Allegheny Valley Street Railway

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Allegheny Valley Street Railway Company share dated September 26, 1906

The Allegheny Valley Street Railway was an interurban tram service in the US state of Pennsylvania . The network, which was 32.5 kilometers long, connected Aspinwall , Tarentum , New Kensington and Natrona .

Initially, the Allegheny Valley Street Railway Company was founded on April 12, 1893 , but could not raise enough money to start building a tram line. On January 29, 1906, the company was re-established under the same name and received the concession to build and operate a tram network in the Allegheny River valley . The railway opened in the same year. The line was built in the Pennsylvania widely used 5 foot 2½ inch (1588 millimeter) gauge and operated on 650 volts DC. The depot, headquarters and workshop of the railway were in Tarentum.

The railway company operated the following lines:

  • Aspinwall – Blawnox – Springdale – New Kensington (17 km, every 30 minutes)
  • Natrona – Tarentum – New Kensington – Arnold (11.5 km, every 30 minutes)
  • Natrona – Tarentum – New Kensington – Parnassus (11.5 km, every 30 minutes)

This resulted in a 15-minute cycle on the section from Natrona to New Kensington. In Aspinwall there was a transition to the Pittsburgh tram , in Tarentum to the Tarentum – Birdsville tram . In 1912, West Penn Railways acquired the railway company and introduced a continuous operation via Aspinwall over the tracks of the Pittsburgh tram to Pittsburgh . The Pittsburgh terminus was at 6th Street and Penn Street. As early as 1917 this continuous traffic was stopped again. In 1930, new, lighter vehicles were purchased to reduce operating costs. After severe flooding in March 1936, the line had to be rebuilt. The following year, the state of Pennsylvania planned to widen the highway, which is why the streetcar was shut down on May 22, 1937. The vehicles were moved to the Connellsville section of West Penn Railways.

literature

  • Benson W. Rohrbeck (1997): Pennsylvania's Street Railways West Chester PA: Traction Publications. Page 238.
  • Benson W. Rohrbeck (2007): Pennsylvania Street Railway Atlas West Chester PA: Ben Rohrbeck Traction Publications. Page 61.