TIMEPOINTSVolume 79 June 1991 Number 6

President's NotebookPittsburgh, Update

Association Board of Directors 1991President David G. CameronVice-President Alan FishelTreasurer George H. FoelschowSecretary Bill SmithAt-large John Heller

Jaune SmithPaul J. Ward, Jr.

Publisher Robert L. SchneiderContributors Robert C. (Bob) Bellinger

Leroy DemeryHarre W. Demoro

Ralph FortyJack Garcia

M.D. (Doc) IselyNorman K. Johnson

Richard KotulakJohn E. McEnhill

Ralph MelchingBen Minnick

David MorganTed Wickson

Gary M. Woodley

TimepointsThe Southern California Traction Review

byThe Electric Railway Historical Society of

Southern California, Inc.Free to members. Non-member subscribtions at $15.00 per

year. (January to December)

Editorial Mailing Address Circulation, ERHA BusinessJohn Heller ERHA822 No. Alexandria Ave. P.O. Box 24315Hollywood, CA 90029-2504 Los Angeles, CA 90024

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railroad bridge), and enter downtown as subway op-eration. The first station is Steel Plaza, from which ashuttle connects with Penn Station, (the Amtrak stopfor Pittsburgh), followed by Wood Street and Gate-way, (the terminus, where all cars and trains loop). Therail system is divided into two parts, one run with newlight rail vehicles, and the other with refurbishedPCCs. The LRVs run on the 42S�South Hills Villagevia Beechview, 42�Mt. Lebanon Only, and 42LLibrary via Beechview lines. The PCCs run on the47�Shannon Only via Overbrook, 47D�Drake viaOverbrook, and 47S�South Hills Village viaOverbrook lines. All the lines run through the SouthHills Tunnel. The split occurs at South Hills Junction,with the PCC lines via Overbrook running to thesoutheast and the LRV lines to the southwest. Thelatter have been extensively rebuilt to high standards,and include street running, private right of way, andsubway segments. The route passes throughBeechview, Dormont and Mt. Lebanon before rejoin-ing the Overbrook route at Castle Shannon Boro Hall.All lines share a main line from Castle Shannon toWashington Junction. At this point the 42L divergesto the southwest, terminating at Library. Years ago,this continued on as the interurban line to Charleroi,but it was cut back to Library, the last stop in AlleghenyCounty. The PCC route from South Hills Junction toCastle Shannon via Overbrook is of great interest toelectric-railway historians because of its stretches ofsingle track across elderly bridges and for the PCCequipment itself. There is now some discussion ofwhether to rebuild or abandon this route. FromWashington Junction, the cars not destined to Libraryall use the old interurban line to Washington, whichwas cut back to Drake just inside the county line. TheDrake Loop itself is served by PCCs on the 47D Line,while Line 42S LRVs and 47S PCCs turn west beforereaching Drake. There is new trackage to reach aterminus at the South Hills Village shopping center,whose large parking lots are convenient for use bypark-and-ride transit patrons. The rail system runsfrom about 5 or 6 AM to 12 or 1 AM, seven days aweek. Base headways on the 42L and 42S LRV Linesare 10 minutes, Monday through Saturday, and 15minutes on Sundays on the 42S, but 30 minutes on the42L, seven days a week. Monday through Friday, the

On the Cover, (top), Builder's photo of Brill RailLess car in 1922.Car ran in a loop around LARY's South Park Shops for somemonths, and then was stored until scrapped in 1946. (bottom),RTD rendering of new 60ft articulated Trolley Bus.

Construction on the current phase of Pittsburgh�slight rail system is complete. The system connectsdowntown with suburbs to the south. Previously, thestreetcars emerged from the South Hills Tunnel, thencrossed the historic Smithfield Street Bridge and usedsurface streets in downtown, but now the cars turnsharply to the right (east) as they emerge from thetunnel, (whose floor has been paved to allow buses toshare it), cross the Panhandle Bridge, (an abandoned

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Thirty ACF-Brill Model T46s, delivered in December, 1948. Weighing 19,000 lbs., these seated 46, were 36'10" long, 8'6" wide andhad one GE 1213-J1 motor with dynamic brakes. Here, 9123 in "Fruit Salad" paint scheme of LATL in 1949, posed alongside DivisionOne substation.

Trolley Buses For Los Angeles - The Fourth Time AroundSouthern California has always been a place of firsts,a barometer for worldwide trends. It is the inventor oftelevison, chili dogs, theme parks, smog, miniaturegolf, California cuisine, and it is the birthplace of thetrolley bus. In 1910 the Bungalowtown line of theLaurel Canyon Utilities Company became the firstrevenue trackless trolley line in North America. Thelined utilized two 16-passenger Oldsmobile motor busbodies into which 15-horsepower electric motors hadbeen installed. For five years the little buses bumpedand lurched their way up a dirt road to a real estatedevelopment a mile-and-a-half up Laurel Canyonfrom a connection with Los Angeles Pacific�s Holly-wood Boulevard streetcar. The Bungalowtown linefaded away in 1915, a fleeting Southern Californiafirst. Eighty years later Los Angeles may be up foranother first, the city with more separate eras of trolleybus operation than any other city in the world; four inall. The fourth benchmark has yet to be established,but it is probable that the SCRTD will be operating tentrolley bus lines by 1998, with the initial two linesopening in 1995. Ironically, the diesel bus that doomed

so many trolley bus systems is now itself an endan-gered transit species on the verge of extinction. By1995 federal emission standards will be so stringentthat it will be nearly impossible for new diesel enginesto meet those standards, and transit systems nation-wide will be forced to seek alternative fuels, such asnatural gas, methanol, and electricity, as they replacevehicles in their fleets. A joint study by the SCRTDand LACTC has pointed to the proven technology andnon-polluting nature of the trolley bus, and has iden-tified approximately 40 diesel bus routes that areviable candidates for electrification: the initial tenroutes to be in operation within seven years. This willbe Los Angeles� fourth flirtation with trackless trol-leys, but its first commitment to a longterm relation-ship? Seven years after the Bungalowtown line quitoperation, Los Angeles toyed with the trolley bus asecond time. The Los Angeles Railway purchased aBrill �Rail-less� Car, similiar to the ones in the smallfleet that were to serve Philadelphia�s 80-OregonAvenue line starting in 1923. LARY car �100� wasdemonstrated on a test loop around South Park Shops,and was then stored and forgotten until it was scrappedin 1946 by the new owners of LARY, National City

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August, 1946, when they were shipped to Los Angeles.Another twenty-five Brill TC-44s of the same designcompleted the initial LATL fleet. LATL ordered sev-enty additional trolley buses in 1948 to provide serviceon Los Angeles� second trackless trolley line, 2-Brook-lyn Ave.-Hooper Ave., which replaced rail line B onDecember 5, 1948. wo years later the final expansionof the trolley bus system took place when the 3 line wasextended three miles from Sixth & Wilton, north toThird and west to La Brea, on September 15, 1950.

The extension re-placed the WestThird St. branch ofthe S rail line.LATL�s 110 trolleybuses far exceededthe needs of twolines, and it wasplanned to use thesurplus on a thirdline, by convertingthe heavy 41-Alvarado crosstownbus route to electricpower. Althoughengineering studieswere completed theplan never came tofruition. Los Ange-les� small trolley bussystem was well-maintained and op-erated efficientlythroughout the fif-ties into the early six-ties. When LATLand Pacific Electricwere merged into theLos Angeles Metro-politan Transit Au-

thority on March 3, 1958, the TCs continued to bekept in good operating condition, as did the overhead.LAMTA abandoned its vestigal trolley bus system onMarch 31, 1963, along with its five remaining streetcarlines. The all-Brill fleet sat at Vernon Yard for six yearsuntil it was sold to Mexico City. The fleet was intact

Lines. Oddly enough, the test loop that had sat idle for24 years became the training ground a year later forLos Angeles� third try at the trolley bus. (When NCLinaugurated service on the nine-mile 3-West Sixth St.-Central Ave. line on August 3, 1947.) NCL was headedby E. Roy Fitzgerald, a rotund and jowly formerrailroad man, who along with his brothers bought upscores of small and medium-sized street railways dur-ing the 1930s, and almost without exception quicklymotorized them. Among NCL�s major stockholderswere General Motors,Shell Oil, FirestoneTire, and Mack Truck.At the time of NCL�sgreatest growth, follow-ing the second worldwar, the governmentwas laying the ground-work to indict the com-pany on anti-trustcharges, (NCL was laterfound guilty), and itdoesn�t take a rocketscientist to realize thatNCL�s sudden surge ofinterest in trolley busesand new PCC cars forLos Angeles may havebeen the ultimate pub-lic relations promotionfor the time. Neverthe-less, Los Angeleswound up with a fleetof 110 trolley buses and40 new PCC cars. Thefirst fifteen trolley buseshad been delivered inan orange and silverpaint scheme to NCL�sKey System TransitLines in Oakland, to replace streetcars on the 6-College Ave. and 7-Arlington-Euclid lines. They hadbeen ordered by the previous owners, and someoverhead was already in place. NCL decided on an all-diesel bus system for the East Bay however, and thecoaches sat idle at Emeryville Shops from February to

tio of vehicle service miles to route miles. From astandpoint of cost effectiveness, long routes withrelatively few peak buses and long headways are theleast desirable. The first ten routes are shorter, andhave a large number of peak buses and short headways,with many stops and starts. (Some are noticeably hilly.)These factors have favored the recommendation forthe initial ten lines, since diesel fuel consumption andemissions are comparatively high on routes of thissort. Phase One of the new trolley bus system willinclude the following routes: 16-W. Third St., 18-W.Sixth St.-Whittier Blvd., 30-W. Pico-Floral Dr., 33-Venice Blvd., 40-Hawthorne-Union Station, 45-Broad-way, 92-Glendale Blvd., 180-Hollywood-Pasadena,424-Ventura Blvd., and 76-Valley Blvd. In all commu-nity surveys so far, public reaction and acceptance

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except for two coaches that had been wrecked, andone that ultimately wound up at the Orange EmpireRailway Museum. Now,almost thirty years later,the trolley bus is slatedto return to Los Angeleswith a bang; steppingonto the center of thetransit stage with an ini-tial network of tenroutes. This will define alarge system by anyone�sstandard. State and fed-eral funding sourceshave been identified forthe proposed system,which will initially cover154 route miles, (Justtwenty miles under theexisting trackless trolleymileage of SanFrancisco�s MunicipalRailway.) Included inthe proposal are two trol-ley coach divisions tostore and maintain thefleet. In selecting the ini-tial ten routes, SCRTDand LACTC have con-centrated on high den-sity lines, with a high ra-

Bungalowtown line circa 1911.

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have been extremely positive. Residents of virtually allcommunities see reduction of air pollution as a majorbenefit, particularly in areas with heavy diesel bustraffic. (Along with the reduced noise and vibrationthat are trademarks of the trolley bus.) Areas express-ing a particularly strong interest in having trolley busesintroduced into their communities include Pasadena,Glendale, Burbank, the East Los Angeles businessdistrict, West Covina, the Crenshaw area, and the SanFernando Valley. In the surveys so far, some concernhas been raised about the aesthetic acceptability of theoverhead wires. Measures to minimize thc visibility ofwires have been included in the basic design and costof the system. It is planned to use some traffic signaland streetlight poles to support the overhead, and toplant trees along the routes where they are appropri-ate. Another community concern has been the usefullife of trolley bus technology. Will it become obsoletewith advancements in battery, fuel cell, or roadwaypowered vchicles? All of these non-polluting tech-nologies must overcome major design and cost ob-stacles before commercialization is practical or evenfeasible. Such developments can�t be counted on orplanned for. The trolley bus is a proven technology,and can yield near zero level pollution today. LosAngeles� new trolley buses will employ auxiliary powerunits consisting of a thousand pound battery system,requiring little maintenance, and enabling the coachesto operate on battery power from two to three miles.This innovation will save two million plus dollars in

overhead special work in division yards, will allow thebuses to maneuver around accidents, have flexiblerush hour short turns, and will cut costs by eliminatingoverhead special work in loops and terminals. Increas-ing pollution and increasingly strict emission stan-dards have caused Los Angeles� flirtation with trolleybuses to become a shotgun wedding. It�s about time.

My thanks to Scott Page of the SCRTD for assistance in thepreparation of this article.

-Paul Ward

Los Angeles Brill 9007 at Union Station's streetcar loop. Thats 1267 loading for the "F" line on theloop, while the TC is on line 2 headed for City Terrace. (1948)

These Oakland Brills rest in Los Angeles Transit Lines yard priorto entering service, 1946.

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PCCs run every 15 minutes to Castle Shannon on the42, with alternate cars providing 30-minute service toDrake Loop on the 42D. Only a dozen or so trips a dayserve South Hills Village on the 47S. On weekends,PCCs run from downtown to Drake, as 47D cars, with30-minute headways on Saturday and 45-minuteheadways on Sunday. Fares are collected upon board-ing, inbound, and on alighting, outbound. Downtownis a free-fare zone, outside this zone, fares range from$1 to $2 during rush hours, and 75¢ to $1.60 at othertimes. (Fare depends on length of ride.) Transfersgood for one ride on any route in any direction duringa three-hour period can be purchased for 25¢. Manytransit historians will also enjoy riding the two surviv-ing inclines, whose technology is basically that used onthe Angel�s Flight and Echo Mountain Inclines here inSouthern California. The Monongahela Incline wasopened in 1870 and has been operated by the transitagency since 1964. The base station is a short walkfrom the Station Square light rail station. The DuquesneIncline opened in 1877 and has been operated by thenonprofit Society for the Preservation of the DuquesneHeights Incline since 1963. Its base station can bereached from the Gateway light rail terminal station bywalking across the Fort Pitt Bridge. A ride up oneIncline can be combined with a ride down the other,since a pedestrian promenade with a spectacular viewof Pittsburgh�s downtown and two rivers link theupper stations along the top cliff edge of Mt. Washing-ton. Pittsburgh is well worth a visit. -

David G. Cameron

(Pittsburgh Report Continued from page 2)

1961

5, Wednesday. MOVIE, Last Remaining Seats,Orpheum Theatre, 842 So. Broadway, "The KidBrother", Harold Lloyd, (w/Gaylord Carter at theWurlitzer), (1927), 7:30 (213) 623-CITY7, Friday. MEETING, Bay Area Electric RailroadSociety regular monthly meeting, 8:00

12, Wednesday. MOVIE, Last Remaining Seats, Mil-lion Dollar Theatre, 307 So. Broadway, "The ThreeCaballeros", Donald Duck, (1943), 7:30 (213) 623-CITY for info.14, Friday. MEETING, Pacific Railroad Society regu-lar monthly meeting, 7:30 at Joslyn Rec. Center19, Wednesday. MOVIE, Last Remaining Seats, LosAngeles Theatre, 615 So. Broadway, "Grand Hotel",Greta Garbo, (1932), 7:30 (213) 623-CITY for info.21, Friday. MEETING, ELECTRIC RAILWAY HIS-TORICAL SOCIETY regular monthly meeting. PalmsDepot, Heritage Square. 7:30 Business Meeting,8:00 Program George Garr, "Recollections ofToronto, 1950-1990"26, Wednesday. MOVIE, Last Remaining Seats, Loew'sState Theatre, 703 So. Broadway, "Gigi", (1958), 7:30

(213) 623-CITY for info.12, Friday. MEETING, Pacific Railroad Society regu-lar monthly meeting, 7:30 at Joslyn Rec. Center19, Friday. MEETING, ELECTRIC RAILWAY HIS-TORICAL SOCIETY regular monthly meeting. PalmsDepot, Heritage Square. 7:30 Business Meeting,8:00 Program Paul Ward, "Traction of NorthernEurope featuring East Berlin, Potsdam, Vienna,Zurich, Frankfort, Den Haig und Amsterdam."3, Saturday. CONCERT, "LATOS", 8:00 at SexsonAuditorium, Walt Strony9, Friday. MEETING, Pacific Railroad Society regular

23, Friday. MEETING, Walter Abbenseth's annualextravaganza, Sunset, slides of the Pacific Electric.Alpine St., Pasadena13, Friday. MEETING, Pacific Railroad Society regu-lar monthly meeting, 7:30 at Joslyn Rec. Center13, Friday. MEETING, Pacific Railroad Society regu-lar monthly meeting, 7:30 at Joslyn Rec. Center20, Friday. MEETING, ELECTRIC RAILWAY HIS-TORICAL SOCIETY regular monthly meeting. PalmsDepot, Heritage Square.7:30 Business Meeting, 8:00 Program Scenes ofHighland Park/Eagle Rock, (possible meeting atCypress Park Substation?).8, Friday. MEETING, Pacific Railroad Society regularmonthly meeting, 7:30 at Joslyn Rec. Center15, Friday. MEETING, ELECTRIC RAILWAY HIS-TORICAL SOCIETY regular monthly meeting. PalmsDepot, Heritage Square. 7:30 Business Meeting,8:00 Program South of the Border, (watch for de-tails).

monthly meeting, 7:30 at Joslyn Rec. Center16, Friday. MEETING, ELECTRIC RAILWAY HIS-TORICAL SOCIETY regular monthly meeting. PalmsDepot, Heritage Square. 7:30 Business Meeting,8:00 Program Bay Area Traction, (watch for de-tails).

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