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A Short History
on Trolley Service in Brookline
In 1905 the Pittsburgh Railway
System laid the first single track trolley line through Brookline.
Service went from the Brookline Junction (West Liberty Avenue) down
the length of Brookline Boulevard, extending down through the wooded
valley to Fairhaven, near the old Overbrook School at Saw Mill Run.
This connected to the old Charleroi rail line that ran along Saw Mill
Run. (The tunnel near Overbrook School at the far eastern edge of
Brookline was built for that first trolley line, and the brackets
for the power lines are still there, over 100 years later!)
This innagural track was terminated
at Edgebrook Avenue less than a year later. In 1909 work began on a
double-track line that ran from the junction at West Liberty Avenue
past Edgebrook and Breining Street. It terminated at a trolley loop
near Witt Street on the eastern end of Brookline Boulevard. Work on the
new line was completed in 1915, when additional track was laid from the
Brookline junction up the remaining stretch of West Liberty Avenue to
the city limit at Dormont Borough.
The upgraded trolley service greatly
contributed to the growth and development of the Brookline area and
for years was the primary mode of transportation to downtown Pittsburgh
and beyond. Pittsburgh communites were linked with thousands of miles
of trolley lines.
Additional improvements were made
in 1935, when the right-of-way from Brookline Boulevard was expanded and
paved with Belgian Blocks. Brookline Boulevard was then re-routed onto the
paved roadway, which was now open to both vehicular and rail
traffic.
The first trolley cars were the
old wooden cars, then the yellow "box cars". In 1936, the sleek new
Presidents Conference Committee, or PCC cars, were introduced. They soon
became the standard cars in Pittsburgh's fleet. Nearly 700 of these cars
served the city until the 1990s, when only a handful were in operation
running the Library route. They were totally phased out in 2002 when work
began on the new Shannon Drake "T" line.
Here in Brookline, trolley service
was discontinued in September, 1966, replaced by Port Authority bus service.
The old tracks that ran down the center of Brookline Boulevard for 61 years
were paved over and the era of rail traffic in Brookline came to an end.
(these old tracks are still under the current roadway and occasionally
make themselves visible when a deep pothole emerges.)
The trolley's may be gone, but
they will never be forgotten. Railcar enthusiasts still yearn for the
nostalgia of riding the rails, and many a Brookline native will always
remember the site of the red and cream PCC cars labeled 39-Brookline
making their way past the shops on Brookline Boulevard.
For those of us who still have
the bug there is always the "T", the Port Authority's new light rail
system. A quiet ride to South Hills Village or a long run out to the
suburbs of Library is generally sufficient to satisfy the occasional
urge to relive an old memory.
A last note on the PCC cars of
the old Pittsburgh fleet. Many are sitting in Trolley Museums around
the country, and a few can still be found in operation in the San
Francisco Bay Area, ferrying passengers through the Old Town to the
harbors near the bay.
Learn more
about trolleys at the Pennsylvania Trolley
Museum.
Photos of Trolleys in
Brookline |
