Brookline's Trolley History

Trolley Service in Brookline

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A Short History on Trolley Service in Brookline

Trolley service in the City of Pittsburgh dates back to the mid-1800s, when horses pulled cars along rails that ran through some city neighborhoods. In 1887, the first motorized service began in downtown Pittsburgh. The Pittsburgh Railways Company was formed in 1902 as a consolidation several independant operators.

For residents of the South Hills in the late-1800s and early-1900s, the only way to Pittsburgh via the rails was via the Pittsburgh and Castle Shannon Railroad, which began operation in 1871. Passenger stations at Glenbury and near Whited Streets provided access to Brookliners.

Trolley service was expanded from Carson Street to the South Hills Junction with the construction of the Trolley Tunnel in 1904. From the Junction, trolley lines branched out to the developing southern neighborhoods, including Overbrook, Beechview, Dormont, Mt. Lebanon and Brookline.

The South Hills Junction in 1906 (left) and an old-style trolley car passing the Fleming Stop in 1928.

In 1905 the Pittsburgh Railway Company laid the first single track trolley line through Brookline. Service went from the Brookline Junction at West Liberty Avenue along the length of Brookline Boulevard to Breining Street. The line continued through the wooded valley to Fairhaven. This connected to the old Charleroi line that ran along Saw Mill Run. The tunnel near Overbrook School at the far edge of East Brookline was built for that first trolley line.

The track was terminated at Edgebrook Avenue a year later. The remainder of the route running back towards the junction at West Liberty Avenue was soon double-tracked. By 1910, rapid residential development necessitated that the line be extended beyond Edgebrook into East Brookline, with a turn-around adjacent to the 1400 block of Brookline Boulevard near Witt Street. The entire length of the rail line was upgraded along West Liberty Avenue in 1915.

Trolleys serviced Brookline Boulevard for sixty-one years, from 1905 through 1966.

The trolley service greatly contributed to the continued growth and development of Brookline and the other southern neighborhoods. For many years it was was the primary mode of transportation to and from downtown Pittsburgh and beyond. Pittsburgh's many communities were linked by thousands of miles of trolley lines.

Additional improvements were made in 1935, when the exclusive right-of-way from West Liberty to Brookline Boulevard and Pioneer Avenue was expanded and paved with belgian block. Brookline Boulevard was permanently re-routed onto the widened, looping roadway, which was used for 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 along the southernmost section of the Library route. They were totally phased out in 2002.

Red and cream PCC trolley cars travel along Brookline Boulevard during the 1960s.

In Brookline, trolley service was discontinued in September 1966 and replaced by Port Authority bus service. The old tracks that ran down the center of Brookline Boulevard for sixty-one years were paved over. The era of rail traffic in Brookline had come to an end. The old tracks remained under the asphalt roadway and occasionally make themselves visible when a deep pothole emerged. They will be removed completely when Brookline Boulevard is renovated in 2012.

The trolley's may be gone, but they will never be forgotten. They were a part of Brookline's past that always stir nostalgic memories. Railcar enthusiasts still yearn for the thrill of riding the rails. The sight of the red and cream-colored PCC cars, labeled 39-Brookline, making their way past the Boulevard shops, are like a Norman Rockwell slice of Americana.

39-Brookline trolley at the turn-around loop at the end of the Brookline route.

For those who still have an itch to ride the rails, the Port Authorities "T", a modern light rail system, still rides the old Shannon Drake, Shannon Library and Beechview routes. Subway service connects these routes to locations throughout downtown Pittsburgh and the North Shore. A quiet ride to South Hills Village or a long run out to the suburbs is reminiscent of the old days.

A last note on the PCC cars of the old Pittsburgh fleet. Many are sitting in Trolley Museums around the country, and some are still operating in the San Francisco Bay Area, ferrying passengers through the Old Town to the harbor.

Photos of the 39-Brookline Trolley in and around Brookline

39-Brookline coming down West Liberty trolley ramp (left) and crossing the bridge to the South Hills Junction.

At the intersection with Birchland Street heading towards the loop (left) and at Kenilworth Street.

Two 39-Brookline trolleys approaching Capital Avenue in August, 1915.

Two trolleys at the Brookline Loop (left) and making the return trip back towards Brookline Boulevard.

39-Brookline passes Pioneer Avenue (left) and Kenilworth Avenue (right) enroute to West Liberty.

39-Brookline entering the trolley ramp on West Liberty Avenue.

Passing Kenilworth enroute to Brookline Boulevard (left) and entering West Liberty trolley ramp (right).

Trolley cars at the Brookline Loop along the 1400 block of Brookline Boulevard. This was the end of the line.

A Short History on Trolley Service in the City of Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh's trolley history dates to the 1850s when the state Legislature passed a law allowing "motor power companies" to operate passenger railways by cable, electrical or other means. The first passenger service was a horse-drawn trolley that operated in East Liberty in 1859. Since then, the city has been at the forefront of trolley transportation.

JUNE 1887: Pittsburgh Traction Co. constructs a cable beginning at the foot of Fifth Avenue and running east on Shady, Penn and Highland avenues. The distance is 5.5 miles and it opens for passengers on Sept. 12, 1889. Cable lines are operated until 1897.

Rare Stock certificate for
the West End Traction Company

THE LATE 1890's: The first electric line is constructed from South 13th and Carson streets to Knoxville Borough. That is followed by development of successful and consistent electric trolley service on the North Side and the South Side. In the ensuing years, competing lines are built by 190 trolley operators in the city. The wooden trolley cars have four wheels.

"It was really a hodgepodge," says Scott Becker, executive director of the Pennsylvania Trolley Museum in Washington, near the Meadowlands.

JANUARY 1, 1902: Pittsburgh Railways Company is formed as a result of several companies consolidating their operations. There are 1100 trolleys in operation in the city and the turn-of-the-century car has eight wheels, high steps and narrow doors making travelling slow and cumbersome, particularly for women whose clothes don't allow them to negotiate the cars easily. Pittsburgh Railways has 400 miles of single track; carries 178.7 million passengers a year and has revenues of $6.7 million.

1912: Pittsburgh's trolley system is big and P.N. Jones, head of Pittsburgh Railways, heads the effort to produce a standard car. The city tries out double-decker cars. About a dozen were built between 1912 and 1924, but they never really catch on here.

Pittsburgh Railways
Double Decker Trolley
Pittsburgh Railways Double-Decker.

1915: Pittsburgh Railways decides that the new, low-floor trolley with its sloping floor is going to be its standard car. The company builds 1000 of them between 1915 and 1927. The steel cars run on 600 volts of direct current and feature rattan seats, beautiful woodwork, windows that open and shaded light bulbs.

The trolleys are painted orange but their color fades to yellow, prompting most people to call them yellow trolleys. They are used in Pittsburgh until the mid-1950s, when many trolleys are phased out in favor of buses.

In the ensuing years, Pittsburgh Railways experimented readily with a variety of cars, testing aluminum, fiddling with control systems and trying a number of options with wheels.

Long-time Pittsburgh Railways conductor Owen Richard McCaffrey Sr. of Overbrook, pictured in the early 1920s.

1926: Pittsburgh Railways operates 590 miles of single track; carries 396,679,675 passengers a year and has revenue of $21.7 million.

1928: Pittsburgh Railways begins producing high speed trolleys for its lines that run to Washington, Pa., and Charleroi. The company makes 15 cars that are painted red and feature bucket seats. Portions of the Charleroi line remained in service until September 4, 1999 as the Port Authority's Library Light Rail Transit line. A portion of the Washington line survived as the Drake line, service that ended in the late-80s and will pick up again in the year 2004.

THE 1930s: Pittsburgh, like the country, is in the depths of the Depression. Pittsburgh Railway is losing ridership, but the company does not lose its tradition of supporting innovation. The company is enthusiastic about the ideas for a new car being developed at the request of the American Electric Railway Association Advisory Council. The plan for the car's development is overseen by the Electric Railway Presidents Conference Committee, which turns to Westinghouse for help designing the car.

Map of South Hills Trolley Lines.

JULY 26, 1936: The first Presidential Conference Committee car - #100 - goes into service in the city. Pittsburgh Railways, trying to lure Depression-weary riders back to the trolleys, promotes the car in newspaper advertisements and on sandwich boards and with demonstration rides. It becomes the first PCC car to carry passengers for a fare on September 26, 1936, when it covered the 50 Carson Street Route.

Over the next 12 years, Pittsburgh Railways orders 666 of the cars - at $28,000 apiece - from the St. Louis Car Company to replace the oldest trolleys in the fleet, the high-floor trolleys and the yellow trolleys. The PCC's were painted red and cream.

SUMMER, 1953: Trolley service, which had boomed during the World War II and Korean War years, is scaled back to the border of Allegheny County.

MARCH, 1964: Allegheny County's Port Authority Transit is formed to unify public transit services. Despite the declining trolley use, the Port Authority inherits 283 PCC trolley cars and 219 buses.

Many South Hills lines were replaced with bus service, including 38-Mt.Lebanon.
The rails and passenger kiosks intersecting the roadways were removed.

1964 to 1967: Many rail routes are converted to bus routes, including the 39 Brookline Route, which made its final run on September 3, 1966.

1968: The Port Authority is operating just 58 miles of track.

1972: The 95 remaining PCC cars servicing the South Hills get new paint jobs, including one that gets a psychedelic look.

1981: The Port Authority decides to try to refurbish 45 PCC trolleys. The $763,000 cost is prohibitive and only 12 are done before the program is abandoned in 1987. One attractive feature of the trolleys was a new advertising scheme. Trolleys could be sponsored and then decorated at will. Some that stood out were the Terrible Steeler trolley, the Pirates Family trolley, Point Park College's trolley and the Gateway Clipper trolley.

The Pittsburgh Steeler's Terrible Trolley.

JULY 3, 1985: Trolley street operations in the city cease when the Downtown subway, servicing the new Light Rail "T" cars, is opened. The only rail lines left in operation, part of the new Light Rail System, are the Beechview/South Hills Village line, the Warrington/Arlington line and the Library extension, the only route still using the old PCC trolley cars.

AUGUST 1, 1988: 36 PCC cars are removed from operation because of deteriorated electrical wires. Twenty-seven of those are retired and used to supply parts for the ones that remained in operation on the Library line.

SEPTEMBER 4, 1999: The final PCC car makes the 4.4 mile Library extension run before the route was retired forever, being replaced by a shuttle bus. The three remaining functional PCC cars, all having logged well over 2,000,000 miles, were donated to trolley museums.

PCC Trolley at Museum - 2007.

2000 AND BEYOND: Pittsburgh no longer has hundreds of miles of trolley track lining our streets, but we still have a state-of-the-art Light Rail system servicing the downtown area, Warrington Avenue/Arlington Heights, Castle Shannon, Library and the South Hills. The Port Authority completed reconstructing the old Shannon Drake line and plans are underway to extend the downtown subway line to the North Side near PNC Park and Heinz Fields.

Pittsburghers love their trolleys. From the horse-drawn carriages of the 1800s to the new "T" Light Rail cars that carry us into the 21st Century, our proud city will always have a rail system to ferry passengers to and from the downtown area. For more information on the history of trolleys in Pittsburgh, visit the Pennsylvania Trolley Museum at the Meadowlands. The number to call for information is 877-PA-Trolley or 724-228-9256.

We are always looking for old photos and information on trolleys in Brookline.
If you have something to share, please contact us via our guestbook.

* Compiled from various sources, including the Post-Gazette, in 2004. Photos provided by Tom Castriodale. *

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