RT#, NAME, Years Operated, and Reason For Abandonment.
CAR HOUSES - PCC Cars There During...
West Park
Carhouse Information
Pittsburgh Railways inherited many different car barns from the companies that formed it, many of which were closed during the final years prior to take over by the Port Authority. At the time of the PA takeover on February 28, 1964, only Craft Avenue, Keating and Tunnel (South Hills) remained as streetcar facilities, together with Homewood Shops, and a former carbarn in Rankin used only for dead storage of retired cars.
A large (~14 road) facility with several administration buildings at Craft Avenue and Forbes Avenue in Oakland. It served routes 50, 64, 66, 67, 68, 69, 75 and 81. Craft Avenue assumed storage duties for East End facilities that were closed such as Homewood, Herron Hill and Highland Park, as well as Carrick on the South Side; thus it eventually also served routes such as 22, 71, 73, 76, 77/54, 87 and 88. Craft Avenue ceased to be a streetcar facility on January 28, 1967 when all East End lines were converted to bus.The site is now occupied by the Magee-Womens Hospital of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.
Glenwood Car Barn served the 55, 56, 57, 58, 65 and 98 routes and housed approximately 54 cars.
Homewood car barn was begun in 1900 and grew to be one of the two largest installations of Pittsburgh Railways, with 110 cars housed there. Also the site of PRC's heavy repair shops, it covered four blocks from 7100 to 7400 on the south side of Frankstown Avenue, bordered by North Lang Avenue to the west, Felicia Way to the south and Braddock to the east. In 1955 Barn No. 2 was destroyed by fire along with all of the equipment within it, which included fourteen PCC trolleys.Homewood car barn closed in 1960, though the shops remained in use until January 1967 when all East End lines were closed. The large site is now used for a mixture of residential and commercial premises, with the last remaining railway buildings converted first to a skating rink and then in 1997 to a bowling alley and entertainment venue called the Homewood Coliseum.Since 2000 the complex has also housed The Trolley Station Oral History Center.
Ingram carbarn was the main storage facility in the West End. Located on Berry Street in Ingram Borough on routes 30 and 31, it also served routes 23, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29 and 34. It consisted of a 4-road brick shed housing 20 cars, an 8-road open yard capable of holding about 120 cars, and a brick administration building. Ingram ceased as an active facility after June 21, 1959 when all the West End lines were abandoned after the Point Bridge was closed to traffic, although 30 1000- and 1100-series PCCs made surplus by the conversion were scrapped there. The property was sold to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh; the barn proper was converted in 1968 to the Church of the Ascension, while the yard office was converted to classrooms, parish offices and a parish hall.
Keating car house was built in 1921. It served routes 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 15 and 21. The remaining trolley routes from Manchester car house (6, 13, 14, 18 and 19) were moved to Keating in 1959. The final North Side trolleys (6/14 and 21) were transferred to South Hills Car House in 1965 and the facility became the bus-only Ross Garage.
Millvale car barn was built on the site of the Graff, Bennett Mill which burnt down in 1900. It catered for services 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5.
The car barn at 48th and Plummer Street in Lawrenceville served the 94 Aspinwall, 95 Butler Street, and 96 East Liberty via Morningside services. It replaced the Butler Street Cable and Horse car barn at 47th and Butler. It was closed in the summer of 1954, with services 94 Aspinwall and 95 Butler Street routes being assigned to Manchester Car House until June 1959. They then transferred to Keating Car House until replaced by bus routes on November 13, 1960. Service 96 East Liberty was transferred first to Bunker Hill car barn then Homewood Car House until June, 1960. It was then transferred to Craft Avenue car house, also being replaced by buses on November 13, 1960 when the 62nd St. Sharpsburg Bridge was closed.
The Tunnel (also referred to as South Hills) car barn, located along Curtis and Jasper Streets next to South Hills Junction and the south portal of the South Hills Tunnel, was the car storage facility for many, and eventually all, South Side lines, and one of the most important such facilities on the entire system. It consisted of a 4-road brick shed with administrative offices, plus a 6-road outdoor yard. While containing fewer tracks than yards like Craft Avenue, the length of the tracks allowed storage of many more cars per road, especially outdoors. Tunnel served lines 23, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 42 and 43 (later the 42/38), 44, 46 (later 49), 48, and later the 47 and 53 lines to Carrick, and the final North Side lines 6/14 and 21. It also shared storage duties for the two Interurban lines with the barns in Charleroi and in Tylerdale (Washington). As the nucleus of the surviving PAT trolley lines, Tunnel barn survived into the mid-1980s, when it was demolished after being replaced by the current PAT storage and maintenance facility at the end of the South Hills Village branch off the Drake line.
The West Park car barn in McKees Rocks was a large facility with two barns and several outdoor sidings. It was bounded by Third Street to the north, Chartiers Avenue to the south and Rox Street to the east. It closed in 1931, but remained a storage facility for scrap trolley parts. The building was demolished in 1951. A Foodland food market now occupies the southern part of the site, with new housing to the north.
West Park Carhouse.
Other side of the West Park carhouse.
