The Pittsburgh Railways Company of Pennsylvania was originally chartered in 1900 as the Southern Traction Company and became the operating manager of 193 street railways properties owned or controlled by the Philadelphia Company, Consolidated Traction, United Traction, and Southern Traction Companies in 1902. At this time these four companies were almalgamated into the one entity - the Pittsburgh Railways Company. It was was the largest provider of mass transit in the Pittsburgh area from 1902 to its demise in 1964.
At its peak in 1918, the company transported over 600,000 passengers daily and boasted 606 miles (just on 1,000 km) of track and 99 trolley routes to its name. But because if its peculiar conglomerate business structure, the Pittsburgh Railways Company grappled with financial difficulty from the start. Despite its problems, Pittsburgh Railways placed into service the first 100 Presidents' Conference Cars (PCC) trolleys in 1936 and 1937. As elsewhere, after WW2 private car ownership started to affect transit service, ridership, and revenue for the Pittsburgh Railways Company. Fare increases, intense competition with other independent lines, labor strikes, and obsolescence of equipment eventually led to the dissolution of the Pittsburgh Railways Company. The Port Authority of Allegheny County assumed control of the electric trolley network in 1964 and the remaining companies of the Pittsburgh Railways Company were combined into the Pittway Company.
Many historic pics are on this webpage
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