Guide to the Pittsburgh Railways Company Records, 1872-1974 AIS.1974.29
Arrangement
Repository
ULS Archives & Special Collections
Title
Pittsburgh Railways Company Records
Creator
Pittsburgh Railways Company
Collection Number
AIS.1974.29
Extent
23 Linear Feet(16 boxes, 1 map-case folder and 2 map tubes)
Date
1872-1974
Abstract
These Records consist of reports, appraisals, maps, photographs, ledgers, court proceedings, materials on labor relations, and histories of the Pittsburgh Railways Company (PRC), 1872-1974. The PRC was the largest provider of mass transit in the Pittsburgh area from its creation in 1902 until its demise in 1964, when it was absorbed into the Port Authority of Allegheny County. Digital reproductions of some of the photographs in the collection are available online. Other images of Pittsburgh Railways streetcars can be found online in the Robert G. Pflaum Slide Collection, 1910-2000, AIS.2010.01.
Language
English
.
Author
ASC Staff. Revisions occurred to the finding aid as a part of the encoding process in July, 2004.
Publisher
ULS Archives & Special Collections
Address
University of Pittsburgh Library System Archives & Special Collections Website: library.pitt.edu/archives-special-collections Contact Us: www.library.pitt.edu/ask-archivist URL: http://library.pitt.edu/archives-special-collections
History
Pittsburgh Railways Company (PRC) was originally chartered in 1900 as the Southern Traction Company. By 1902, the PRC became the operating manager of 193 street railway properties owned or controlled by the Philadelphia Company, Consolidated Traction, United Traction and Southern Traction. The latter three companies were merged to form Pittsburgh Railways. By 1910, before the automobile revolutionized urban transportation, Pittsburgh Railways was transporting some 600,000 passengers daily over 581 miles of track. By 1918, its peak year of operation, the company had 606 miles of track accommodating 99 trolley routes. However, largely because of its obligations to investors previously associated with independent streetcar companies, Pittsburgh Railways was in financial difficulty from the outset. Eighteen of its first 50 years were spent in bankruptcy proceedings.
Fares rose from three cents to five cents, then to six cents in 1917 and 10 cents in 1919. In that year, 3,000 motormen and conductors walked off the job after their demands for a 12-cent hourly pay raise were rejected. Pittsburgh Railways Company was under constant pressure from the City administration and Chamber of Commerce to improve service and equipment. Traffic congestion on downtown streets was another major concern, dating back to 1902 when the first of many proposals were made for a downtown subway system. A bond issue to provide $6 million in City funds for subway construction was approved by voters in 1919, and in 1926 City Council was asked to issue $26 million in additional bonds. But these, along with subway plans advocated in 1926 and 1932, were abandoned because of disagreement over routing and conflict and indecision among public officials.
Although beset by continuing financial problems and declining ridership during the depression years, in 1936 and 1937 Pittsburgh Railways placed into service the first 100 Presidents' Conference Cars (PCC) trolleys. By 1949, a total of 666 PCC cars had been purchased. With post-World War II escalation of automobile production, highway construction and suburban growth, transit service, ridership and revenue plummeted at a more rapid rate. In addition, during the 1950s, service was disrupted three times by major labor strikes for prolonged periods, once for nearly two months. Within a 13-year period between January, 1948 and December, 1961, the fare structure was adjusted upward 13 times. The base cash fare increased from 10 to 30 cents on trolleys and from 15 to 35 cents on buses. By 1963, ridership fell to 74.4 million riders. The company was reorganized in 1951 but continued on a course of self-liquidation. During a six-year period through 1960, Pittsburgh Railways' net profit averaged 1.6 percent of its gross revenue. In three of the six years, the company had net losses ranging from $144,000 to $309,000. In 1963, the base wage rate for operators was $2.90 per hour, equal to those in Boston and exceeded only by operators employed by the New York City transit system.
During the 1950s, in addition to Pittsburgh Railways vehicles, 16 independent lines operated buses into downtown Pittsburgh and 21 others provided service to suburban areas. This resulted in intense competition and inadequately maintained and obsolescent rolling equipment. Each line had its own fare structure and there were no transfer privileges between any of the separate bus lines. The Pittsburgh Railways Company operated Pittsburgh's vast electric trolley network until 1964, when the Port Authority of Allegheny County used its power of eminent domain for the first time and assumed control and the railways became part of the Port Authority Transit (PAT) system. In 1967, the remaining companies of the PRC were combined into the Pittway Company.
Scope and Content Notes
The Records of the Pittsburgh Railways Company, 1872-1974, contain reports, proceedings, maps, diagrams, appraisals, labor relations, photographs, ledgers, film, and awards. This collection is organized into twelve series. Series I. contains the Snow Report, submitted in 1919 and covering the years 1872-1917, consists of inventories, historical costs, charts, and photographs of the 193 traction companies consolidated into the Pittsburgh Railways Company in 1902. Series II. contains Condemnation Proceedings, 1964-1966, and consist of appraisals, court exhibits, maps, architectural diagrams, photographs, and tables. Series III. consists of the Pittsburgh Railway's relationship with organized labor, 1949-1963. Series IV. contains the Annual Reports of the Philadelphia Company, Pittsburgh Railways Company, and the Pittway Corporation, 1918-1975. This series also includes the Annual Reports to the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission, 1950-1963.
Series V. contains thirteen volumes of the Official Report of Proceedings before the SEC in re the Indebtedness of the Pittsburgh Railways Company. Series VI. contains Reorganization Proceedings, December 31, 1946. Series VII. contains appraisals of Pittsburgh Railways Company land holdings arising from litigation brought by the City of Pittsburgh and certain other municipalities, 1918-1954. Series VIII. contains one volume of records consisting of the combined plan for reorganization under bankruptcy law, 1949-1950. Series IX. contains photographs of PRC car barns in the 1960s. Series X. contains miscellaneous maps, leases, reports, ledgers, and aerial film footage, 1898-1971. Series XI. contains a collection of safety awards and photographs from Pittsburgh Railways Company originally accessioned earlier as a separate collection but has been combined with this collection as this series. The series also includes pamphlets, maps, copies of stocks, and miscellaneous notes. Series XII consists of maps showing all or part of the Pittsburgh Railways Company track system and a table listing the types of passenger motor and trailer cars used by the company.
Additional descriptions of series are available at the series level.
Access Restrictions
No restrictions.
Acquisition Information
Gift of the Pittsburgh Railways Company, June 1, 1964 and October 18, 1974.
Preferred Citation
Pittsburgh Railways Company Records, 1872-1974, AIS.1974.29, Archives & Special Collections, University of Pittsburgh Library System
Previous Citation
Pittsburgh Railways Company Records, 1872-1974, AIS.1974.29, Archives Service Center, University of Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh Railways Company, Records, 1872-1966, 1971, ais 74:29, Archives of Industrial Society, University of Pittsburgh Libraries. Parts of this collection have also been cited as: Pittsburgh Railways Safety Awards and Photograph Collection, ais 64:34, Archives of Industrial Society, University of Pittsburgh Libraries
This collection was processed by ASC Staff in 1975 and Dan Horvath in July, 2004. Railroad maps were processed and added to the finding aid by Debbie Rougeux in June 2014.
Revision and rearrangement for the encoded version of the finding aid provided by Dan Horvath in July, 2004. Information about the collection title and the controlled access terms was extracted from the MARC record in the University of Pittsburgh catalog Voyager ID number: 1418946
Copyright
Permission for publication is given on behalf of the University of Pittsburgh as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained.
Subjects
Corporate Names
Pittsburgh Railways Company
Genres
Business records
Other Subjects
Street-railroads -- Pennsylvania -- Pittsburgh -- History
Transportation -- Pennsylvania -- Pittsburgh -- History
Business and Industry
Street-railroads -- Pennsylvania -- Allegheny County -- Maps
Electric railroads -- Cars -- Pennsylvania -- Pittsburgh -- Tables
Transportation
Container List
Scope and Content Notes
Series II contains texts of the proceedings in the Court of Common Pleas, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, regarding petition of the Port of Allegheny County Authority (PAT) for appointment of viewers to determine and assess damages by reason of the condemnation of Pittsburgh Railways Company's (PRC) Transportation System, April term, 1964. This series consists of typescript of 17,727 pages in 99 volumes; four binders of typescript loose leaf pages appraising the value of Pittsburgh Railways Company properties (including extensive use of maps and photographs); and 563 PAT and PRC exhibits used in conjunction with the court proceedings. These exhibits contain typescript pages, maps, architectural diagrams, photographs and tables. Maps, including those used in the 1966 appraisal of the PRC, are also included in this series.
Inventories and indexes to the PAT and PRC exhibits are located at the beginning of each exhibit list as well as within each individual file folder containing exhibits.
Containers
box 3, folder 9-21
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box 4, folder 1-25
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box 5, folder 1-29
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box 6, folder 1-21
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box 6, folder 22
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box 6, folder 23
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box 6, folder 24-25
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box 6, folder 26
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box 7, folder 1
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box 7, folder 2-3
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box 7, folder 4-5
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box 7, folder 6
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box 7, folder 7
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box 7, folder 8
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box 7, folder 9
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box 7, folder 10
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box 7, folder 11
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box 7, folder 12
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box 7, folder 13
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box 7, folder 14
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box 7, folder 15
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box 7, folder 16
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box 8, folder 1
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box 8, folder 2
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box 8, folder 3
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box 8, folder 4
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box 8, folder 5
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box 8, folder 6
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box 8, folder 7
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box 8, folder 8
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box 8, folder 9
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box 8, folder 10
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box 8, folder 11
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box 8, folder 12
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box 8, folder 13
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box 8, folder 14
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box 8, folder 15
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box 8, folder 16
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box 8, folder 17
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box 8, folder 18
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box 8, folder 19
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box 9, folder 1-2
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box 9, folder 3
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box 9, folder 4
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box 9, folder 5
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box 9, folder 6
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box 9, folder 7
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box 9, folder 8
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box 9, folder 9
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box 9, folder 10
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box 9, folder 11
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box 9, folder 12
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box 9, folder 13
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box 9, folder 14
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box 9, folder 15
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box 9, folder 16
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box 9, folder 17-18
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box 9, folder 19
Containers
box 10, folder 1
Scope and Content Notes
Series III contains the records of the Pittsburgh Railway Company's relationship with Divisions 85 and 1084 of the Amalgamated Association of Street Electric Railway and Motor Coach Employees of America, 1949 to 1963. Material includes: correspondence and contract agreements with the union; accounts of wage arbitration; conference memoranda; a daily diary on the strike of 1957; and mounted newspaper clippings.
Containers
box 10, folder 2
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box 10, folder 3
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box 10, folder 4
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box 10, folder 5
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box 10, folder 6-7
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box 10, folder 8
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box 10, folder 9
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box 10, folder 10
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box 10, folder 11-13
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box 10, folder 14
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box 10, folder 15
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box 11, folder 1
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box 11, folder 2
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box 11, folder 3
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box 11, folder 4-5
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box 11, folder 6-10
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box 11, folder 11
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box 11, folder 12
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box 11, folder 13
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box 11, folder 14
Containers
box 11, folder 15
Scope and Content Notes
Series IV contains Annual Reports to the stockholders of the Philadelphia Company, Pittsburgh Railways and Pittway Corporation; Annual reports of the Pittsburgh Railways Company to the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission; and Annual Report of the Pittsburgh Motor Coach Company to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Department of Internal Affairs, Division of Public Utilities. The reports are arranged chronologically by company.
Containers
box 11, folder 16
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box 11, folder 17
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box 11, folder 18
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box 12, folder 1
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box 12, folder 2
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box 12, folder 3
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box 12, folder 4
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box 12, folder 5
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box 12, folder 6
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box 12, folder 7
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box 12, folder 8
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box 12, folder 9
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box 12, folder 10
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box 12, folder 11
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box 12, folder 12-13
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box 12, folder 14
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box 12, folder 15
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box 12, folder 16
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box 12, folder 17
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box 12, folder 18
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box 12, folder 19
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box 12, folder 20
Containers
box 12, folder 21
Scope and Content Notes
Series V contains the Official Report of Proceedings before the Securities Exchange Commission in re the indebtedness of the Pittsburgh Railways Company. Hearings held in Washington, D.C., September 7, 1949 to December 20, 1950. This series consists of 1,556 mimeograph pages in 13 volumes.
Containers
box 13, folder 1-13
Scope and Content Notes
Series VI contains one volume of records concerning the Pittsburgh Railways Company, Debtor, in reorganization proceedings in the District Court of the United States for the Western District of Pennsylvania at No. 2025. The series includes a report to W.D. George, Trustee, upon Accounting Review of Transactions for the Period January 1, 1902, to May 10, 1938, in Connection with an investigation directed by Order of Court of November 7, 1945.
Containers
box 13, folder 14
Scope and Content Notes
Series VII contains appraisals of Pittsburgh Railways Company land holdings arising from litigation bought by the City of Pittsburgh and certain other municipalities.
Containers
box 13, folder 15-18
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box 13, folder 19
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box 14, folder 1
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box 14, folder 2-5
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box 14, folder 6
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box 14, folder 7-9
Containers
box 14, folder 10-11
Scope and Content Notes
Series VIII contains one volume of records consisting of the combined plan for the Reorganization of the Pittsburgh Railways System Under the Bankruptcy Act and for Discharge under the Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935 of Philadelphia Company's Guarantees Affecting Pittsburgh Railways Systems Securities This volume is dated July 1, 1949, and amended February 20, 1950 and March 21, 1950.
Containers
box 14, folder 12-13
Scope and Content Notes
Series IX contains photographs of car barns located in different areas of Pittsburgh in the 1960s. Digital reproductions of the collection are available online.
Containers
box 14, folder 14
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box 14, folder 15
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box 15, folder 1
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box 15, folder 2
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box 15, folder 3
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box 15, folder 4
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box 15, folder 5
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box 15, folder 6
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box 15, folder 7
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box 15, folder 8
Containers
box 15, folder 9
Scope and Content Notes
Series X consists of diagrams, leases, reports, construction ledgers, and aerial film footage of Pittsburgh and the surrounding area. The series also includes PCC streetcar brochures and photos of streetcars in Pittsburgh and Cleveland in the late 1960s.
Containers
box 15, folder 10-11
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box 15, folder 12-16
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box 15, folder 17
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box 15, folder 18
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box 15, folder 19
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box 15, folder 20
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box 15, folder 21
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box 15, folder 22
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box 15, folder 23
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box 15, folder 24
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box 15, folder 25
Containers
oversize 1
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oversize 2
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oversize 3
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oversize 4
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oversize 4, reel 1
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oversize 4, reel 2
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oversize 4, reel 3
Containers
oversize 4, reel 4-5
Scope and Content Notes
Series XI contains a collection of safety awards and photographs from Pittsburgh Railways Company originally accessioned earlier as a separate collection but has been combined with this collection as this series. The series includes pamphlets, maps, copies of stocks, and miscellaneous notes.
Containers
oversize 4, folder 26-40
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oversize 4, folder 41
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oversize 4, folder 42
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oversize 4, folder 43
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oversize 4, folder 44
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oversize 5
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box 16, folder 1-2
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box 16, folder 3
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box 16, folder 4
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box 16, folder 5
Containers
box 16, folder 6
Scope and Content Notes
This series consists of maps showing all or part of the Pittsburgh Railways Company track system, which was primarily located in and around Pittsburgh and Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. It also includes a table listing the types of passenger motor and trailer cars used by the company.