Misplaced Pages

#982017

92-800: The tunnel, formerly known as the Mount Washington Trolley Tunnel, opened for trolleys in 1904, and was converted to a shared rail-bus tunnel in 1973. It has been the only transit-only tunnel shared by rail and buses since 2019, when the Downtown Seattle Transit Tunnel closed to buses. The construction of the Mount Washington Transit Tunnel was instrumental in the development of the South Hills, as it shortened travel times to Downtown Pittsburgh significantly. Today,

184-622: A tram engine in the UK) at the head of a line of one or more carriages, similar to a small train. Systems with such steam trams included Christchurch , New Zealand; Sydney, Australia; other city systems in New South Wales ; Munich , Germany (from August 1883 on), British India (from 1885) and the Dublin & Blessington Steam Tramway (from 1888) in Ireland. Steam tramways also were used on

276-520: A Vermont blacksmith, had invented a battery-powered electric motor which he later patented. The following year he used it to operate a small model electric car on a short section of track four feet in diameter. Attempts to use batteries as a source of electricity were made from the 1880s and 1890s, with unsuccessful trials conducted in among other places Bendigo and Adelaide in Australia, and for about 14 years as The Hague accutram of HTM in

368-618: A key component of the new Pittsburgh Light Rail system when it was approved in 1980, succeeding the failed Skybus system. The light rail system rebuilt and improved the remaining trolley system, including the purchase of new rolling stock and the creation of a new trolley tunnel in Downtown Pittsburgh. As part of the Pittsburgh Light Rail construction, trolleys exiting the Mount Washington tunnel to

460-612: A legal dispute in April 1902. The Mount Washington Tunnel Co. hired Flinn-founded construction firm Booth and Flinn to construct its tunnel, and it came into conflict with the Pittsburg Tunnel Co. about which firm could proceed with building its tunnel. In 1903, Pittsburgh Railways intervened and took control of the project, investing millions of dollars into the Mount Washington Tunnel Co. and settling

552-466: A makeshift hospital. A total of 23 people died in the crash. On October 29, 1987, a 1700-series all-electric PCC car began to exceed the tunnel's speed limit as it entered the south portal after departing South Hills Junction . The operator, realizing the car could neither stop nor take the sharp curve from the transitway to the Panhandle Bridge ramp, ordered all the passengers to move to

644-726: A similar technology, Pirotsky put into service the first public electric tramway in St. Petersburg, which operated only during September 1880. The second demonstration tramway was presented by Siemens & Halske at the 1879 Berlin Industrial Exposition. The first public electric tramway used for permanent service was the Gross-Lichterfelde tramway in Lichterfelde near Berlin in Germany, which opened in 1881. It

736-946: A well-known tourist attraction . A single cable line also survives in Wellington (rebuilt in 1979 as a funicular but still called the " Wellington Cable Car "). Another system, with two separate cable lines and a shared power station in the middle, operates from the Welsh town of Llandudno up to the top of the Great Orme hill in North Wales , UK. Hastings and some other tramways, for example Stockholms Spårvägar in Sweden and some lines in Karachi , used petrol trams. Galveston Island Trolley in Texas operated diesel trams due to

828-640: Is still in operation in modernised form. The earliest tram system in Canada was built by John Joseph Wright , brother of the famous mining entrepreneur Whitaker Wright , in Toronto in 1883, introducing electric trams in 1892. In the US, multiple experimental electric trams were exhibited at the 1884 World Cotton Centennial World's Fair in New Orleans, Louisiana , but they were not deemed good enough to replace

920-734: Is the sole survivor of the fleet). In Italy, in Trieste , the Trieste–Opicina tramway was opened in 1902, with the steepest section of the route being negotiated with the help of a funicular and its cables. Cable cars suffered from high infrastructure costs, since an expensive system of cables , pulleys , stationary engines and lengthy underground vault structures beneath the rails had to be provided. They also required physical strength and skill to operate, and alert operators to avoid obstructions and other cable cars. The cable had to be disconnected ("dropped") at designated locations to allow

1012-713: The Bleecker Street Line until its closure in 1917. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania , had its Sarah Street line drawn by horses until 1923. The last regular mule-drawn cars in the US ran in Sulphur Rock, Arkansas , until 1926 and were commemorated by a U.S. postage stamp issued in 1983. The last mule tram service in Mexico City ended in 1932, and a mule tram in Celaya, Mexico , survived until 1954. The last horse-drawn tram to be withdrawn from public service in

SECTION 10

#1732781096983

1104-547: The Casselman Formation , both part of the Conemaugh Group . The Ames Limestone member , a thin marker bed of limestone that uniquely identifies the youngest layer of marine transgression in the area, is present at the tunnel's northern portal. From the northern portal at Station Square, the tunnel rises through the entire Casselman Formation, emerging at South Hills Junction. At the southern portal,

1196-933: The Lamm fireless engines then propelling the St. Charles Avenue Streetcar in that city. The first commercial installation of an electric streetcar in the United States was built in 1884 in Cleveland, Ohio , and operated for a period of one year by the East Cleveland Street Railway Company. The first city-wide electric streetcar system was implemented in 1886 in Montgomery, Alabama , by the Capital City Street Railway Company, and ran for 50 years. In 1888,

1288-655: The Pittsburgh Railways Company was formed as a consolidation of multiple electric trolley and interurban operators. The Pittsburgh Railways represented technological advancement in the transport business, a notable contrast with the Pittsburgh and Castle Shannon Railroad. The P&CS chose not to electrify its lines, as it was a vertically integrated company which produced high-quality coal from mines it owned. It instead chose to continue burning coal to power its steam locomotives and inclines. At

1380-715: The Richmond Union Passenger Railway began to operate trams in Richmond, Virginia , that Frank J. Sprague had built. Sprague later developed multiple unit control, first demonstrated in Chicago in 1897, allowing multiple cars to be coupled together and operated by a single motorman. This gave rise to the modern subway train. Following the improvement of an overhead "trolley" system on streetcars for collecting electricity from overhead wires by Sprague, electric tram systems were rapidly adopted across

1472-824: The West Midlands Metro in Birmingham , England adopted battery-powered trams on sections through the city centre close to Grade I listed Birmingham Town Hall . Paris and Berne (Switzerland) operated trams that were powered by compressed air using the Mekarski system . Trials on street tramways in Britain, including by the North Metropolitan Tramway Company between Kings Cross and Holloway, London (1883), achieved acceptable results but were found not to be economic because of

1564-475: The overhead line , cutting off power and stopping the car. The trolley was so crowded that the conductor could not leave his station to guide the trolley pole back onto the line, and an argument ensued between the conductor and the motorman about whose duty it was to adjust the pole. The argument continued for multiple minutes until the motorman of a trolley behind the Knoxville car exited his trolley and put

1656-1241: The 1850s, after which the "animal railway" became an increasingly common feature in the larger towns. The first permanent tram line in continental Europe was opened in Paris in 1855 by Alphonse Loubat who had previously worked on American streetcar lines. The tram was developed in numerous cities of Europe (some of the most extensive systems were found in Berlin, Budapest , Birmingham , Saint Petersburg , Lisbon , London , Manchester , Paris , Kyiv ). The first tram in South America opened in 1858 in Santiago, Chile . The first trams in Australia opened in 1860 in Sydney . Africa's first tram service started in Alexandria on 8 January 1863. The first trams in Asia opened in 1869 in Batavia (Jakarta), Netherlands East Indies (Indonesia) . Limitations of horsecars included

1748-713: The 1894-built horse tram at Victor Harbor in South Australia . New horse-drawn systems have been established at the Hokkaidō Museum in Japan and also in Disneyland . A horse-tram route in Polish gmina Mrozy , first built in 1902, was reopened in 2012. The first mechanical trams were powered by steam . Generally, there were two types of steam tram. The first and most common had a small steam locomotive (called

1840-492: The 1917 crash, car #4236, a low-floor, double-ended trolley, was built as part of the Pittsburgh Railways 4200 series by the St. Louis Car Company in 1914. The 4200 series cars had a nominal passenger capacity of 55 seated and 29 standing, but the trolley on Christmas Eve was overloaded, with a total of 117 passengers onboard. After the trolley entered the tunnel from the south portal, the trolley pole came off

1932-420: The 1980s. The history of passenger trams, streetcars and trolley systems, began in the early nineteenth century. It can be divided into several distinct periods defined by the principal means of power used. Precursors to the tramway included the wooden or stone wagonways that were used in central Europe to transport mine carts with unflanged wheels since the 1500s, and the paved limestone trackways designed by

SECTION 20

#1732781096983

2024-532: The 19th century, the inclines on Mount Washington were the best technology for their geography. The inclines began the process of integrating the formerly isolated neighborhood of Mount Washington with the rest of the city, and the advent of electric trolley service would continue the process of the expansion of the City of Pittsburgh. Less than 20 years after the introduction of the electric trolley, in January 1902,

2116-481: The Australian state of Queensland between 1909 and 1939. Stockholm , Sweden, had a steam tram line at the island of Södermalm between 1887 and 1901. Tram engines usually had modifications to make them suitable for street running in residential areas. The wheels, and other moving parts of the machinery, were usually enclosed for safety reasons and to make the engines quieter. Measures were often taken to prevent

2208-462: The British newspaper Newcastle Daily Chronicle reported that, "A large number of London's discarded horse tramcars have been sent to Lincolnshire where they are used as sleeping rooms for potato pickers ". Horses continued to be used for light shunting well into the 20th century, and many large metropolitan lines lasted into the early 20th century. New York City had a regular horsecar service on

2300-774: The Entertainment Centre, and work is progressing on further extensions. Sydney re-introduced trams (or light rail) on 31 August 1997. A completely new system, known as G:link , was introduced on the Gold Coast, Queensland , on 20 July 2014. The Newcastle Light Rail opened in February 2019, while the Canberra light rail opened on 20 April 2019. This is the first time that there have been trams in Canberra, even though Walter Burley Griffin 's 1914–1920 plans for

2392-583: The Irish coach builder John Stephenson , in New York City which began service in the year 1832. The New York and Harlem Railroad's Fourth Avenue Line ran along the Bowery and Fourth Avenue in New York City. It was followed in 1835 by the New Orleans and Carrollton Railroad in New Orleans, Louisiana , which still operates as the St. Charles Streetcar Line . Other American cities did not follow until

2484-545: The Netherlands. The first trams in Bendigo, Australia, in 1892, were battery-powered, but within as little as three months they were replaced with horse-drawn trams. In New York City some minor lines also used storage batteries. Then, more recently during the 1950s, a longer battery-operated tramway line ran from Milan to Bergamo . In China there is a Nanjing battery Tram line and has been running since 2014. In 2019,

2576-789: The North Sydney line from 1886 to 1900, and the King Street line from 1892 to 1905. In Dresden , Germany, in 1901 an elevated suspended cable car following the Eugen Langen one-railed floating tram system started operating. Cable cars operated on Highgate Hill in North London and Kennington to Brixton Hill in South London. They also worked around "Upper Douglas" in the Isle of Man from 1897 to 1929 (cable car 72/73

2668-568: The P&;CS' narrow-gauge main line to dual gauge and electrified it, allowing its Pennsylvania trolley gauge trolleys to operate during daytime alongside nighttime steam-powered coal trains. Service through the tunnel to Castle Shannon, Charleroi , and Washington began in 1909, operating directly from the rural South Hills to Downtown Pittsburgh via the tunnel and the Smithfield Street Bridge . By 1910, Pittsburgh Railways

2760-558: The Pittsburgh Light Rail tracks rise above the Pittsburgh Formation , the layer of coal that defined the early growth of Pittsburgh. High-quality coal from the Pittsburgh Formation powered the trains of the Pittsburgh and Castle Shannon Railroad, beginning the development of the South Hills and leading to the construction of the Mount Washington tunnel. Two spectacular runaway accidents are associated with

2852-747: The Romans for heavy horse and ox-drawn transportation. By the 1700s, paved plateways with cast iron rails were introduced in England for transporting coal, stone or iron ore from the mines to the urban factories and docks. The world's first passenger train or tram was the Swansea and Mumbles Railway , in Wales , UK. The British Parliament passed the Mumbles Railway Act in 1804, and horse-drawn service started in 1807. The service closed in 1827, but

Mount Washington Transit Tunnel - Misplaced Pages Continue

2944-413: The Second Street Cable Railroad, which operated from 1885 to 1889, and the Temple Street Cable Railway, which operated from 1886 to 1898. From 1885 to 1940, the city of Melbourne , Victoria, Australia operated one of the largest cable systems in the world, at its peak running 592 trams on 75 kilometres (47 mi) of track. There were also two isolated cable lines in Sydney , New South Wales, Australia;

3036-439: The Smithfield Street Bridge. 37 people were injured, with no fatalities. The Port Authority of Allegheny County rebranded itself as Pittsburgh Regional Transit in 2022. PRT continues to operate the Mount Washington tunnel for light rail and bus services. PRT announced in July 2024 that it would close the tunnel for 5 months in 2025 to replace concrete, rails, and electrical wiring. During the closure, trains will be rerouted onto

3128-562: The UK at Lytham St Annes , Trafford Park , Manchester (1897–1908) and Neath , Wales (1896–1920). Comparatively little has been published about gas trams. However, research on the subject was carried out for an article in the October 2011 edition of "The Times", the historical journal of the Australian Association of Timetable Collectors, later renamed the Australian Timetable Association. The world's first electric tram line operated in Sestroretsk near Saint Petersburg invented and tested by inventor Fyodor Pirotsky in 1875. Later, using

3220-410: The UK took passengers from Fintona railway station to Fintona Junction one mile away on the main Omagh to Enniskillen railway in Northern Ireland. The tram made its last journey on 30 September 1957 when the Omagh to Enniskillen line closed. The "van" is preserved at the Ulster Transport Museum . Horse-drawn trams still operate on the 1876-built Douglas Bay Horse Tramway on the Isle of Man , and at

3312-508: The advantages over earlier forms of transit was the low rolling resistance of metal wheels on steel rails, allowing the trams to haul a greater load for a given effort. Another factor which contributed to the rise of trams was the high total cost of ownership of horses. Electric trams largely replaced animal power in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Improvements in other vehicles such as buses led to decline of trams in early to mid 20th century. However, trams have seen resurgence since

3404-405: The back, and radioed the PAT central dispatcher to clear Station Square . The car left the rails and took Smithfield Street instead (the trolleys' original route downtown, until 1985), crossing Carson Street, sideswiping a PAT bus and a truck, and knocking out a fire hydrant. Miraculously, the car stayed on its wheels, and finally stopped next to the Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation ,

3496-460: The busiest tram line in Europe, with a tram running once per minute at rush hour. Bucharest and Belgrade ran a regular service from 1894. Ljubljana introduced its tram system in 1901 – it closed in 1958. Oslo had the first tramway in Scandinavia , starting operation on 2 March 1894. The first electric tramway in Australia was a Sprague system demonstrated at the 1888 Melbourne Centennial Exhibition in Melbourne ; afterwards, this

3588-439: The capital then in the planning stage did propose a Canberra tram system. In Japan, the Kyoto Electric railroad was the first tram system, starting operation in 1895. By 1932, the network had grown to 82 railway companies in 65 cities, with a total network length of 1,479 km (919 mi). By the 1960s the tram had generally died out in Japan. Two rare but significant alternatives were conduit current collection , which

3680-458: The car up the hill at a steady pace, unlike a low-powered steam or horse-drawn car. Cable cars do have wheel brakes and track brakes , but the cable also helps restrain the car to going downhill at a constant speed. Performance in steep terrain partially explains the survival of cable cars in San Francisco. The San Francisco cable cars , though significantly reduced in number, continue to provide regular transportation service, in addition to being

3772-402: The cars to coast by inertia, for example when crossing another cable line. The cable then had to be "picked up" to resume progress, the whole operation requiring precise timing to avoid damage to the cable and the grip mechanism. Breaks and frays in the cable, which occurred frequently, required the complete cessation of services over a cable route while the cable was repaired. Due to overall wear,

Mount Washington Transit Tunnel - Misplaced Pages Continue

3864-409: The city's hurricane-prone location, which would have resulted in frequent damage to an electrical supply system. Although Portland, Victoria promotes its tourist tram as being a cable car it actually operates using a diesel motor. The tram, which runs on a circular route around the town of Portland, uses dummies and salons formerly used on the Melbourne cable tramway system and since restored. In

3956-461: The classic tramway built in the early 20th century with the tram system operating in mixed traffic, and the later type which is most often associated with the tram system having its own right of way. Tram systems that have their own right of way are often called light rail but this does not always hold true. Though these two systems differ in their operation, their equipment is much the same. Booth and Flinn Booth and Flinn (1876—1950)

4048-416: The combined coal consumption of the stationary compressor and the onboard steam boiler. The Trieste–Opicina tramway in Trieste operates a hybrid funicular tramway system. Conventional electric trams are operated in street running and on reserved track for most of their route. However, on one steep segment of track, they are assisted by cable tractors, which push the trams uphill and act as brakes for

4140-457: The crash was stifling for Pittsburgh Railways, which entered receivership from 1918 to 1924. The opening of the Liberty Tubes through Mount Washington in 1924 compounded these troubles, as automobile access through Mount Washington became easier and faster. Ridership briefly rebounded during World War II , but by the 1950s the Pittsburgh Railways system was growing smaller. The Washington and Charleroi interurban lines were retired in 1953, ending

4232-436: The dispute with the Pittsburg Tunnel Co. Construction proceeded at a rapid pace, with workers working six days a week to bore through the solid rock of the Casselman Formation . Once the boring of the tunnel was complete, construction began on the lining and the rails, using 12 million bricks. Tests of trolleys through the tunnel began in late 1904, and service through the tunnel began on December 1, 1904. Pittsburgh Railways,

4324-430: The downhill run. For safety, the cable tractors are always deployed on the downhill side of the tram vehicle. Similar systems were used elsewhere in the past, notably on the Queen Anne Counterbalance in Seattle and the Darling Street wharf line in Sydney. In the mid-20th century many tram systems were disbanded, replaced by buses, trolleybuses , automobiles or rapid transit . The General Motors streetcar conspiracy

4416-446: The engines from emitting visible smoke or steam. Usually the engines used coke rather than coal as fuel to avoid emitting smoke; condensers or superheating were used to avoid emitting visible steam. A major drawback of this style of tram was the limited space for the engine, so that these trams were usually underpowered. Steam trams faded out around the 1890s to 1900s, being replaced by electric trams. Another motive system for trams

4508-429: The entire length of cable (typically several kilometres) had to be replaced on a regular schedule. After the development of reliable electrically powered trams, the costly high-maintenance cable car systems were rapidly replaced in most locations. Cable cars remained especially effective in hilly cities, since their nondriven wheels did not lose traction as they climbed or descended a steep hill. The moving cable pulled

4600-439: The fact that any given animal could only work so many hours on a given day, had to be housed, groomed, fed and cared for day in and day out, and produced prodigious amounts of manure, which the streetcar company was charged with storing and then disposing. Since a typical horse pulled a streetcar for about a dozen miles a day and worked for four or five hours, many systems needed ten or more horses in stable for each horsecar. In 1905

4692-441: The former Pittsburgh and Lake Erie station building at Station Square. Thirty-seven people were injured, four seriously, but there were no fatalities. All three braking systems on the car had failed: the drum , dynamic , and magnetic rail brakes. Most of the 1700 series cars were found to have electrical defects, prompting PAT to retire all of their remaining PCC's that had not been rebuilt as 4000 series cars . Consequently, PAT

SECTION 50

#1732781096983

4784-402: The former Brown Line through Allentown, bypassing Station Square and resuming their normal route at First Avenue station . The Mount Washington Transit Tunnel rises from Station Square to South Hills Junction through Mount Washington, a hill located in a moderately dissected region of the Appalachian Plateau . The tunnel passes through two geological formations : the Glenshaw Formation and

4876-444: The late 19th and early 20th centuries a number of systems in various parts of the world employed trams powered by gas, naphtha gas or coal gas in particular. Gas trams are known to have operated between Alphington and Clifton Hill in the northern suburbs of Melbourne , Australia (1886–1888); in Berlin and Dresden , Germany; in Estonia (1921–1951); between Jelenia Góra , Cieplice , and Sobieszów in Poland (from 1897); and in

4968-402: The late 19th and early 20th centuries. There was one particular hazard associated with trams powered from a trolley pole off an overhead line on the early electrified systems. Since the tram relies on contact with the rails for the current return path, a problem arises if the tram is derailed or (more usually) if it halts on a section of track that has been heavily sanded by a previous tram, and

5060-432: The late 19th century. As development progressed, demand grew for better transport options over Mount Washington, a significant geographical obstacle between the coal-rich South Hills and the city. The Pittsburgh and Castle Shannon Railroad began operating through service across Mount Washington in 1874, using two pieces of former coal transport infrastructure. Steam-powered commuter trains from Castle Shannon ran through

5152-418: The mountain via the Pittsburgh and Castle Shannon Tunnel , a former coal mine converted to a narrow-gauge railroad tunnel. Trains through the tunnel connected passengers to the Pittsburgh and Castle Shannon Plane on Mount Washington's northern face. In the early 1890s, the P&CS built the Castle Shannon Incline No. 1 and No. 2 on the respective southern and northern slopes of Mount Washington, removing

5244-622: The name of Booth and Flinn, Ltd. and finally as Booth and Flinn Company. The firm's origins were entwined with the Republican Party machine of the political bosses Flinn and Christopher Magee (1848—1901), his partner in politics, that controlled the city of Pittsburgh for the final twenty years of the 19th century. As a result of politics and a "lowest responsible bidder" scheme, Booth and Flinn won most large construction and paving contracts in Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania , where they built streets, trolley lines, and bridges, usually amid charges by competitors of graft. The firm built

5336-475: The necessity of overhead wire and a trolley pole for street cars and railways. While at the University of Denver he conducted experiments which established that multiple unit powered cars were a better way to operate trains and trolleys. Electric tramways spread to many European cities in the 1890s, such as: Sarajevo built a citywide system of electric trams in 1895. Budapest established its tramway system in 1887, and its ring line has grown to be

5428-404: The need for the narrow, dark, and smoky tunnel. Local transport services within Pittsburgh city limits were powered by horses from the 1840s onward, first with horsebuses running on wooden wheels, and later horsecars with steel wheels on steel rails. Cable cars and electric trolleys debuted in the city the late 1880s, causing a revolution in land use and transport policy, but by the end of

5520-419: The north were rerouted onto the Panhandle Bridge , and the tracks on the Smithfield Street Bridge were removed and paved over in 1985. Another major incident occurred in 1987, when a trolley entering the tunnel from the south experienced a brake failure. The trolley built up speed through the tunnel and left the rails at the north portal, riding on the pavement until it came to a stop on the southern approach of

5612-421: The oldest operating electric tramway in the world. Also in 1883, Mödling and Hinterbrühl Tram was opened near Vienna in Austria. It was the first tram in the world in regular service that was run with electricity served by an overhead line with pantograph current collectors . The Blackpool Tramway was opened in Blackpool, UK on 29 September 1885 using conduit collection along Blackpool Promenade. This system

SECTION 60

#1732781096983

5704-519: The only remaining trolleys were the Drake , Library , Castle Shannon , Mount Lebanon , and Arlington lines. These services either used the Mount Washington tunnel, or had other exclusive rights-of-way such as bridges that were unsuitable for conversion. Pavement was added to the Mount Washington tunnel in the 1970s, allowing buses to use the tunnel. The South Busway , one of the first American examples of bus rapid transit , opened from South Hills Junction Station to Overbrook in 1977, connected to

5796-464: The pole back on the wires. Once power was restored, the motorman of the Knoxville car accelerated at full speed, and the car reached a speed of nearly 50 mph (80 km/h), five times the speed limit. The trolley failed to stop at the north portal of the tunnel, jumped the tracks, and overturned. 14 people died immediately, and the remaining wounded were taken to the nearby Pittsburgh & Lake Erie Railroad Station Terminal Annex, which served as

5888-415: The poor paving of the streets in American cities which made them unsuitable for horsebuses , which were then common on the well-paved streets of European cities. Running the horsecars on rails allowed for a much smoother ride. There are records of a street railway running in Baltimore as early as 1828, however the first authenticated streetcar in America, was the New York and Harlem Railroad developed by

5980-419: The suburban tramway lines around Milan and Padua ; the last Gamba de Legn ("Peg-Leg") tramway ran on the Milan- Magenta -Castano Primo route in late 1957. The other style of steam tram had the steam engine in the body of the tram, referred to as a tram engine (UK) or steam dummy (US). The most notable system to adopt such trams was in Paris. French-designed steam trams also operated in Rockhampton , in

6072-432: The through service that motivated the tunnel's construction. Local services through the tunnel continued, as Pittsburgh Railways converted more of its city trolley lines to buses in the 1950s. The Port Authority of Allegheny County took over the Pittsburgh transit system, including Pittsburgh Railways and dozens of privately-owned bus companies, in 1964. The Port Authority converted more trolley lines to buses, and by 1971,

6164-436: The tracks. Siemens later designed his own version of overhead current collection, called the bow collector . One of the first systems to use it was in Thorold, Ontario , opened in 1887, and it was considered quite successful. While this line proved quite versatile as one of the earliest fully functional electric streetcar installations, it required horse-drawn support while climbing the Niagara Escarpment and for two months of

6256-416: The tram and completing the earth return circuit with their body could receive a serious electric shock. If "grounded", the driver was required to jump off the tram (avoiding simultaneous contact with the tram and the ground) and pull down the trolley pole, before allowing passengers off the tram. Unless derailed, the tram could usually be recovered by running water down the running rails from a point higher than

6348-407: The tram loses electrical contact with the rails. In this event, the underframe of the tram, by virtue of a circuit path through ancillary loads (such as interior lighting), is live at the full supply voltage, typically 600 volts DC. In British terminology, such a tram was said to be 'grounded'—not to be confused with the US English use of the term, which means the exact opposite. Any person stepping off

6440-427: The tram, the water providing a conducting bridge between the tram and the rails. With improved technology, this ceased to be an problem. In the 2000s, several companies introduced catenary-free designs: Alstom's Citadis line uses a third rail, Bombardier's PRIMOVE LRV is charged by contactless induction plates embedded in the trackway and CAF URBOS tram uses ultracaps technology As early as 1834, Thomas Davenport ,

6532-449: The trolley system. The 1910 plan was never implemented. Another plan, presented by city transit commissioner E. K. Morse in 1917, included the Mount Washington tunnel as a centerpiece of a loop of rapid transit elevated and subway lines connecting Downtown, Swissvale , Homestead , Carrick , and Mount Oliver . On Christmas Eve 1917, an out-of-control trolley crashed at the tunnel's northern portal, killing 21 and injuring 80. The cost of

6624-492: The tunnel still provides a significant time savings for transit services; the alternate surface route for light rail trains, the former Brown Line , adds over 8 minutes of travel time compared to the tunnel. The Mount Washington Transit Tunnel is used by light rail trains and local, regional, and express bus services. All trains and most buses stop at the Station Square and South Hills Junction stations at either end of

6716-547: The tunnel's operator, was never a money-making enterprise. From its inception, it was financially backed by The Philadelphia Company, a utility company founded by George Westinghouse that was the predecessor of Equitable Gas and Duquesne Light . Investments from the United Railways Investment Company, a New Jersey firm, allowed Pittsburgh Railways to lease the Pittsburgh and Castle Shannon Railroad beginning in 1905. Pittsburgh Railways converted

6808-484: The tunnel's southern portal. By 1980, the tunnel was at capacity, with decades-old PCC trolleys sharing the tunnel with increasing numbers of buses. The construction of the South Busway and numerous park and ride lots throughout the South Hills increased ridership substantially, with 1979 ridership levels increasing above the previous peak of 1946 on some lines in the South Hills. The Mount Washington tunnel became

6900-493: The tunnel, which has a steep grade of approximately 6%. In both instances, trolleys entering from the south tunnel ran downhill, lost control, jumped the tracks at the north portal, and crashed. A fatal incident occurred on Christmas Eve 1917, when a trolley on the Knoxville line crashed at the north portal of the Mount Washington tunnel. 23 people died as a result of the crash, and the resulting claims sent Pittsburgh Railways into receivership for years. The trolley involved in

6992-585: The tunnel. The tunnel is served by all currently operating lines of the Pittsburgh Light Rail system: the Red , Blue , and Silver Lines, and the Subway Local shuttle service. As of November 2024, the tunnel is also used by 15 bus routes, including 10 routes operated by PRT and 5 by other carriers. The City of Pittsburgh was incorporated in 1816, and the suburbs of the South Hills developed quickly in

7084-667: The turn of the 20th century, two related but competing firms sought to build a tunnel for trolleys through Mount Washington. Political boss William Flinn controlled Pittsburgh politics during the late 19th century, and two companies were granted a state charter to construct a tunnel through Mount Washington for electric trolleys. The two companies, the Mount Washington Tunnel Company and the Pittsburg Tunnel Company (an affiliate of Flinn-owned Beechwood Improvement Company), became engaged in

7176-804: The wider term light rail , which also includes systems separated from other traffic. Tram vehicles are usually lighter and shorter than main line and rapid transit trains. Most trams use electrical power, usually fed by a pantograph sliding on an overhead line ; older systems may use a trolley pole or a bow collector . In some cases, a contact shoe on a third rail is used. If necessary, they may have dual power systems—electricity in city streets and diesel in more rural environments. Occasionally, trams also carry freight . Some trams, known as tram-trains , may have segments that run on mainline railway tracks, similar to interurban systems. The differences between these modes of rail transport are often indistinct, and systems may combine multiple features. One of

7268-409: The winter when hydroelectricity was not available. It continued in service in its original form into the 1950s. Sidney Howe Short designed and produced the first electric motor that operated a streetcar without gears. The motor had its armature direct-connected to the streetcar 's axle for the driving force. Short pioneered "use of a conduit system of concealed feed" thereby eliminating

7360-532: The world's first hydrogen fuel cell vehicle tramcar at an assembly facility in Qingdao . The chief engineer of the CSR subsidiary CSR Sifang Co Ltd. , Liang Jianying, said that the company is studying how to reduce the running costs of the tram. Trams have been used for two main purposes: for carrying passengers and for carrying cargo. There are several types of passenger tram: There are two main types of tramways,

7452-401: The world. Earlier electric trains proved difficult or unreliable and experienced limited success until the second half of the 1880s, when new types of current collectors were developed. Siemens' line, for example, provided power through a live rail and a return rail, like a model train , limiting the voltage that could be used, and delivering electric shocks to people and animals crossing

7544-682: Was a case study of the decline of trams in the United States. In the 21st century, trams have been re-introduced in cities where they had been closed down for decades (such as Tramlink in London), or kept in heritage use (such as Spårväg City in Stockholm). Most trams made since the 1990s (such as the Bombardier Flexity series and Alstom Citadis ) are articulated low-floor trams with features such as regenerative braking . In March 2015, China South Rail Corporation (CSR) demonstrated

7636-491: Was built by Werner von Siemens who contacted Pirotsky. This was the world's first commercially successful electric tram. It drew current from the rails at first, with overhead wire being installed in 1883. In Britain, Volk's Electric Railway was opened in 1883 in Brighton. This two kilometer line along the seafront, re-gauged to 2 ft  8 + 1 ⁄ 2  in ( 825 mm ) in 1884, remains in service as

7728-487: Was installed as a commercial venture operating between the outer Melbourne suburb of Box Hill and the then tourist-oriented country town Doncaster from 1889 to 1896. Electric systems were also built in Adelaide , Ballarat , Bendigo , Brisbane , Fremantle , Geelong , Hobart , Kalgoorlie , Launceston , Leonora , Newcastle , Perth , and Sydney . By the 1970s, the only full tramway system remaining in Australia

7820-715: Was left with a shortage of cars, which contributed to the closure of the Overbrook line in 1993. Tram A tram (also known as a streetcar or trolley in the United States) is a type of urban rail transit consisting of either individual railcars or self-propelled multiple unit trains that run on tramway tracks on urban public streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way . The tramlines or tram networks operated as public transport are called tramways or simply trams/streetcars. Because of their close similarities, trams are commonly included in

7912-464: Was one of the largest American general contracting companies of its era. It was established during the nineteenth century and was headquartered in Pittsburgh , Pennsylvania , United States . Founded by William Flinn (1851—1924) as a sole proprietorship in 1876, Booth and Flinn merged with a similar venture in 1881 that was directed by James J. Booth. The business later operated under

8004-621: Was restarted in 1860, again using horses. It was worked by steam from 1877, and then, from 1929, by very large (106-seat) electric tramcars, until closure in 1960. The Swansea and Mumbles Railway was something of a one-off however, and no street tramway appeared in Britain until 1860 when one was built in Birkenhead by the American George Francis Train . Street railways developed in America before Europe, due to

8096-412: Was struggling financially. Its policy of a flat five-cent fare for all lines contributed to the difficulties, as short-distance pasengers in city limits effectively subsidized long-distance passengers to outlying areas. The Pittsburgh City Council commissioned a report in 1910 on converting some trolley lines to rapid transit , which was theorized to attract more passengers and reverse the downward trend of

8188-628: Was tested in San Francisco , in 1873. Part of its success is attributed to the development of an effective and reliable cable grip mechanism, to grab and release the moving cable without damage. The second city to operate cable trams was Dunedin , from 1881 to 1957. The most extensive cable system in the US was built in Chicago in stages between 1859 and 1892. New York City developed multiple cable car lines, that operated from 1883 to 1909. Los Angeles also had several cable car lines, including

8280-635: Was the Melbourne tram system. However, there were also a few single lines remaining elsewhere: the Glenelg tram line , connecting Adelaide to the beachside suburb of Glenelg , and tourist trams in the Victorian Goldfields cities of Bendigo and Ballarat. In recent years the Melbourne system, generally recognised as the largest urban tram network in the world, has been considerably modernised and expanded. The Adelaide line has been extended to

8372-411: Was the cable car, which was pulled along a fixed track by a moving steel cable, the cable usually running in a slot below the street level. The power to move the cable was normally provided at a "powerhouse" site a distance away from the actual vehicle. The London and Blackwall Railway , which opened for passengers in east London, England, in 1840 used such a system. The first practical cable car line

8464-878: Was widely used in London, Washington, D.C., and New York City, and the surface contact collection method, used in Wolverhampton (the Lorain system), Torquay and Hastings in the UK (the Dolter stud system), and in Bordeaux , France (the ground-level power supply system). The convenience and economy of electricity resulted in its rapid adoption once the technical problems of production and transmission of electricity were solved. Electric trams largely replaced animal power and other forms of motive power including cable and steam, in

#982017