Ligonier Valley Rail Road Newspaper Articles
We have compiled over 1,400 newspaper articles that mention the Ligonier Valley Railroad, or related subjects. The articles were originally published starting in 1873 and our collection runs through 1995. Enjoy!
Latrobe Bulletin
Friday December 17, 1943
Liggie's New Coach Makes Maiden Run
The newly acquired gas-electric coach, which will replace one of the old type gasoline propelled cars on the Ligonier Valley Railroad, made its maiden trip yesterday afternoon from Ligonier to Latrobe.
It left Ligonier at 1:15 o'clock, arriving in Latrobe at 1:45.
This coach and another, now being repaired and serviced, were purchased from the Boston and Maine Railroad several weeks ago. They are larger than either of the two gasoline coaches which have been in operation previously.
Forty-six persons can be seated in the coach proper, while 17 additional passengers may be taken care of in the baggage car. The new motor car has been fully repaired and reconditioned.
The exterior is painted a P.R.R. Tucsan red and the interior a cream color. The seats, finished in black leather, are situated on both sides of the coach. On the left side of the aisle the seats are large enough to accommodate three people in each seat while on the other side there is seating room for two. The outside front of the car has black and yellow stripes painted alternately and vertically, so that the car may be easily distinguished at the various crossings along the route.
The new coach operates on its own electrical power, generated from dynamos placed in the coach. It has a maximum speed of 50 miles per hour when not pulling an auxiliary car, however, when doing so travels at 40 miles per hour.
Engineer on the car's first trip was Fred Iscrupe, regular L.V.R.R. operator, who has been driving the old gasoline coach for a number of years.
Passengers on the excursion were R. E. Bedford, representative of the Baldwin
Locomotive Co., Philadelphia; E. L. Peet, district service engineer, electro-motive division of the General Motors Corp.; John Crouch, master mechanic of the L.V.R.R.; W. G. Clark, machinist of the L.V.R.R.; J. P. Gochnour, general manager of the L.V.R.R.; C. F. Repp, retired P.R.R. station agent, Latrobe; Harry J. Whiteman, president of the Latrobe Bulletin; and Jack George, advertising manager of the Latrobe Bulletin.
The gasoline propelled coach replaced by this newly acquired one, had been in use on the L.V.R.R. for the past 14 years and had traveled a total of 600,000 miles on the route between Latrobe and Ligonier. A second gasoline coach, which will be replaced by another coach of the same type, has been running a regular schedule for the past eight years.
All along the way from Ligonier to Latrobe, people came out of their houses to look at the new coach which attracted their attention by the sound of its motors and the dual set of air horns mounted on the car. Both the motors and horns are decidedly louder than those on the old type cars. Even steel workers and others employed in the different defense plants along the route opened windows to take a look at the car. Others ran out
along side of the tracks to wave at the passengers and the engineer.