Railroad Forums
Pittsburgh Commuter Rail - PATrain
- General discussion of passenger rail systems not otherwise covered in the specific forums in this category, including high speed rail.
Moderators: mtuandrew, gprimr1
The two ex-PAT F's 6690 and 6691 are now at the Railroad Museum of New England, leased from CDOT.
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Moderator: New York State Railfan :: New York Central :: Toy Trains
NYW&B Fan Site :: A Magazine I Read Often :: A Museum I Volunteer At
Moderator: New York State Railfan :: New York Central :: Toy Trains
NYW&B Fan Site :: A Magazine I Read Often :: A Museum I Volunteer At
I took those the other day. Thats the abandoned College Station in Beaver Falls
I have a Green Frog tape entitled 'Rails to Steel City" in which the PAT trains are strongly featured. It shows a lot of them. You might watch for it. I'll watch it tonight so as to tell you when service ended.
Well, I had a look at the tape. I had forgotten how entertaining it is. One thing, it's nearly 20 years old so you probably won't find a copy. According to the narration, service ended April 1989. By that time the service was down to 750 passengers a day. Given the service density, the push-pull sets must have been running practically empty. Service was from Pittsburgh to Versailles (pr Ver-Sales). The station used in Pitt was the old B&O Grants street station. The push-pull sets consisted of 4 cars (including cab car) plus an F7. The livery was an attractive brown, cream, and orange. Service was provided in the Mon Valley. It's a good tape if you can find it.
To answer an earlier question, the last Pennsylvania RR Pittsburgh commuter trains ran on November 27, 1964.
An indication of the Pittsburgh way of moving daily riders is the Panhandle (Old PRR mainline for thems just learnin' to shave) being paved and made into a busway. Of course in P'burgh they think a Mag-Lev from Monroeville to the Airport is a great idea. Plenty-o-dough for that.
I think we should pave Turtle Creek and the Mon River and make that a busway. Or am I just an old romantic river fan?
I think we should pave Turtle Creek and the Mon River and make that a busway. Or am I just an old romantic river fan?
Mitch
Gardendance: The Amtrak "Fort Pitt" ran between PGH-ALT from April 24,1981 to January 30,1983.
The Pennsylvanian schedule was set up to allow an AM W,PM E "Fort Pitt" to operate with either an equipment or engine wye at PGH.
The equipment would overnight and be serviced at ALT.
That was back in the days when the Pennsylvanian was just a 2-car Amfleet train.
I believe it was an experimental set-up with PennDot allowing the extra PGH-ALT service.
With the longer train operated today along with extended WB service towards Cleveland dedicated commuter equipment would be a better bet for a "Fort Pitt"
revival should issues be worked out with NS-The HAR-PGH line could well support more then one RT per day between those points.
MACTRAXX
The Pennsylvanian schedule was set up to allow an AM W,PM E "Fort Pitt" to operate with either an equipment or engine wye at PGH.
The equipment would overnight and be serviced at ALT.
That was back in the days when the Pennsylvanian was just a 2-car Amfleet train.
I believe it was an experimental set-up with PennDot allowing the extra PGH-ALT service.
With the longer train operated today along with extended WB service towards Cleveland dedicated commuter equipment would be a better bet for a "Fort Pitt"
revival should issues be worked out with NS-The HAR-PGH line could well support more then one RT per day between those points.
MACTRAXX
EXPRESS TRAIN TO NEW YORK PENN STATION-NO JAMAICA ON THIS TRAIN-PLEASE STAND CLEAR OF THE CLOSING TRAIN DOORS
I was looking through this old post for the P&LE date of discontinuance and I noted questions about the PRR service.
The last PRR commuter trains in Pittsburgh were discontinued the day after Thanksgiving in 1964-----November 27, 1964.
I rode a train from Freeport to Pittsburgh, returning from Pittsburgh to Garvers Ferry on the other side of the river, walking across the bridge to retrieve my car that day.
SMT
The last PRR commuter trains in Pittsburgh were discontinued the day after Thanksgiving in 1964-----November 27, 1964.
I rode a train from Freeport to Pittsburgh, returning from Pittsburgh to Garvers Ferry on the other side of the river, walking across the bridge to retrieve my car that day.
SMT
I grew up south of Pittsburgh and occasionally visit for work and to visit family. I wondered this weekend what it would take to actually run a successful and well used commuter railroad in Pittsburgh. I see two big issues besides money: (1) Pittsburgh being a busy freight hub, and (2) a disconnect between where downtown workers live and where the existing railroads go.
The first item just makes it hard to operate when there is freight conflicts especially a lot of slow moving freight.
The second item is probably harder to address. There is no railroad infrastructure up the 279-79 corridor running to Cranberry. The line that would serve the 19 corridor in the South Hills and Washington County would not be very fast. Same applies for the service to the Airport area. A lot of the other infrastructure serves depressed areas.
The first item just makes it hard to operate when there is freight conflicts especially a lot of slow moving freight.
The second item is probably harder to address. There is no railroad infrastructure up the 279-79 corridor running to Cranberry. The line that would serve the 19 corridor in the South Hills and Washington County would not be very fast. Same applies for the service to the Airport area. A lot of the other infrastructure serves depressed areas.