Long before mass transit became a network of buses, subways, Maglev tracks and super highways, there were trolley cars. And Dan R. Unger remembers them well as part of the adventures of his young life in Donora.
"Pittsburgh Railways, the trolley company, had two interurban lines," Unger said from his home in Moatsville, W.Va. "One line ran to Washington, Pa., and the other to Charleroi. At the Black Diamond junction just south of Monongahela a spur ran from the Charleroi-Pittsburgh line to Donora. Donora was served by several aging, metal, orange-colored double-ender cars. That meant the car had two trolley poles and could go forward from either end of the car."
While Unger grew up in the '40s and early '50s in Donora, the history book prepared for the community's Centennial celebration in 2001 points out that the first trolley car arrived in Donora "perched atop a Pennsylvania Railroad flat car" on Dec. 15, 1901. The Centennial book recalled that:
"It's said to have attracted as much attention as a circus. Residents swarmed around and cheered as two teams of horses pulled it to Eighth Street and McKean Avenue to put it on the tracks. This old Pittsburgh Railway car, number 429, was christened 'Maude.' That first day a total of 47 passengers paid to ride on 'Maude.' Ben Binn, Ewing B. Todd and John Minney were the first riders.
"The trolleys ran between First and McKean and Fifteenth Street and Meldon at first, but in 1911 the run was extended to Black Diamond where connections could be made to Charleroi or Pittsburgh. Trolley service continued until the 1950s when the Public Utility Commission, on May 5, 1953, authorized the abandonment of the Donora-Black Diamond service and ordered removal of rails completed by Dec. 31, 1954."
Fast forward to those years and Unger's recollections.
"The Donora line I remember ended at McKean Avenue and First Street," he said. "The track and wire simply stopped there. The motorman got out of the car at the Donora terminus, lowered the trolley pole that had been used, walked around to the other end of the car and raised the trolley pole that would allow the car to reverse direction. Then the motorman took his tools and changed his position to the opposite end of the car, meaning the rear was now the front. The car could be operated from either end."
Unger also remembers the distinct "growl" as the trolley car rumbled along McKean Avenue.
"It was a slow and, by today's standards, uncomfortable ride," he said. "The seats were reversible and made of a woven fiber-like material that didn't allow much cushioning. After the car left the Donora city limits, it ran on its own private right of way, then the streets through Monongahela and looped just beyond the little community of New Eagle."
On the private right of way, Unger said, the old car "bounced, lurched and twisted, seemingly tortured."
"I remember watching the floor move as the car traveled," he said. "There were several passing sidings between the Donora terminus and the Black Diamond junction. The line was double tracked through Monongahela. As young folks, we often took the car from Donora to the skating rink in New Eagle. During my 'nervous stomach' days, on numerous occasions my mother took me to the doctor's office in Pittsburgh, and the entire trip was by trolley. We took the Donora car to Black Diamond junction, then the Charleroi interurban car, which were large, formidable gray and red behemoths, to Pittsburgh. We then transferred to a city car out to the doctor's office. It was a very long, tiring day, especially during the hot summer months. Vestiges of the old Donora line can still be seen next to the old bowling alley on McKean Avenue."
Unger also recalled that some communities along the Monongahela River were served by a company from Monessen known as Hilltop Bus Lines.
"I well remember the day the first bus stopped right at our house on the corner of McCrea and Castner avenues," he said. "For 15 cents one could take the trip down the street. The bus ran a circuitous route from the hilltop down into the shopping district of Donora. Its most important stop was near the main gate to the mill (American Steel and Wire Works). The bus stopped at nearly every corner and I remember thinking we 'had arrived' as a community now that there was a transit system within and serving the city limits."
As with everything else, times and transit systems have changed. But to people like Unger, there's nothing like a trolley or bus ride down Memory Lane.
