Pittsburgh Railways

Pittsburgh Railways Company

PCC 1647 on a fantrip in Downtown Pittsburgh, signed for route 77/54
Locale	Allegheny County and Washington County, Pennsylvania
Dates of operation	1902–1964
Predecessor	Consolidated Traction Company Southern Traction Company United Traction Company of Pittsburgh
Successor	Port Authority of Allegheny County
Track gauge	5 ft 2 1⁄2 in (1,588 mm) Pennsylvania trolley gauge
Length	400 miles (640 km) in 1902 606 miles (975 km) in 1918
Headquarters	Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Pittsburgh Railways was one of the predecessors of the Port Authority of Allegheny County. It had 666 PCC cars, the third largest fleet in North America (after Toronto (745) and Chicago (683)). It had 68 street car routes, of which only three (until April 5, 2010 the 42 series, the 47 series, and 52) are used by the Port Authority as light rail routes. With the Port Authority's Transit Development Plan, many route names will be changed to its original, such as the 41D Brookline becoming the 39 Brookline. Many of the streetcar routes have been remembered in the route names of many Port Authority buses (e.g. 71 series).

1895 to 1905 was a time of consolidation for the numerous street railways serving Pittsburgh. On July 24, 1895 the Consolidated Traction Company was chartered and the following year acquired the Central Traction Company, Citizens Traction Company, Duquesne Traction Company and Pittsburgh Traction Company and converted them to electric operation. On July 27, 1896 the United Traction Company was chartered and absorbed the Second Avenue Traction Company, which had been running electric cars since 1890.

The Southern Traction Company acquired the lease of the West End Traction Company on October 1, 1900. Pittsburgh Railways was formed on January 1, 1902, when the Southern Traction Company acquired operating rights over the Consolidated Traction Company and United Traction Company. The new company operated 1,100 trolleys on 400 miles (640 km) of track, with 178.7 million passengers and revenues of $6.7 million on the year. The Pittsburgh Railway had over 20 car barns located around the city as well as power stations. 1918 was the company's peak year, operating 99 trolley routes over 606 miles (975 km) of track.

Unfortunately the lease and operate business model proved hard to support and the company declared bankruptcy twice, first in 1918 lasting for 6 years and then again in 1938, this time lasting until January 1, 1951. Costs to the company rose in the early twentieth century. PRC faced constant pressure from the city to improve equipment and services. Workers walked out when a pay raise was rejected.