespadoo, Thanks for watching and for taking the time to comment. At least there are still some trolley services running. Stay well. Cheers, tassiebaz.
The old Castle Shannon Municipal building! and Lawrence Music which recently went out business. and Castle Shannon PD with their Crown Vic's. And if you went up Mt. Lebanon Blvd and hang a left on Castle Shannon Blvd and if you stopped at the McD's on the right I was probably managing that day an would have served you a delicious MCDLT! Anybody still alive?
Hi midwayization, Thanks for watching and for sharing those observations and memories. If I had known you were at a nearby McD's, I would have stopped in for sure. All the best for 2024. Cheers, tassiebaz. 😃🍔
A fantastic video as always! It's interesting that when the cars were rebuilt to use pantographs instead of trolley poles, PAT didn't remove their retrievers from the back ends.
Hi Poisson Volant, Thanks for watching and for your kind words. I don't know why the retrievers remained. Perhaps someone thought the cars looked better, even though they served no functional purpose. Regards, tassiebaz.
@@libertubey2199 SEPTA designed its N-5 interurbans so pantographs could be added later, but they were never needed. There's a "big empty" on the car roofs where the pans were to be mounted, and IIRC the driver's cabs still have switches marked " "
Hi Scott, Thanks for watching and for taking the time to comment. Pittsburgh still has two streetcar routes running to South Hills Village and to Library via South Hills Junction. At one time, the Pittsburgh region had 68 streetcar routes with 666 PCC streetcars. During the 1950s and 1960s, these were abandoned in favor of buses for various reasons. At least there still are 2 lines. Stay well. Regards, tassiebaz.
@@tassiebaz Thanks for the response, tassiebaz. When I travel I try to get by as much as possible without a car. It worked for my Minneapolis trip, but from the looks of things it won't work so well when I visit Pittsburgh.
@@scottgrohs5940 Pittsburgh does have a fairly comprehensive bus system. Have a look at their website to see if their services meet your needs. It depends where you need to go.
@@tassiebaz I'd want to use it to get all around Pittsburgh, to each region of the city if possible - fully understanding that no light rail system can touch every neighborhood.
The PCCs in this video were the last remains of the 1700 series PCCs bought by Pittsburgh Railways. Windows were sealed and air was circulated by ceiling fans. They were HOT! The only reason I've ever seen for sealed windows is safety. The Port Authority made various claims for removing the remaining PCCs. Yet, in San Francisco, PCCs are running.
Hi Guido, Thanks for watching and for taking the time to comment. San Francisco is great. There are still a few PCCs running on the Mattapan Line in Boston too. And then there are the reconditioned ones running in EL Paso, and the Route 15 in Philadelphia which is "temporarily" suspended pending overhaul of the PCCs. Add to that the small loop line in Kenosha, Wisconsin that uses used PCCs. Stay well. Regards, tassiebaz.
The PCCs look awful with pantographs. They should have left the trolley poles on the cars. That's how they were originally made and how they are supposed to look.
Hi Gary, Agreed!! Pantographs on PCC cars always seemed a bit foreign to us purists. Chalk it up to progress and modernization. Thanks for watching and taking the time to comment. Stay well. Cheers, tassiebaz.
Hi gacj2010, Thanks for watching and for your comment. The lines still run to South Hills Village and Library, but the PCCs no longer run on these lines. Regards, tassiebaz.
@@tassiebaz Thank you I think light rail is a return to the future ... Here in Boston we heave several lines that run in the middle if main streets on dedicated ways .. Steets were deliberately built wide back then to accommodate street cars in middle. Currently a line is under extension to Tufts University north of Boston. There is one high speed trolley line called the Mattapan line that stil uses the PCC cars. The T is fabricating parts needed very successfully and they will run with no end in sight.
Hi @@gacj2010, Thanks for your informative reply. More like light rail is a return to the past when most cities had efficient streetcar networks, many with light rail characteristics. It's amazing that the T is still running PCCs on the Mattapan line. Besides there, PCCs only run in San Francisco and Kenosha, WI. Regards, tassiebaz.
Hi Mike, Scary, where does time go? Scarier even, some of my other Pittsburgh presentations were filmed more than 50 years ago. Thanks for watching and for your comment. Stay well. Cheers, tassiebaz.
6:58 4004 is preserved and running at the Pennsylvania Trolley Museum.
Hi Justin's Rail Video, Thanks for watching and for adding that extra bit of interesting information, which I was glad to learn. All the best for 2023. Cheers, tassiebaz.
I grew up in Baldwin Township, and rode the Mt. Lebanon and Beechview routea as well as Shannon and Library and Drake. A special thanks for the Castle Shannon footage. And there was a small trolley route connecting Castle Shannon and Clearview Loop right by the Denis Theater in Mt Lebo. I recall old wooden cars where motormen walked to either end, there were controls at either end.
Hi Gary, Thanks for watching and for sharing your memories. I'm glad you enjoyed the video and appreciate you taking the time to let me know. I think the route between Castle Shannon and Clearview was the 38A. I actually rode it a few times with PCCs when it was still single track with very limited trips. Great memories. Cheers, tassiebaz. 😄
@@tassiebaz ..For me it's decades later. Instead of counting sheep at bedtime, I imagine streetcars, the PCCs, the Mt. Lebanon/Dormont and Brookline routes, also the Shannon ones. As a kid, I sat on the front porch at Grandma's house with a borrowed railroad pocket watch, and timed the cars in Beechview. Big time for a small boy.
Hi@@garyburg9504, Wow, more great memories. At least you still have some "light rail" to enjoy, although I think it's not the same without the PCCs. I'm not from Pittsburgh, but have visited many, many times in the good old days and always enjoyed my time there. Cheers tassiebaz. 😄
@@tassiebaz I left in 1970.
@@tassiebaz ===You were correct............38A Mount Lebanon Castle Shannon Shuttle A double end shuttle between Castle Shannon and Clearview loop. Replaced by a rush hour extension of 38 Mount Lebanon.
Do you have the coordinates of the Smith station featured at 1:26 ? The only Smith station I found looks very different than what was shown.
Hi toetankgr, Thanks for watching and for your comment. The Smith station I found does look very different to the one in the video, but it is over 30 years since the video was taken. The stations in that area are:
Castle Shannon
Martin Villa
St. Anne's
Smith Road
Washington Junction
The information I found was:
Location Library Road at Smith Road
Castle Shannon, Pennsylvania
Coordinates 40.3568°N 80.0292°W
Smith Road appears not to be a very long street, so I would guess it could only be that one, but modernized so it looks very different. Cheers, tassiebaz. 😄
@@tassiebaz Thanks, I found the location and it is right next to the Denise station (currently), and it is at Denise Ave. Furthermore, other videos list this as Denise station. Are you sure that you didn't write the wrong caption?
@@toetankgr Hi, both at 0:53 and at 1:20 the streetcar passes the station with the name "Smith" clearly on it. This is in Castle Shannon and is what I used as a reference. It seems that Denise was not opened until 2004, (13 years after the video was taken), is in Pittsburgh, one of eight new platform equipped stations which replaced 33 streetcar style stops along the Overbrook branch. Cheers, tassiebaz.
In 1991, 92, and 93, I spent the summers in Pittsburgh with my Uncle, Aunt, and cousins. I had the time of my life each summer. Coming from rural Northeast PA, the city blew my mind. They lived on Sebring Avenue, which if I remember is in the Beechview? section.
My cousin Sara was around 17 then, so she took me on the trolley everywhere. It seemed like endless steps from Sebring Avenue down to the trolley stop in the summer heat. It was even worse walking back up.
We went to Kennywood, Three Rivers Stadium, and the Carnegie Science museum and I fell in love with the city more each summer. Where I come from, we have a Rattlesnake Round Up each summer. People chase rattlesnakes, grab them, and throw them into a barrel. Yeah, I know….🙄
Sorry this is a long comment, but this video really brought back some good memories. God bless Pittsburgh.
Hi John, Thanks for watching and for sharing your interesting memories. You are correct, Sebring Avenue is in Beechview. I started visiting Pittsburgh in the 1960s and have always been fascinated about how geographically unique an area it is. Getting around to photograph the trolley lines was always an adventure, but a delightful one. I always enjoyed my visits there and am glad I have some photographic records of my memories. Cheers, tassiebaz.
I grew up with the PCCs in the 1940s-1950s. Color scheme is different - nice. They ran down W Liberty Ave.
Hi Bob, Thanks for watching and for your comment. In their later years, the PCCs had all kinds of different paint schemes. Cheers, tassiebaz.
@@tassiebaz Yes I remember seeing some of them. Seemed like every car was different. I also heard they are all gone. A part of Pgh died when they left.
@@bobesposito7235 Hi, agreed, it's not like the good old days. The Internet shows that at least three ex-Pittsburgh PCCs are still around in museums. That's better than nothing. Cheers, tassiebaz.😄
Hello! May I use a few clips of this with credit in a video I'm producing about the history of Pittsburgh's light rail?
Hi ClassyWhale, Thanks for watching. You can absolutely use whatever clips you need for your project, and my best wishes for producing it. Cheers, tassiebaz. 😄
@@tassiebaz thanks!
2:06 is #4007 the one currently on display outside the schoolhouse in Bethel Park?
Hi Sabi, hanks for watching and for your comment. Sorry I can't help with your question. I don't live in the area and haven't been down that way in a while. Regards, tassiebaz.
@@tassiebaz Alright, I think I found a list that keeps track of where all of the Pittsburgh PCC's have ended up. I may be able to do some more research into that. I was recently allowed into one of these cars that has been kept on display in Bethel Park, and would like to find some old video of this exact car to incorporate into my own video. Thanks for getting back to me!
@@SebisRandomTech The one at the Bethel Park Historical Society (old schoolhouse) is (or was) 4007. It has since been repainted to approximate the original Pittsburgh Railways paint scheme for PCCs and renumbered in the 1700 series
@@jonmuse166 From what I read it was originally car #1719, was renumbered as PAT #4007, and when they repainted it in Pittsburgh Railways colors they numbered it as #1729.
I remember when this first opened . I was in middle school, living in the Hill District. Thanks to the subway I was able to visit friends from school that lived in safer neighborhoods than mine. Probably kept me out of a lot of trouble.
Hi Lemon, Glad this brought back some good memories for you. Sounds like a good promotion campaign "Ride the light rail, stay out of trouble. Cheers, tassiebaz.
@@tassiebaz yes ! It worked. I’m still friends with those guys too. One was even at my wedding.
@@lemondishonor7736 That's great!!!
And now us kids walk along the dead track!
Hi Katespadoo, Thanks for watching and for taking the time to comment. At least there are still some trolley services running. Stay well. Cheers, tassiebaz.
The old Castle Shannon Municipal building! and Lawrence Music which recently went out business. and Castle Shannon PD with their Crown Vic's. And if you went up Mt. Lebanon Blvd and hang a left on Castle Shannon Blvd and if you stopped at the McD's on the right I was probably managing that day an would have served you a delicious MCDLT! Anybody still alive?
Hi midwayization, Thanks for watching and for sharing those observations and memories. If I had known you were at a nearby McD's, I would have stopped in for sure. All the best for 2024. Cheers, tassiebaz. 😃🍔
A fantastic video as always!
It's interesting that when the cars were rebuilt to use pantographs instead of trolley poles, PAT didn't remove their retrievers from the back ends.
Hi Poisson Volant, Thanks for watching and for your kind words. I don't know why the retrievers remained. Perhaps someone thought the cars looked better, even though they served no functional purpose. Regards, tassiebaz.
NJ Transit also kept the trolley poles on their PCCs for the Newark City Subway when they switched to pantographs.
@@libertubey2199 SEPTA designed its N-5 interurbans so pantographs could be added later, but they were never needed. There's a "big empty" on the car roofs where the pans were to be mounted, and IIRC the driver's cabs still have switches marked " "
Wow, I walk past the Fort Couch station every day. So cool to see a trolley on the drake line
Hi Leader, Yes, great memories of the good old days. Thanks for watching. Stay well. Cheers, tassiebaz.
:sigh: Makes me wish to re-peg this delightful form of transport intra-urban.
How comprehensive a light rail network is this one? It seems like a real boon to thise that don’t have a car.
Hi Scott, Thanks for watching and for taking the time to comment. Pittsburgh still has two streetcar routes running to South Hills Village and to Library via South Hills Junction. At one time, the Pittsburgh region had 68 streetcar routes with 666 PCC streetcars. During the 1950s and 1960s, these were abandoned in favor of buses for various reasons. At least there still are 2 lines. Stay well. Regards, tassiebaz.
The remaining lines are fairly long, but nothing compared to what we once had...before PAT began dismantling the network.
@@tassiebaz Thanks for the response, tassiebaz. When I travel I try to get by as much as possible without a car. It worked for my Minneapolis trip, but from the looks of things it won't work so well when I visit Pittsburgh.
@@scottgrohs5940 Pittsburgh does have a fairly comprehensive bus system. Have a look at their website to see if their services meet your needs. It depends where you need to go.
@@tassiebaz I'd want to use it to get all around Pittsburgh, to each region of the city if possible - fully understanding that no light rail system can touch every neighborhood.
The PCCs in this video were the last remains of the 1700 series PCCs bought by Pittsburgh Railways. Windows were sealed and air was circulated by ceiling fans. They were HOT! The only reason I've ever seen for sealed windows is safety. The Port Authority made various claims for removing the remaining PCCs. Yet, in San Francisco, PCCs are running.
Hi Guido, Thanks for watching and for taking the time to comment. San Francisco is great. There are still a few PCCs running on the Mattapan Line in Boston too. And then there are the reconditioned ones running in EL Paso, and the Route 15 in Philadelphia which is "temporarily" suspended pending overhaul of the PCCs. Add to that the small loop line in Kenosha, Wisconsin that uses used PCCs. Stay well. Regards, tassiebaz.
The PCCs look awful with pantographs. They should have left the trolley poles on the cars. That's how they were originally made and how they are supposed to look.
Hi Gary, Agreed!! Pantographs on PCC cars always seemed a bit foreign to us purists. Chalk it up to progress and modernization. Thanks for watching and taking the time to comment. Stay well. Cheers, tassiebaz.
Do these still run
Hi gacj2010, Thanks for watching and for your comment. The lines still run to South Hills Village and Library, but the PCCs no longer run on these lines. Regards, tassiebaz.
@@tassiebaz Thank you
I think light rail is a return to the future ...
Here in Boston we heave several lines that run in the middle if main streets on dedicated ways .. Steets were deliberately built wide back then to accommodate street cars in middle. Currently a line is under extension to Tufts University north of Boston.
There is one high speed trolley line called the Mattapan line that stil uses the PCC cars. The T is fabricating parts needed very successfully and they will run with no end in sight.
Hi @@gacj2010, Thanks for your informative reply. More like light rail is a return to the past when most cities had efficient streetcar networks, many with light rail characteristics. It's amazing that the T is still running PCCs on the Mattapan line. Besides there, PCCs only run in San Francisco and Kenosha, WI. Regards, tassiebaz.
I personally have Road every inch of track in this video/ thanks for the memories!
Hi Patrick, Thanks for watching and for your comment. Glad you enjoyed the presentation. Regards, tassiebaz.
Now keep in mind THIS VIDEO WAS FILMED *29* YEARS AGO...
Hi Mike, Scary, where does time go? Scarier even, some of my other Pittsburgh presentations were filmed more than 50 years ago. Thanks for watching and for your comment. Stay well. Cheers, tassiebaz.