The 16B Emsworth to High Bridge route
can be traced to the Pittsburgh Railways
Company night coach route 6/19 Brighton - Western Avenue that was created on 11/12/61.
During the PAT years, the 16B Emsworth to High Bridge operated strictly as a night coach
between 03/01/64 and 04/30/66 between Downtown Pittsburgh and the city end of the Bellevue
High Bridge. When PAT named the route originally, they had planned on the route being the
replacement for the 6, 13 and 14 trolley lines and having the regular trips terminate in
Emsworth once the rail lines were converted over. In actuality what occurred was that the
route was redesignated effective May 1, 1966 to the 16B Brighton with the terminus being
the Avalon Loop instead of Emsworth. PAT records considered the 16B Emsworth a completely
separate route from the later 16B Brighton and had it marked as discontinued effective
05/01/66.
Garages assigned to the 16B:
- Manchester Garage - 03/01/64 - 04/30/66
Destination Signs:
Route ran with window cards and destination signs.
Above are representative of what you would have seen for the route on
old looks and the early split signs.
From research, the PRCo readings for the route most likely were 19
Western Avenue with a High Bridge window card as there was no 6 Brighton reading on the
PRCo signs.
Routing:
Outbound - Liberty Avenue at Sixth Street via Sixth Street, Sixth
Street Bridge, Federal Street, Stockton Avenue, Sandusky Street, East Ohio Street, Federal
Street, North Avenue, Brighton Road, Cambrone, Winhurst to High Bridge loop.
Inbound - High Bridge loop at Winhurst via Winhurst, Cambrone, Brighton
Road, North Avenue, Federal Street, East Ohio Street, Sandusky Street, Stockton Avenue,
Federal Street, Sixth Street Bridge, Sixth Street, Penn Avenue, Stanwix, Liberty Avenue to
Sixth Street.
Downtown loop still being investigated. We know it left from Liberty at
Sixth but records are unclear as to how it looped and we used unofficial records for the
city looping.
A one way trip on the regular routing took approximately 20 minutes.
Route Highlights:
Started: 03/01/64 (PAT's acquisition of PRCo).
Ended: 04/30/66 when the route was redesignated as the 16B Brighton.
The 16B Emsworth ran 7 days a week including holidays.
The route ran 3 round trips between 1am and 5am.
The odd Emsworth name for the night coach service that only went as
far as the city line and not to Emsworth was that PAT had planned on having the 16B
Emsworth route go to Emsworth once the 6, 13 and 14 rail lines were discontinued.
The name change was possibly to help avoid some confusion as the
reading 16B Emsworth to Avalon that was coming from Pittsburgh could be a rather confusing
reading.
When the 16B Emsworth was redesignated as the 16B Brighton, the 16B
Emsworth reading was no longer supposed to be used. The reading routinely was used
however, even into the 80's for the evening and weekend service on the route to Emsworth
after the 16B Brighton began serving Emsworth. The official PAT reading after 5/1/66 was
16B Brighton to Emsworth for Emsworth service. Service to Emsworth on the 16B didn't start
until 1967.
Most people say the 16B replaced the 6 and the 6/14 trolley line.
Technically they are correct as the 16B Brighton was the replacement bus for the trolley
line but the 16B Emsworth to High Bridge preceded the replacement and the point needs to
be noted that the 16B Brighton evolved directly from the PRCo and PAT night coach service
rather than as a completely new rail replacement route.
Schedules (Known PAT issued schedules are listed):
The 16B Emsworth had 1 distinct known schedule type.
The 16B Emsworth time table was included on the Tunnel Division trolley
schedule for the 6, 13 and 14 under folder PT-7 and was a plain white multi-panel fold out
schedule. The schedule also held the timetable for the 16C night coach service to Avalon
Loop.
- PT-7A - 09/05/65
- PT-7B - 11/28/65
- PT-7C - 02/27/66
There may have been schedules issued prior to PT-7A and were typically
reprinted former operator schedules.
Route Disposition:
The 16B Emsworth was redesignated effective 05/01/66 to the 16B
Brighton and full morning through evening service began under a different Downtown routing
and was extended to Avalon initially. Night coach service still continued to the city side
of the Bellevue High Bridge as the 16B Brighton to High Bridge under the new 16B Downtown
routing.
The further history of the 16B Brighton will be posted at a later date.
Click on images for larger view
 
Route map of the 16B Emsworth and time table for the route. |
