1.
Pittsburgh
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Pittsburgh is a city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in the United States, and is the county seat of Allegheny County. The city proper has a population of 304,391. The metropolitan population of 2,353,045 is the largest in both the Ohio Valley and Appalachia, the second-largest in Pennsylvania, and the 26th-largest in the U. S. The city features 30 skyscrapers, two inclines, a fortification and the Point State Park at the confluence of the rivers. Aside from steel, Pittsburgh has led in manufacturing of aluminum, glass, shipbuilding, petroleum, foods, sports, transportation, computing, autos, and electronics. For part of the 20th century, Pittsburgh was behind only New York and Chicago in corporate headquarters employment, Americas 1980s deindustrialization laid off area blue-collar workers and thousands of downtown white-collar workers when the longtime Pittsburgh-based world headquarters moved out. The area has served also as the federal agency headquarters for cyber defense, software engineering, robotics, energy research. The area is home to 68 colleges and universities, including research and development leaders Carnegie Mellon University, the region is a hub for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, sustainable energy, and energy extraction. Pittsburgh was named in 1758 by General John Forbes, in honor of British statesman William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham. The current pronunciation, which is unusual in English speaking countries, is almost certainly a result of a printing error in some copies of the City Charter of March 18,1816. The error was repeated commonly enough throughout the rest of the 19th century that the pronunciation was lost. After a public campaign the original spelling was restored by the United States Board on Geographic Names in 1911. The area of the Ohio headwaters was long inhabited by the Shawnee, the first known European to enter the region was the French explorer/trader Robert de La Salle from Quebec during his 1669 expedition down the Ohio River. European pioneers, primarily Dutch, followed in the early 18th century, Michael Bezallion was the first to describe the forks of the Ohio in a 1717 manuscript, and later that year European fur traders established area posts and settlements. In 1749, French soldiers from Quebec launched an expedition to the forks to unite Canada with French Louisiana via the rivers, during 1753–54, the British hastily built Fort Prince George before a larger French force drove them off. The French built Fort Duquesne based on LaSalles 1669 claims, the French and Indian War, the North American front of the Seven Years War, began with the future Pittsburgh as its center. British General Edward Braddock was dispatched with Major George Washington as his aide to take Fort Duquesne, the British and colonial force were defeated at Braddocks Field. General John Forbes finally took the forks in 1758, Forbes began construction on Fort Pitt, named after William Pitt the Elder while the settlement was named Pittsborough
2.
Pennsylvania
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Pennsylvania /ˌpɛnsᵻlˈveɪnjə/, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state located in the northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The Appalachian Mountains run through its middle, Pennsylvania is the 33rd largest, the 5th most populous, and the 9th most densely populated of the 50 United States. The states five most populous cities are Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Allentown, Erie, the state capital, and its ninth-largest city, is Harrisburg. Pennsylvania has 140 miles of shoreline along Lake Erie and the Delaware Estuary. The state is one of the 13 original founding states of the United States, it came into being in 1681 as a result of a land grant to William Penn. Part of Pennsylvania, together with the present State of Delaware, had earlier been organized as the Colony of New Sweden and it was the second state to ratify the United States Constitution, on December 12,1787. Independence Hall, where the United States Declaration of Independence and United States Constitution were drafted, is located in the states largest city of Philadelphia, during the American Civil War, the Battle of Gettysburg, was fought in the south central region of the state. Valley Forge near Philadelphia was General Washingtons headquarters during the winter of 1777–78. Pennsylvania is 170 miles north to south and 283 miles east to west, of a total 46,055 square miles,44,817 square miles are land,490 square miles are inland waters, and 749 square miles are waters in Lake Erie. It is the 33rd largest state in the United States, Pennsylvania has 51 miles of coastline along Lake Erie and 57 miles of shoreline along the Delaware Estuary. Cities include Philadelphia, Reading, Lebanon and Lancaster in the southeast, Pittsburgh in the southwest, the tri-cities of Allentown, Bethlehem, the northeast includes the former anthracite coal mining communities of Scranton, Wilkes-Barre, Pittston City, and Hazleton. Erie is located in the northwest, the state has 5 regions, namely the Allegheny Plateau, Ridge and Valley, Atlantic Coastal Plain, Piedmont, and the Erie Plain. Straddling two major zones, the majority of the state, with the exception of the corner, has a humid continental climate. The largest city, Philadelphia, has characteristics of the humid subtropical climate that covers much of Delaware. Moving toward the interior of the state, the winter climate becomes colder, the number of cloudy days increase. Western areas of the state, particularly locations near Lake Erie, can receive over 100 inches of snowfall annually, the state may be subject to severe weather from spring through summer into fall. Tornadoes occur annually in the state, sometimes in large numbers, the Tuscarora Nation took up temporary residence in the central portion of Pennsylvania ca. Both the Dutch and the English claimed both sides of the Delaware River as part of their lands in America
3.
Track gauge
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In rail transport, track gauge is the spacing of the rails on a railway track and is measured between the inner faces of the load-bearing rails. All vehicles on a network must have running gear that is compatible with the track gauge, as the dominant parameter determining interoperability, it is still frequently used as a descriptor of a route or network. There is a distinction between the gauge and actual gauge at some locality, due to divergence of track components from the nominal. Railway engineers use a device, like a caliper, to measure the actual gauge, the nominal track gauge is the distance between the inner faces of the rails. In current practice, it is specified at a distance below the rail head as the inner faces of the rail head are not necessarily vertical. In some cases in the earliest days of railways, the company saw itself as an infrastructure provider only. Colloquially the wagons might be referred to as four-foot gauge wagons, say and this nominal value does not equate to the flange spacing, as some freedom is allowed for. An infrastructure manager might specify new or replacement track components at a variation from the nominal gauge for pragmatic reasons. Track is defined in old Imperial units or in universally accepted metric units or SI units, Imperial units were established in United Kingdom by The Weights and Measures Act of 1824. In addition, there are constraints, such as the load-carrying capacity of axles. Narrow gauge railways usually cost less to build because they are lighter in construction, using smaller cars and locomotives, as well as smaller bridges, smaller tunnels. Narrow gauge is often used in mountainous terrain, where the savings in civil engineering work can be substantial. Broader gauge railways are generally expensive to build and require wider curves. There is no single perfect gauge, because different environments and economic considerations come into play, a narrow gauge is superior if ones main considerations are economy and tight curvature. For direct, unimpeded routes with high traffic, a broad gauge may be preferable, the Standard, Russian, and 46 gauges are designed to strike a reasonable balance between these factors. In addition to the general trade-off, another important factor is standardization, once a standard has been chosen, and equipment, infrastructure, and training calibrated to that standard, conversion becomes difficult and expensive. This also makes it easier to adopt an existing standard than to invent a new one and this is true of many technologies, including railroad gauges. The reduced cost, greater efficiency, and greater economic opportunity offered by the use of a common standard explains why a number of gauges predominate worldwide
4.
5 ft and 1520 mm gauge railways
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Railways with a railway track gauge of 5 ft/1,524 mm were first constructed in the United Kingdom and the United States. This gauge is commonly called Russian gauge because this gauge was later chosen as the common track gauge for the Russian Empire. The gauge was redefined by Russian Railways to be 1520 mm, the primary region where Russian gauge is used is the former Soviet Union, Mongolia and Finland, with about 225,000 km of track. Russian gauge is the second most common gauge in the world, in 1748, the Wylam waggonway was built to a 5 ft gauge for the shipment of coal from Wylam to Lemington down the River Tyne. In 1839, the Eastern Counties Railway was constructed, and in 1840, in 1844, both lines were converted to 1,435 mm standard gauge. In 1903, the East Hill Cliff Railway, a funicular, was opened. In 1827, Horatio Allen, the engineer of the South Carolina Canal and Rail Road Company, prescribed the usage of 5 ft gauge. The presence of several distinct gauges was a disadvantage to the Confederate States of America during the American Civil War. In 1886, when around 11,500 miles of 5 ft gauge track existed in the United States, while of almost no practical importance the railway did demonstrate that this gauge was viable. The second railway in the Russian Empire was the Warsaw–Vienna railway which was built to 1,435 mm, for the building of Russias first major railway, the Moscow – Saint Petersburg Railway, engineer Pavel Melnikov hired as consultant George Washington Whistler, a prominent American railway engineer. Melnikov, of the Construction Commission overseeing the railway, recommended 6 ft following the example of the first railway and his study of US Railways. Following a report sent by Whistler the head of the Main Administration of Transport and Buildings recommended 5 ft and it was approved for the railway by Tsar Nicholas I on February 14,1843. The next lines built were also approved with this gauge but it was not until March 1860 that a Government decree stated all major railways in Russia would be 5 ft gauge. It is widely and incorrectly believed that Imperial Russia chose a gauge broader than standard gauge for military reasons, in 1841 a Russian army engineer wrote a paper stating that such a danger did not exist since railways could be made dysfunctional by retreating forces. Finally for the Moscow - Saint Petersburg Railway, which became the benchmark, despite this the difference in gauge did play a role in hindering invading armies, especially in World War II, it was just not selected with that in mind. The 5-foot gauge became the standard in the whole Russian Empire and that includes the Baltic states, Ukraine, Belarus, the Caucasian and Central Asian republics, Finland, and in the once Soviet-influenced Mongolia. This formed a break of gauge between Changchun and Kuancheng, until the rest of the former Chinese Eastern Railway was converted to standard gauge, unlike in South Manchuria, the Soviet Unions reconquest of southern Sakhalin from Japan did not result in regauging of the railway system. Southern Sakhalin has continued with the original Japanese 1,067 mm gauge simultaneously with the Russian gauge railway, constructed in the northern part of the island in 1930-1932
5.
National Register of Historic Places
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The National Register of Historic Places is the United States federal governments official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation. The passage of the National Historic Preservation Act in 1966 established the National Register, of the more than one million properties on the National Register,80,000 are listed individually. The remainder are contributing resources within historic districts, each year approximately 30,000 properties are added to the National Register as part of districts or by individual listings. For most of its history the National Register has been administered by the National Park Service and its goals are to help property owners and interest groups, such as the National Trust for Historic Preservation, coordinate, identify, and protect historic sites in the United States. While National Register listings are mostly symbolic, their recognition of significance provides some financial incentive to owners of listed properties, protection of the property is not guaranteed. During the nomination process, the property is evaluated in terms of the four criteria for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places, the application of those criteria has been the subject of criticism by academics of history and preservation, as well as the public and politicians. Occasionally, historic sites outside the proper, but associated with the United States are also listed. Properties can be nominated in a variety of forms, including individual properties, historic districts, the Register categorizes general listings into one of five types of properties, district, site, structure, building, or object. National Register Historic Districts are defined geographical areas consisting of contributing and non-contributing properties, some properties are added automatically to the National Register when they become administered by the National Park Service. These include National Historic Landmarks, National Historic Sites, National Historical Parks, National Military Parks/Battlefields, National Memorials, on October 15,1966, the Historic Preservation Act created the National Register of Historic Places and the corresponding State Historic Preservation Offices. Initially, the National Register consisted of the National Historic Landmarks designated before the Registers creation, approval of the act, which was amended in 1980 and 1992, represented the first time the United States had a broad-based historic preservation policy. To administer the newly created National Register of Historic Places, the National Park Service of the U. S. Department of the Interior, hartzog, Jr. established an administrative division named the Office of Archeology and Historic Preservation. Hartzog charged OAHP with creating the National Register program mandated by the 1966 law, ernest Connally was the Offices first director. Within OAHP new divisions were created to deal with the National Register, the first official Keeper of the Register was William J. Murtagh, an architectural historian. During the Registers earliest years in the late 1960s and early 1970s, organization was lax and SHPOs were small, understaffed, and underfunded. A few years later in 1979, the NPS history programs affiliated with both the U. S. National Parks system and the National Register were categorized formally into two Assistant Directorates. Established were the Assistant Directorate for Archeology and Historic Preservation and the Assistant Directorate for Park Historic Preservation, from 1978 until 1981, the main agency for the National Register was the Heritage Conservation and Recreation Service of the United States Department of the Interior. In February 1983, the two assistant directorates were merged to promote efficiency and recognize the interdependency of their programs, jerry L. Rogers was selected to direct this newly merged associate directorate
6.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
7.
Cable railway
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Many such were funicular railroads, where one descending load in part counterbalanced an ascending consist, much like a cable car. Cable railways are built where the gradient of the route is so steep that a conventional adhesion train could not climb the track. Most commonly the cable is operated by an engine, although other methods such as gravity or water-balance are also used. Many cable railways connect to conventional adhesion lines at their top and bottom, a specific type of cable railway is the funicular, which is a cable railway with the cars permanently fixed to the cable. Usually funiculars are self-contained and not connected to railway networks. The Welsh slate industry made use of inclines to connect quarry galleries. Level tracks are arranged above and below the gradient to allow wagons to be moved onto the incline either singly or in short rakes of two or more, on the incline itself the tracks may be interlaced to reduce the width of land needed. Railway workers attach the cable to the wagon, and detach it when it arrives at the other end of the incline. Generally, special-purpose safety couplings are used rather than the ordinary wagon couplings, the cables may be guided between the rails on the incline by a series of rollers so that they do not fall across the rail where they would be damaged by the wheels on the wagons. On early railways, cable-worked inclines were used on some passenger lines. The speed of the wagons was usually controlled by means of a brake that acted on the drum at the head of the incline. The incline cable passed round the drum several times to ensure there was sufficient friction for the brake to slow the rotation of the drum – and therefore the wagons – without the cable slipping. At the head of the various devices were employed to ensure that wagons did not start to descend before they were attached to the cable. These ranged from simple lumps of rock wedged behind the wheels to permanently installed chocks that were mechanically synchronized with the drum braking system. At Maenofferen Quarry a system was installed that raised a short section of the rail at the head of the incline to prevent runaways, the operation of an incline was typically controlled by the brakesman positioned at the winding house. A variety of systems were used to communicate with workers at the bottom of the incline, one of the most common communication methods was a simple electrical bell system. Cable railways were used within quarries to connect working levels. Sometimes a single cable railway would span multiple levels, allowing wagons to be moved between the furthest levels in a single movement, in order to accommodate intermediate levels, turnouts were used to allow wagons to leave and join the cable railway part way along its length
8.
South Side (Pittsburgh)
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South Side is an area in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States, located along the Monongahela River across from Downtown Pittsburgh. The South Side is officially divided into two neighborhoods, South Side Flats and South Side Slopes, both the Flats and the Slopes are represented on Pittsburgh City Council by Bruce Kraus. The business district stretches along East Carson Street, which is home to small shops, restaurants. In 2006, more than 80 bars and pubs operated in the South Side Flats, the neighborhood has an urban fabric with rowhouses. The South Side is well-connected with public transit and its proximity and public transit connections also have attracted professionals who work downtown. Pittsburgh Fire Station #24 is located on Mary Street in the neighborhood, dr. Nathaniel Bedford planned a large part of Birmingham and named many streets after his friends and family, thus the predominance of streets named after people such as Jane, Sarah, and Carson. For many years, much of the South Side was dominated by heavy industry, the Jones and Laughlin Steel Company was located on the South Side but closed in the 1980s and has since been redeveloped. The Pittsburgh Terminal Properties building is located on the west end of Carson Street, when construction finished in 1906, it was the largest warehouse between New York and Chicago. Connections to river, rail, and road transport made it a facility for merchants who sold goods. It has since redeveloped into River Walk Corporate Centre and houses a mix of office and service businesses including Paper Products Company. In more recent years, the South Side has become home to a student population. Many students at Duquesne University, University of Pittsburgh, and Carnegie Mellon University either live in the South Side or spend a portion of their nightlife there, a walk over the South Tenth Street Bridge that crosses the Monongahela River takes students to Duquesne University. Due to the number of college students and young professionals, in addition to the thriving bar scene. Important streets in South Side are E. Carson Street, Josephine Street, the business district is located along E. Carson Street, which runs the length of South Side. The Birmingham Bridge makes South Side easily accessible from Oakland, which is around 2 miles away from South Side, Station Square is about 1.5 miles west of South Side, and Mt. Washington is 2.5 miles away. The average South Side family income in 2003 was $41,353, East Carson St. has restaurants, bars, and shops that help support the economy of the South Side. The large variety of shopping along E. Carson Street and SouthSide Works is also a factor in the South Sides economy, there are a variety of locally owned stores such as Pittsburgh Jeans Co. and widespread stores such as American Eagle, H&M, and Nine West. The Urban Redevelopment Authority started the SouthSide Works project hoping to create over 6,000 jobs, today, SouthSide Works has over 10 shopping stores and over 10 restaurants & bars
9.
Mount Washington (Pittsburgh)
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Mount Washington is a neighborhood in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvanias south city area. It has a zip code of 15211 and has representation on Pittsburgh City Council by both the members for District 3 and District 2. The neighborhood is known as the home of Autumn House Press. In the early history of Pittsburgh, Mount Washington was known as Coal Hill, easy access to the Pittsburgh coal seams outcrop near the base of Mt. Washington allowed several mines to operate there. Also, rock was quarried from the hill, gray sandstone, for example, was quarried at Coal Hill for the second Allegheny County Courthouse. By 1876, the name had changed to Mount Washington, and a year later. Virtually all photos of the Pittsburgh skyline are from Mt. Washington, due to the elevation of the hill overlooking the river valley, the original switchback trails that wound up the steep slopes of Mt. Washington were barely passable to a team of horses pulling a loaded wagon. Immigrants, predominantly from Germany, settled Mount Washington by the early 19th century and they became weary of climbing steep footpaths and steps to their homes, from the river valley, after work. They remembered the Seilbahns of their country, and proposals were advanced to construct one or more of them along Coal Hill. The Monongahela Incline was the first of these to be built in 1869–1870, as the hilltop communities were virtually inaccessible by any other means, many of Pittsburghs inclines carried horses and wagons as well as foot passengers. This incline was closed by its owner, the Pittsburgh Railways Company, just prior to all of their streetcar, the Monongahela and Duquesne Inclines allow access to Mt. Washingtons overlook of the downtown area of Pittsburgh. Tourists marvel at the view while riding two of only a few remaining inclines in the country, the inclines remain the best way for thousands of Pittsburghers on Mt. Washington to get to their jobs, entertainment and shopping in downtown Pittsburgh and Station Square. One of the most famous examples of the early-twentieth century Garden City Movement communities is on Mt. Washington, chatham Village is a compact neighborhood of townhomes and gardens on the far south end of Mt. Washington. In the 1930s, a neon billboard sign,226 feet wide and 30 feet high, was erected on the Mount Washington hillside near the Duquesne Incline tracks. Its earliest known advertisers were Iron City Beer, Clarks Teaberry Gum, alcoa became the signs most well-known advertiser, remaining for the next 25 years. In 1992, Miles Laboratories moved their U. S. headquarters from Elkhart, Indiana to Pittsburgh, in April 1995, the Miles brand name was absorbed by its parent company, Bayer AG and the sign was changed to feature the Bayer name and its circular cross logo. Bayer AG declined to renew their lease on the sign in 2014, as of May 2015, Lamar Advertising and the City of Pittsburgh were in disagreement over the proper use and maintenance responsibilities of the sign. In June 2016, Lamar Advertising erected a new sign over the old sign for the Sprint Corporation
10.
Grade (slope)
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The grade of a physical feature, landform or constructed line refers to the tangent of the angle of that surface to the horizontal. It is a case of the slope, where zero indicates horizontality. A larger number indicates higher or steeper degree of tilt, often slope is calculated as a ratio of rise to run, or as a fraction in which run is the horizontal distance and rise is the vertical distance. The grades or slopes of existing physical features such as canyons and hillsides, stream and river banks, grades are typically specified for new linear constructions. The grade may refer to the slope or the perpendicular cross slope. There are several ways to express slope, as an angle of inclination to the horizontal, as a percentage, the formula for which is 100 rise run which could also be expressed as the tangent of the angle of inclination times 100. In the U. S. this percentage grade is the most commonly used unit for communicating slopes in transportation, surveying, construction, and civil engineering. As a per mille figure, the formula for which is 1000 rise run which could also be expressed as the tangent of the angle of inclination times 1000 and this is commonly used in Europe to denote the incline of a railway. As a ratio of one part rise to so many parts run, for example, a slope that has a rise of 5 feet for every 100 feet of run would have a slope ratio of 1 in 20. This is generally the method used to describe railway grades in Australia, any of these may be used. Grade is usually expressed as a percentage, but this is converted to the angle α from horizontal or the other expressions. Slope may still be expressed when the run is not known. This is not the way to specify slope, it follows the sine function rather than the tangent function. But in practice the way to calculate slope is to measure the distance along the slope and the vertical rise. When the angle of inclination is small, using the slope length rather than the horizontal displacement makes only an insignificant difference, Railway gradients are usually expressed in terms of the rise in relation to the distance along the track as a practical measure. In cases where the difference between sin and tan is significant, the tangent is used. In any case, the identity holds for all inclinations up to 90 degrees, tan α = sin α1 − sin 2 α In Europe. Grades are related using the equations with symbols from the figure at top
11.
Steam engine
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A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid. Steam engines are combustion engines, where the working fluid is separate from the combustion products. Non-combustion heat sources such as power, nuclear power or geothermal energy may be used. The ideal thermodynamic cycle used to analyze this process is called the Rankine cycle, in the cycle, water is heated and transforms into steam within a boiler operating at a high pressure. When expanded through pistons or turbines, mechanical work is done, the reduced-pressure steam is then exhausted to the atmosphere, or condensed and pumped back into the boiler. Specialized devices such as hammers and steam pile drivers are dependent on the steam pressure supplied from a separate boiler. The use of boiling water to mechanical motion goes back over 2000 years. The Spanish inventor Jerónimo de Ayanz y Beaumont obtained the first patent for an engine in 1606. In 1698 Thomas Savery patented a steam pump that used steam in direct contact with the water being pumped, Saverys steam pump used condensing steam to create a vacuum and draw water into a chamber, and then applied pressurized steam to further pump the water. Thomas Newcomens atmospheric engine was the first commercial steam engine using a piston. In 1781 James Watt patented an engine that produced continuous rotary motion. Watts ten-horsepower engines enabled a range of manufacturing machinery to be powered. The engines could be sited anywhere that water and coal or wood fuel could be obtained, by 1883, engines that could provide 10,000 hp had become feasible. The stationary steam engine was a key component of the Industrial Revolution, the aeolipile described by Hero of Alexandria in the 1st century AD is considered to be the first recorded steam engine. Torque was produced by steam jets exiting the turbine, in the Spanish Empire, the great inventor Jerónimo de Ayanz y Beaumont obtained a patent for the first steam engine in history in 1603. Thomas Savery, in 1698, patented the first practical, atmospheric pressure and it had no piston or moving parts, only taps. It was an engine, a kind of thermic syphon, in which steam was admitted to an empty container. The vacuum thus created was used to water from the sump at the bottom of the mine
12.
Monongahela Incline
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The Monongahela Incline, built by John Endres in 1870, is located near the Smithfield Street Bridge in Pittsburgh. It is the oldest continuously operating funicular in the United States and it is also one of two surviving inclines from the original 17 passenger-carrying inclines built in Pittsburgh starting in the late 19th century. Its lower station is across the street from the Station Square shopping complex, Pittsburghs expanding industrial base in 1860 created a huge demand for labor, attracting mainly German immigrants to the region. This created a housing shortage as industry occupied most of the flat lands adjacent to the river, leaving only the steep. However, travel between the hill and other areas was hindered by a lack of roads or public transport. The predominantly German immigrants who settled on Mt. Washington, remembering the Seilbahns of their former country, the result was the Monongahela Incline, which opened on May 28,1870. The Monongahela Incline is operated by the Port Authority of Allegheny County, transfers can be made between the incline and the light rail and buses. PA-226, Monongahela Incline Plane,28 photos,36 data pages,7 photo caption pages Lower Station from Google Maps Street View Upper Station from Google Maps Street View
13.
Duquesne Heights (Pittsburgh)
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Duquesne Heights is a neighborhood in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvanias south city area. It has a zip code of 15211, and has representation on Pittsburgh City Council by the member for District 2. Mt. Washington, West End Valley, Beechview List of Pittsburgh neighborhoods Toker, Franklin
14.
J. G. Brill Company
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The J. G. Brill Company manufactured streetcars, interurban coaches, and buses in the United States for almost ninety years. The company was founded by John George Brill in 1868 as a manufacturing firm in Philadelphia. Over the years, it absorbed numerous other manufacturers such as Kuhlman in Cleveland. With business diminishing, in 1944 it merged with the American Car and it ceased trolley and bus production in 1954, though some of their interurbans served the Philadelphia area till the 1980s. Brill was the longest lasting of the trolley and interurban manufacturers. It manufactured over 45,000 streetcars, trams, motor buses, trolleybuses, at its height, it was the largest manufacturer of streetcars and interurbans in the U. S. and produced more streetcars and interurbans and gas electrics than any other manufacturer. In 1868, the Brill company was founded as J. G, after James Rawle joins the firm in 1872, it is renamed J. G. In 1926, ACF Motors Company obtained a controlling interest in Brill, the firm built about 1,100 trolley buses and a few thousand buses under the name. On January 31,1946, a controlling interest in ACF-Brill was acquired by Consolidated Vultee Aircraft Corporation for $7.5 million. Consolidated Vultee was sold on November 6,1947, to the Nashville Corporation, in early 1954, the Brill name disappeared when ACF-Brill ceased production and subcontracted remaining orders. In Europe, Cie. J. G. Brill of Gallardon, birney safety car – by subsidiary, the American Car Company. Steel heavy interurban cars built 1920-1930s, the Brill Center Door car was typical of suburban trolleys and interurbans built around 1920. These tended to be large, heavy, double-ended cars, with passengers entering and exiting via doors located at the center of the car, many rebuilt into one man cars. All-steel, had standard controller stand, capable of 70 mph, Brilliner – Brills competitor to the PCC looked somewhat like the first PCCs. The Brilliner was not successful compared to the PCC. Few were sold, whereas PCCs were well sold worldwide, twenty-four built for Atlantic Citys Miss America Fleet. Brill diners - Brill sold and designed diners, generally one of its four subsidiaries. The last one believed to be operating is the Capitol Diner in Lynn, Massachusetts, up to that time, both the wood and most of the steel interurban cars were large, sat high, and were heavy
15.
Downtown Pittsburgh
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Downtown Pittsburgh, colloquially referred to as the Golden Triangle or Dahntahn in eye dialect, and officially the Central Business District, is the urban downtown center of Pittsburgh. It is located at the confluence of the Allegheny River and the Monongahela River whose joining forms the Ohio River, the triangle is bounded by the two rivers. The area features offices for major corporations such as PNC Bank, U. S. Steel, PPG, Bank of New York Mellon, Heinz, Federated Investors and Alcoa. It is where the fortunes of industrial barons as Andrew Carnegie, Henry Clay Frick, Henry J. Heinz, Andrew Mellon. It contains the site where the French fort, Fort Duquesne, in 2013, Pittsburgh had the second-lowest vacancy rate for Class A space among downtowns in the United States. The Central Business District is bounded by the Monongahela River to the south, the Allegheny River to the north, an expanded definition of Downtown may include the adjacent neighborhoods of Uptown/The Bluff, the Strip District, the North Shore, and the South Shore. Downtown is served by the Port Authoritys light rail system, an extensive bus network. Greyhounds Pittsburgh bus terminal is located across Liberty Avenue from the Amtrak Station, other important roadways are Pennsylvania Route 28, Pennsylvania Route 51, Pennsylvania Route 65, and U. S. Route 19. Three major entrances to the city are via tunnels, the Fort Pitt Tunnel and Squirrel Hill Tunnel on I-376 and the Liberty Tunnels. The New York Times once called Pittsburgh the only city with an entrance, also traveling I-279 south and I-376, the city explodes into view when coming around a turn in the highway. Downtown surface streets are based on two distinct grid systems that parallel the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers and these two grids intersect along Liberty Avenue, creating many unusual street intersections. Furthermore, the Allegheny grid contains numbered streets, while the Monongahela grid contains numbered avenues, and, in fact, there are cases where these numbered roadways intersect, creating some confusion. This unusual grid pattern leads to Pittsburghers giving directions in the terms of landmarks, Pittsburgh is nicknamed The City of Bridges. In Downtown, there are 10 bridges connecting to points north and south, the expanded definition of Downtown includes 18 bridges. In Allegheny County the number exceeds 2,200, while most people still consider the entire Downtown as one neighborhood, there are several significant subdistricts within the Golden Triangle. The Pittsburgh Central Downtown Historic District is a district in the central business district. It is bounded by Wood Street, Forbes Avenue, Grant Street and it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on December 17,1985. Point State Park area, At the triangles tip is Point State Park with its giant fountain and this park was the original site of both Fort Duquesne by the French and the subsequent Fort Pitt by the British
16.
The Next Three Days
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The Next Three Days is a 2010 vigilante thriller film written and directed by Paul Haggis and starring Russell Crowe and Elizabeth Banks. It was released in the United States on November 19,2010 and it is a remake of the 2008 French film Pour Elle by Fred Cavayé and Guillaume Lemans. Lara Brennan is convicted of murdering her boss and is sentenced to life in prison, following the failure of her appeal, her son Luke ceases to acknowledge her during prison visits. Her attorney gives up the fight for her acquittal because no evidence points to it, one day, Lara attempts suicide, unwilling to spend the rest of her life in prison. Her husband, John, a professor at a community college, John consults Damon Pennington, a former convict who escaped prison seven times. Damon gives John advice, along with a warning that the initial escape will be compared to evading the police after that. Following Damons advice, John begins his preparation and he obtains a handgun and fake IDs, and studies the map of Pittsburgh for escape routes. To get money, he sells their houses furniture and personal belongings, John attempts to break Lara out from the prison in which she is held but abandons the plan when he is almost caught testing a self-made bump key on an elevator. When John is told that Lara will be transferred in 72 hours to another prison facility, unable to get the money from his house in time, he considers robbing a bank, but hesitates at the last minute. Instead, John tails a local dealer to a drug lord. Following clues left behind at the lords house, the police track down Johns car, get to his empty house. John tears down the big map filled with notes and photos of his escape plan and he leaves Luke at his classmates birthday party, then plants falsified blood work indicating that Lara is in a state of hyperglycaemia. Lara is transferred to a hospital, where John convinces her to escape with him. John and Lara leave the hospital, narrowly escaping the police and they then find out that Luke is at the zoo for the birthday party. John drives there to him, by which point the police have already established roadblocks on all interstate routes. Anticipating that police are looking for a couple and a child and they drive through the checkpoint without incident and proceed to Buffalo, New York, where John drops off the couple. The Brennans cross the border into Canada and head to an airport, meanwhile, Johns parents refuse to cooperate with the police. The police examine the escape plan fragments to figure out his destination, a detective returns to the crime scene where Laras boss was killed
17.
Flashdance
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Flashdance is a 1983 American romantic drama film directed by Adrian Lyne. Flashdance opened to reviews by professional critics, but was a surprise box office success. It had a worldwide gross of more than $100 million. Its soundtrack spawned several hit songs, including Maniac, and the Academy Award–winning Flashdance, what a Feeling, which was written for the film. Alexandra Alex Owens is a welder at a steel mill in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Although she aspires to become a dancer, she has no formal dance training, and works as a burlesque dancer by night at Mawbys. Lacking family, Alex forms bonds with her coworkers at Mawbys, Jeanie, a waitress, is training to be a figure skater, while her boyfriend, short-order cook Richie, wishes to become a stand up comic. One night, Alex catches the eye of customer Nick Hurley, after learning that Alex is one of his employees, Nick begins to pursue her on the job, though Alex turns down his advances at first. Alex is also approached by Johnny C. who wants Alex to dance at his strip club. After seeking counsel from her mentor Hanna Long, a ballerina, Alex attempts to apply to the Pittsburgh Conservatory of Dance. Alex becomes intimidated by the scope of the process, which includes listing all prior dance experience and education. Leaving Mawbys one evening, Richie and Alex are assaulted by Johnny C. and his bodyguard, Nick intervenes, and after taking Alex home, the two begin a relationship. At a skating competition in which she is competing, Jeanie falls twice during her performance, finding out that she is dancing nude, Alex drags her out while she protests and cries. Alex and Nick reconcile, and she gains the courage to apply for entrance to the Conservatory, Nick uses his connections with the arts council to get Alex an audition. Alex is furious with Nick, since she did not get the opportunity based on her own merit, seeing the results of others failed dreams and after the sudden death of Hanna, Alex becomes despondent about her future, but finally decides to go through with the audition. The board responds favorably, and Alex is seen emerging from the Conservatory to find Nick. What a Feeling was performed by Irene Cara, who sang the title song for the similar 1980 film Fame. What a Feeling was composed by Giorgio Moroder, and the lyrics were written by Cara, the song won an Academy Award for Best Original Song, as well as a Golden Globe and numerous other awards
18.
Lady Beware
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Lady Beware is a 1987 American thriller film, directed by Karen Arthur. It stars Diane Lane, Michael Woods, and Cotter Smith, the film is marketed with the tagline When fantasy leads to terror. It was filmed on location in and around Pittsburgh, Katya Yarno is a window dresser for Hornes department store who specializes in displays with sexy, slightly kinky themes. Surrounded by the equipment of her trade — mannequins and lingerie — Katya lives in an apartment in downtown Pittsburgh. She spends her evenings taking her bath by candlelight and thinking up new, Katya soon becomes the obsession of Jack Price, a handsome psychopath. Jack proceeds to stalk Katya and makes her life a living hell, tired of being harassed, Katya decides to give Jack a taste of his own medicine. Diane Lane - Katya Yarno Michael Woods - Jack Price Cotter Smith - Mac Odell Peter Nevargic - Lionel Edward Penn - Mr. Thayer Tyra Ferrell - Nan Trisha Simmons - Sylvia Price Clayton D
19.
Yinztagram
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Yinztagram is a free photography mobile app for iOS that allows users to superimpose images of Pittsburgh landmarks in photos. The name Yinztagram is a portmanteau of yinz, a term from Pittsburghese, and Instagram, the most recent version 1.2 was released on September 15,2012. The Pittsburgh landmarks available in the program include Rick Sebak, Dippy, as part of the celebration of Rick Sebaks 25th year WQED, the PBS station worked with the owners of at Yinztagram to expand the offerings of Rick Sebak photos. The programmers are always taking requests for new landmarks, the creator of the program, Matthew Pegula, is a programmer for Deeplocal, an East Liberty web design company, he is a self-proclaimed distant relative of multibillionaire Terry Pegula. Pegula began the project after his friend Drew Von Arx made jokes about Instagram, mackenzie Carpenter of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, describing the examples of Rick Sebak appearing in Yinztagram photos
20.
Angels Flight
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Angels Flight is a landmark 2 ft 6 in narrow gauge funicular railway in the Bunker Hill district of Downtown Los Angeles, California. It has two cars, Sinai and Olivet, running in opposite directions on a shared cable on the 298 feet long inclined railway. The funicular has operated on two different sites, using the cars and station elements. The original Angels Flight location, with tracks connecting Hill Street and Olive Street, operated from 1901 until it was closed in 1969, the second Angels Flight location opened one half block south of the original location in 1996, with tracks connecting Hill Street and California Plaza. It was shut down in 2001, following a fatal accident, the railroad restarted operations on March 15,2010. It was closed again from June 10,2011, to July 5,2011, the investigation of this 2013 incident led to the discovery of potentially serious safety problems in both the design and the operation of the funicular. Before the 2013 service suspension, the cost of a ride was 50 cents. Angels Flight service has been suspended since that time, in March 2017 an announcement was made that the line would be reopened later in the year after safety enhancements are completed. Although it was marketed primarily as a tourist novelty, it was used by local workers to travel between the Downtown Historic Core and Bunker Hill. In 2015, the director of the nearby REDCAT arts centre described the railroad as an important economic link. Angels Flight consisted of two vermillion boarding stations and two cars, named Sinai and Olivet, pulled up the incline by metal cables powered by engines at the upper Olive Street station. As one car ascended, the other descended, carried down by gravity, the original Angels Flight was a conventional funicular, with both cars connected to the same haulage cable. It operated for 68 years with a safety record. Robert W. Moore and engineer for Continental Securities purchased Angels Flight in 1946, Moreland and Byron Linville a prominent banker at Security First National Bank purchased it from Moore and the following year Lester B. Moreland’s family purchased Byron Linville’s interest in the Railway, becoming sole stockholder, in 1962 the city forced Moreland to sell though condemnation and the citys redevelopment agency hired Oliver & Williams Elevator Company to run it until it was shut down on May 18,1969. The following day the dismantling began and the cars were hauled away to be stored in a warehouse, the railroads arch, station house, drinking fountain, and other artifacts were taken to an outdoor storage yard in Gardena, California. The only fatality that involved the original Angels Flight occurred in the autumn of 1943, in November 1952, the Beverly Hills Parlor of the Native Daughters of the Golden West erected a plaque to commemorate fifty years of service by the railway. The plaque reads, — Built in 1901 by Colonel J. W. Eddy, lawyer, engineer and friend of President Abraham Lincoln, the counterbalanced cars, controlled by cables, travel a 33 percent grade for 315 feet
21.
Funicular
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Funiculars of one sort or another have existed for hundreds of years and continue to be used for moving both passengers and goods. Its name derives from the latin, funiculus, diminutive of funis, the basic idea of funicular operation is that two cars are always attached to each other by a cable, which runs through a pulley at the top of the slope. Counterbalancing of the two cars, with one going up and one going down, minimizes the energy needed to lift the car going up, winching is normally done by an electric drive that turns the pulley. Sheave wheels guide the cable to and from the drive mechanism, early funiculars used two parallel straight tracks, four rails, with separate station platforms for each vehicle. The tracks are laid with sufficient space between them for the two cars to pass at the midpoint, the wheels of the cars are usually single-flanged, as on standard railway vehicles. Examples of this type of track layout are the Duquesne Incline in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, layouts that require less width have been developed, with only two or three rails for the most part of the slope and four rails only at the passing section. In layouts using three rails, the rail is shared by both cars. The three-rail layout is wider than the layout, but the passing section is simpler to build. If a rack for braking is used, that rack can be mounted higher in a three-rail layout, some four-rail funiculars have the upper and lower sections interlaced and a single platform at each station. The Hill Train at Legoland, Windsor, is an example of this configuration, until the end of the 1870s, the four-rail parallel-track funicular was the normal configuration. Carl Roman Abt developed the Abt Switch allowing the two-rail layout, in the United States, the first funicular to use a two-rail layout was the Telegraph Hill Railroad in San Francisco, which was in operation from 1884 until 1886. The Mount Lowe Railway in Altadena, California, was the first mountain railway in the United States to use the three-rail layout, three- and two-rail layouts considerably reduced the space required for building a funicular, reducing grading costs on mountain slopes and property costs for urban funiculars. These layouts enabled a funicular boom in the half of the 19th century. The cars can be attached to a cable running through a pulley at the bottom of the incline in case the gravity force acting on the vehicles is too low to operate them on the slope. One of the pulleys must be designed as a wheel to avoid slack in the ropes. In this case, the winching can also be done at the end of the incline. Funiculars used in mines were sometimes unpowered gravity planes, also known as self-acting inclines or brake inclines, the weight of descending loaded wagons was used to pull the empty mine wagons. A few funiculars have been using water tanks under the floor of each car that are filled or emptied until just sufficient imbalance is achieved to allow movement
22.
Johnstown Inclined Plane
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The Johnstown Inclined Plane is a 896. 5-foot funicular in Johnstown, Cambria County in the U. S. state of Pennsylvania. The incline and its two stations connect the city of Johnstown, situated in a valley at the confluence of the Stonycreek, the travel time from one station to the other is 90 seconds. It was operated by Cambria Iron Company and its successor Bethlehem Steel until 1935, the incline was briefly shut down in 1962 when its supply of power from Bethlehem Steel was terminated. Twice in its history, the Johnstown Inclined Plane fulfilled its role as a means of evacuation from floods—once in 1936, the incline was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973 and was designated a Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark in 1994. It had major renovations in 1962 and from 1983 to 1984, the Johnstown Inclined Plane was designed by Hungarian engineer Samuel Diescher, who had also designed the Duquesne, Castle Shannon and Fort Pitt Inclines in Pittsburgh. The funicular consists of a set of 8 ft broad gauge railroad tracks with a 70.9 percent grade or an angle of 35 degrees and 28 minutes from the horizontal. The incline is 896.5 feet long and ascends 502.2 feet vertically to the top of Yoder Hill and the borough of Westmont, the rails are supported by 720 14-foot-long railroad ties made from Southern Yellow Pine. The incline is lit at night by 114 high-pressure sodium-vapor lamps mounted along the sides of tracks, there used to be a stairway between the two tracks with 966 steps, but these were removed circa 1963. Two cars traverse the slope, as one descends, the other ascends, the cars are 15 feet 6 inches wide,15 feet 2 inches tall, and 34 feet long, and are large enough to carry either 65 people,6 motorcycles, or an automobile. While the cars are open to the elements, a seating area containing a bench is situated along the outer side of the incline. The cables connecting the cars are 2-inch-diameter, 6×36 right regular lay and they are wound around a 3-short-ton, 16-foot-diameter drum that connects the cars together. The cable on the track is 1,075 feet long. Each car weighs 22 short tons, but they, and consequently the cables, a 400-horsepower electric motor turns the drum, simultaneously winding and unwinding the cable, to power the incline. The Johnstown Inclined Plane is unusual in that the motor and winch are located at a 90 degree angle to the incline instead of directly underneath it, operation of the incline is controlled via a foot pedal located in a booth in the upper station. An emergency brake engages if the air pressure needed to control the incline is insufficient, in addition to the hauling cables, a 972-foot safety cable capable of withstanding 165 short tons is also connected to the cars. The earliest inclines in the United States were a series of 10 that were built in the 1830s as part of the Allegheny Portage Railroad, the portage railroad carried canal boats over the Allegheny Mountains to connect the canals from Pittsburgh to the ones from Philadelphia. Pittsburgh at one time also had at least 17 inclines—some carried passengers, others freight, on May 31,1889, the South Fork Dam collapsed upstream of Johnstown on the Little Conemaugh River. The resulting deluge devastated the city, killing 2,209 people, as the city rebuilt, the Cambria Iron Company started work on a residential development atop Yoder Hill
23.
Pittsburgh Commercial Gazette
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The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, also known simply as the PG, is the largest daily newspaper serving metropolitan Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. It has won six Pulitzer Prizes since 1938, the Post-Gazette began its history as a four-page weekly called The Pittsburgh Gazette, first published on July 29,1786 with the encouragement of Hugh Henry Brackenridge. It was the first newspaper published west of the Allegheny Mountains, published by Joseph Hall and John Scull, the paper covered the start of the nation. As one of its first major articles, the Gazette published the newly adopted Constitution of the United States, in 1820, under publishers Eichbaum and Johnston and editor Morgan Neville, the name changed to Pittsburgh Gazette and Manufacturing and Mercantile Advertiser. David MacLean bought the paper in 1822, and later reverted to the former title, craig, whose service lasted from 1829 to 1841, the Gazette championed the Anti-Masonic movement. Craig turned the Gazette into the citys first daily paper, issued every afternoon except Sunday starting on July 30,1833, in 1844, shortly after absorbing the Advocate, the Gazette switched its daily issue time to morning. Its editorial stance at the time was conservative and strongly favoring the Whig party, by the 1850s the Gazette was credited with helping to organize a local chapter of the new Republican Party, and with contributing to the election of Abraham Lincoln. The paper was one of the first to suggest tensions between North and South would erupt in war, after consolidating with the Commercial in 1877, the paper was again renamed and was then known as the Commercial Gazette. In 1900, George T. Oliver acquired the paper, merging it six years later with The Pittsburg Times to form The Gazette Times, the Pittsburgh Post first appeared on September 10,1842, as the Daily Morning Post. It had its origin in three pro-Democratic weeklies, the Mercury, Allegheny Democrat, and American Manufacturer, which came together through a pair of mergers in the early 1840s, the three papers had for years engaged in bitter editorial battles with the Gazette. Like its predecessors, the Post advocated the policies of the Democratic Party and its political opposition to the Whig and later Republican Gazette was so enduring that an eventual combination of the two rivals would have seemed unlikely. The 1920s were a time of consolidation in the long-overcrowded Pittsburgh newspaper market, in 1923, local publishers banded together to acquire and kill off the Dispatch and Leader. After swapping the Sun in return for Hearsts Gazette Times, Block had both morning papers, which he combined to form the Post-Gazette, hearst united the evening papers, creating the Sun-Telegraph. Both new papers debuted on August 2,1927, in 1960, Pittsburgh had three daily papers, the Post-Gazette in the morning, and the Pittsburgh Press and the Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph in the evening and on Sunday. The Post-Gazette bought the Sun-Telegraph and moved into the Sun-Telegraphs Grant Street offices, the Post-Gazette tried to publish a Sunday paper to compete with the Sunday Press but it was not profitable, rising costs in general were challenging the companys bottom line. In November 1961, the Post-Gazette entered into an agreement with the Pittsburgh Press Company to combine their production, the Post-Gazette owned and operated its own news and editorial departments, but production and distribution of the paper was handled by the larger Press office. This agreement stayed in place for over 30 years, the agreement gave the Post-Gazette a new home in the Press building, a comfortable upgrade from the hated Sun-Telly barn. Constructed for the Press in 1927 and expanded with a wall in 1962
24.
National Park Service
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It was created on August 25,1916, by Congress through the National Park Service Organic Act and is an agency of the United States Department of the Interior. As of 2014, the NPS employs 21,651 employees who oversee 417 units, the National Park Service celebrated its centennial in 2016. National parks and national monuments in the United States were originally individually managed under the auspices of the Department of the Interior, the movement for an independent agency to oversee these federal lands was spearheaded by business magnate and conservationist Stephen Mather, as well as J. Horace McFarland. With the help of journalist Robert Sterling Yard, Mather ran a publicity campaign for the Department of the Interior and they wrote numerous articles that praised the scenic and historic qualities of the parks and their possibilities for educational, inspirational, and recreational benefits. This campaign resulted in the creation of a National Park Service, Mather became the first director of the newly formed NPS. On March 3,1933, President Herbert Hoover signed the Reorganization Act of 1933, the act would allow the President to reorganize the executive branch of the United States government. It wasnt until later that summer when the new President, Franklin D. Roosevelt, President Roosevelt agreed and issued two Executive orders to make it happen. In 1951, Conrad Wirth became director of the National Park Service, the demand for parks after the end of the World War II had left the parks overburdened with demands that could not be met. In 1952, with the support of President Dwight D. Eisenhower, he began Mission 66, New parks were added to preserve unique resources and existing park facilities were upgraded and expanded. In 1966, as the Park Service turned 50 years old, emphasis began to turn from just saving great and wonderful scenery, Director George Hartzog began the process with the creation of the National Lakeshores and then National Recreation Areas. Since its inception in 1916, the National Park Service has managed each of the United States national parks, Yellowstone National Park was the first national park in the United States. In 1872, there was no government to manage it. Yosemite National Park began as a park, the land for the park was donated by the federal government to the state of California in 1864 for perpetual conservation. Yosemite was later returned to federal ownership, at first, each national park was managed independently, with varying degrees of success. In Yellowstone, the staff was replaced by the U. S. Army in 1886. Due to the irregularities in managing these national treasures, Stephen Mather petitioned the government to improve the situation. In response, Secretary of the Interior Franklin K. Lane challenged him to lobby for creating a new agency, Mather was successful with the ratification of the National Park Service Organic Act in 1916. Later, the agency was given authority over other protected areas, the National Park System includes all properties managed by the National Park Service
25.
ITunes Store
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ITunes Store is a software-based online digital media store operated by Apple Inc. It opened on April 28,2003, and has been the largest music vendor in the United States since April 2008, and the largest music vendor in the world since February 2010. It offers over 35 -40 million songs,2.2 million apps,25,000 TV shows, iTunes Stores revenues in the first quarter of 2011 totaled nearly US$1.4 billion, by May 28,2014, the store had sold 35 billion songs worldwide. On January 6,2009, Apple announced that DRM had been removed from 80% of its catalog in the US. As of June 2013, iTunes Store possesses 575 million active user accounts, before iTunes Store, most of the online music was download through websites like Napster. Steve Jobs expressed concern that people were illegally obtaining music because it was the option they had. In 2002, Steve Jobs made an agreement with the five major record labels to offer their content through iTunes, iTunes Store was introduced by Steve Jobs at a Worldwide Developers Conference to give music listeners a legal alternative to peer-to-peer file sharing networks. When it opened, it was the only legal digital catalog of music to songs from all five major record labels. At first, it was available on Mac OS X. Following the introduction of iTunes Store, individual songs were all sold for the same price, Music in the store is in the Advanced Audio Coding format, which is the MPEG-4-specified successor to MP3. Originally, songs were available with DRM and were encoded at 128 kbit/s. At the January 2009 Macworld Expo, Apple announced that all music would be made available without DRM. Previously, this model, known as iTunes Plus, had available only for music from EMI. Users can sample songs by listening to previews, ninety seconds in length, some Apps cost money and some are free. Developers can decide which prices they want to charge for apps, from a pre-set list of pricing tiers, when someone downloads an App,70 percent of the purchase goes to the developer, and 30 percent goes to Apple. At the Macworld 2008 keynote, Steve Jobs, who was Apples CEO at the time, movies are available for rent in iTunes Store on the same day they are released on DVD, though iTunes Store also offers for rental some movies that are still in theaters. Movie rentals are only viewable for 24 hours or 48 hours after users begin viewing them, iTunes Store also offers one low-priced movie rental a week, in the United States, this rental costs 99 cents. Movie rentals are not yet available in all countries but it is available in the United States, Mexico, there is a weekly promotion in which one to three songs are available to download for free to logged-in users
26.
Apple Inc.
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Apple is an American multinational technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California that designs, develops, and sells consumer electronics, computer software, and online services. Apples consumer software includes the macOS and iOS operating systems, the media player, the Safari web browser. Its online services include the iTunes Store, the iOS App Store and Mac App Store, Apple Music, Apple was founded by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne in April 1976 to develop and sell personal computers. It was incorporated as Apple Computer, Inc. in January 1977, Apple joined the Dow Jones Industrial Average in March 2015. In November 2014, Apple became the first U. S. company to be valued at over US$700 billion in addition to being the largest publicly traded corporation in the world by market capitalization. The company employs 115,000 full-time employees as of July 2015 and it operates the online Apple Store and iTunes Store, the latter of which is the worlds largest music retailer. Consumers use more than one billion Apple products worldwide as of March 2016, Apples worldwide annual revenue totaled $233 billion for the fiscal year ending in September 2015. This revenue accounts for approximately 1. 25% of the total United States GDP.1 billion, the corporation receives significant criticism regarding the labor practices of its contractors and its environmental and business practices, including the origins of source materials. Apple was founded on April 1,1976, by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, the Apple I kits were computers single-handedly designed and hand-built by Wozniak and first shown to the public at the Homebrew Computer Club. The Apple I was sold as a motherboard, which was less than what is now considered a personal computer. The Apple I went on sale in July 1976 and was market-priced at $666.66, Apple was incorporated January 3,1977, without Wayne, who sold his share of the company back to Jobs and Wozniak for $800. Multimillionaire Mike Markkula provided essential business expertise and funding of $250,000 during the incorporation of Apple, during the first five years of operations revenues grew exponentially, doubling about every four months. Between September 1977 and September 1980 yearly sales grew from $775,000 to $118m, the Apple II, also invented by Wozniak, was introduced on April 16,1977, at the first West Coast Computer Faire. It differed from its rivals, the TRS-80 and Commodore PET, because of its character cell-based color graphics. While early Apple II models used ordinary cassette tapes as storage devices, they were superseded by the introduction of a 5 1/4 inch floppy disk drive and interface called the Disk II. The Apple II was chosen to be the platform for the first killer app of the business world, VisiCalc. VisiCalc created a market for the Apple II and gave home users an additional reason to buy an Apple II. Before VisiCalc, Apple had been a distant third place competitor to Commodore, by the end of the 1970s, Apple had a staff of computer designers and a production line
27.
Port Authority of Allegheny County
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Port Authority of Allegheny County is the second-largest public transit agency in Pennsylvania and the 26th-largest in the United States. The Port Authoritys bus, light rail and funicular system covers Allegheny County, on a few of its longer-distance routes, service extends into neighboring counties such as Beaver, Washington, and Westmoreland. These counties have their own systems, including several routes that run into downtown Pittsburgh. The Port Authority was created by the Pennsylvania General Assembly in 1956 to allow for creation of port facilities in the Pittsburgh area, Three years later, the legislation was amended to allow the Port Authority to acquire privately owned transit companies that served the area. This included the Pittsburgh Railways Company and 32 independent bus and incline operations, on March 1,1964 Port Authority Transit began service. Due to urban sprawl, the agency introduced new routes that served new communities, in the following years, additional buses were ordered and several new transit garages opened. Many of the lines acquired from Pittsburgh Railways were abandoned. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, the Port Authority hoped to introduce a rapid transit system known as Skybus with rubber-tired vehicles running on rails. In the early 1970s, the Port Authority entered what was dubbed by its fans the Mod era, several new flyer routes and routes to Oaklands university core were introduced as part of a new general marketing strategy. In 1975 the Port Authority took over the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad commuter rail line to Versailles and these new routes, coupled with the 1973 oil crisis, generated a major increase in ridership. Due to the state of the economy at the time, fares increased. In spite of setbacks, the South Busway opened in 1977. Many new buses were ordered, and the Martin Luther King Jr, construction of a light rail line that started in downtown south to traverse Beechview, with lines to South Hills Village and Library progressed during the decade. Part of the line was a version of the old trolley system. In July 1985, the subway opened, the Beechview line followed in 1987. In 1989, the agency celebrated its twenty-fifth year of existence, the agency was rocked by a four-week strike due to a labor dispute in 1992. The strike, coupled with changing patterns, caused a decrease in ridership. New buses that were compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 were introduced early in the decade, in 1993, the badly deteriorated Overbrook light rail line was shut down, requiring trains to use the Beechview line
28.
Pittsburgh Light Rail
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The system is largely linear in a north-south direction, with one terminus just north of Pittsburghs central business district and two termini in the South Hills. The system is owned and operated by the Port Authority of Allegheny County and it is the successor system to the streetcar network formerly operated by Pittsburgh Railways, the oldest portions of which date to 1903. In the early 1960s, Pittsburgh had the largest surviving streetcar system in the United States, in 1964 the system was acquired by the Port Authority of Allegheny County, which rapidly converted most routes to buses. By the early 1970s, only a handful of streetcar routes remained, at that time, Port Authority planners were determined to scrap the rail system entirely in favor of busways and an automated guideway transit system developed by Westinghouse Electric called Skybus. Community opposition rallied against the plan and in favor of retaining the electric trolley system. In the end, the LRT option was adopted for the South Hills suburbs, the modern subway in downtown Pittsburgh between Steel Plaza and First Avenue stations uses the Pittsburgh & Steubenville Extension Railroad Tunnel, which began construction in 1863. Rail lines had been a staple of the city and region since the late 19th century, Pittsburgh Railways was one of the predecessors to the Port Authority of Allegheny County. It had 666 PCC cars, the third largest fleet in North America and it had 68 street car routes, of which only three are used by the Port Authority as light rail routes. The oldest portions of these old Pittsburgh Railways routes now served by the Pittsburgh Light Rail system date to 1903-1909, with the Port Authoritys Transit Development Plan, many route names will be changed to its original, such as the 41D Brookline becoming the 39 Brookline. Many of the routes have been remembered in the route names of many Port Authority buses. 1895 to 1905 was a time of consolidation for the street railways serving Pittsburgh. On 27 July 1896 the United Traction Company was chartered and absorbed the Second Avenue Traction Company, the Southern Traction Company acquired the lease of the West End Traction Company on October 1,1900. Pittsburgh Railways was formed on January 1,1902, when the Southern Traction Company acquired operating rights over the Consolidated Traction Company and United Traction Company. The new company operated 1,100 trolleys on 400 miles of track, with 178.7 million passengers, on 26 July 1936 Pittsburgh Railways took delivery of PCC streetcar No.100 from the St. Louis Car Company. It was placed in service in August 1936, the first revenue earning PCC in the world. Large scale abandonments of lines began in the late 1950s, usually associated with highway or bridge work, the crowning achievement was to be a 1. 1-mile downtown subway, eliminating the trolleys slow, street-running loop through Pittsburghs Golden Triangle. The first modern light rail cars began operation from South Hills Village to Castle Shannon on April 15,1984 with the downtown subway added to the system on July 3,1985. The suburban line in the hills were former streetcar lines that had been rehabilitated to accommodate light rail vehicles
29.
Blue Line (Pittsburgh)
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The Blue Line is a Pittsburgh Light Rail line that runs between Downtown Pittsburgh via the Overbrook neighborhood to Library and South Hills Village. The line from South Hills Junction to Castle Shannon was first constructed by the Pittsburgh, in 1905 Pittsburgh Railways leased the route and between 1909 and 1910 converted it from narrow gauge to dual gauge and installed overhead power for trolleys. Mid-20th century PCC streetcars continued to operate on the Overbrook Line until 1993 and this former Pittsburgh Railways trolley line had never been updated to current light rail system requirements. The line then surfaces at First Avenue, leaving downtown, it crosses the Monongahela River on the Panhandle Bridge, stopping at Station Square before running through the Mount Washington Transit Tunnel. At South Hills Junction the Library branch rejoins the Beechview line and the former Brown Line, the Blue Line continues south through Beltzhoover, Bon Air, Carrick, Brookline, and Overbrook. At Bethel Park a transfer is provided to the Red Line, beyond Washington Junction the line splits. The Library Branch runs south through Willow and ends at Library in South Park, the Port Authority closed five stations along the Library branch on June 25,2012, Martin Villa, Mine 3, Lindermer, Center and Latimer. Other former Library branch stops include Latimer, Logan, Leonard, Hicks, the South Hills Village branch was created in 1987 to complement the Red Line, which runs through Beechview before reaching the same terminus. This line was operated using PCCs, most notably the 4000 series, because the new light rail cars were incompatible with the Overbrook line due to its age. Service was suspended when the Overbrook Line closed in 1993, but was reinstated after that line was rebuilt, on June 25,2012, the Port Authority closed two stations on the South Hills Village Branch as part of a system-wide consolidation, Santa Barbara and Martin Villa. Red Line Brown Line South Hills Village branch via Overbrook schedule effective April 4,2010 South Hills Village branch via Overbrook Route Map
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Martin Luther King Jr. East Busway
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East Busway is a two-lane bus-only highway serving the city of Pittsburgh and many of its eastern neighborhoods and suburbs. It was named after Martin Luther King Jr. in recognition of the portion of the routes serving many predominantly African-American neighborhoods, such as Wilkinsburg. It is owned and maintained by the Port Authority of Allegheny County, originally occupied by a railroad line, planning for the East Busway began shortly after the Port Authority of Allegheny County purchased the Pittsburgh Railways Company in 1964. The original segment of the busway opened in February 1983, running between Downtown Pittsburgh and Edgewood, a length of 6.8 miles, in 2003, the busway was extended into Swissvale by 2.3 miles, making its current length 9.1 miles. In July 2013, the East Busway was discussed in the context of the Mon Fayette Expressway, in order to provide a bypass for the often congested Squirrel Hill Tunnel, civic planners have raised the possibility of opening the Busway to High Occupancy Vehicle traffic. Following the naming convention of each busway being designated by a color, two additional routes run Monday through Friday, The P3 operates between Swissvale and Oakland via a connecting road to Oakland between the Herron and Negley Stations. The route then serves the busy Fifth Avenue corridor, providing access to universities, hospitals, the P2 operates only between Wilkinsburg and Downtown and also makes a loop through Downtown. Many of the Port Authoritys express and suburban Flyer routes also use the busway, the busway enables these routes to bypass the heavily congested Parkway East, making for faster trip times. West Busway South Busway Pittsburgh Light Rail Port Authority of Allegheny County, East Busway information page East Busway Schedule - P1, P2, P3 East Busway Route Map - P1, P2, P3
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South Busway
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The South Busway is a two-lane bus rapid transit highway serving southern portions of the city of Pittsburgh. It is owned and maintained by the Port Authority of Allegheny County, the transit provider for Allegheny County. In the 1960s, the Port Authority began phasing out streetcar lines, the creation of a rail rapid transit system was also discussed, and one of the target routes was a corridor bordering Route 51 through the Brookline and Overbrook neighborhoods. While light rail would be developed during the decade, the Port Authority decided to use the corridor to allows buses to avoid the crowded, narrow. In 1977, a route was constructed in a valley close to the road. Unlike later American busways, including the citys Martin Luther King Jr. Instead, standard bus shelters are included and no routes terminate at the end of the busway. The main goal of the road is to allow for buses to operate more quickly. Following the naming convention of each busway being designated by a color, the busway shared portions of its right of way with the citys light rail line. In 1993, the Overbrook line was suspended, and the right of way was exclusively busway, fourteen routes travel the busway, including 11 local routes and 3 rush hour flyer routes. Four of the local branch of off the busway to serve city neighborhoods. East Busway West Busway Pittsburgh Light Rail Port Authority Customer Information - South Busway
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West Busway
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The West Busway is a two-lane bus-only highway serving the western portions of the city of Pittsburgh and several western suburbs. The busway runs for 5.1 miles from the shore of the Ohio River near Downtown Pittsburgh to Carnegie. It broke ground on October 27,1994 and is owned and maintained by the Port Authority of Allegheny County, the transit provider for Allegheny County. The transit thoroughfare was opened in September 2000, following the naming convention of each busway being designated by a color, bus routes that use the West Busway begin with a G for green. Four Port Authority bus routes serve the West Busway. One route is the carrier of the busway and terminate at the end of the thoroughfare. The G2 West Busway All Stops travels along the end of the busway to West Carson Street, crosses the Fort Pitt Bridge, then makes a loop through Downtown Pittsburgh. Another important route, the 28X Airport Flyer, uses the West Busway as far south as Bell Station, following the naming convention of each busway being designated by a color, bus routes that use the West Busway begin with a G for green
33.
47 Drake
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The 47D Drake was a PCC trolley line that was part of the Pittsburgh Light Rail system. The 47D was the last line in the city of Pittsburgh, the line to Drake became part of the 36 Shannon-Drake until the 1980s. After the 1993 closure of the Overbrook route the service became a shuttle between Castle Shannon and Drake and was renumbered 47D Drake shuttle, the line closed on September 4,1999. As of July 2014, most of the Drake Line still exists, the stretch of track from the Drake Loop to the S curve near the former Walthers stop was removed not long after the line was discontinued. When the Authority took delivery of new LRVs for use on the rebuilt Overbrook line in 2004, during the final years of operation, three PCCs were used with a fourth kept as reserve. Car #4004 was donated to the Pennsylvania Trolley Museum where it has become part of a collection of streetcars and trolleys from all across the United States. San Francisco MUNI acquired #4008 and #4009 in an auction in 2002 for $5,000 each. However, they are low on the priority list for a return to service as they need to be re-gaged and differ significantly from other MUNI PCCs
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Brown Line (Pittsburgh)
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It included the steepest grade of any section of the Pittsburgh light rail system, of approximately 10 percent. The 52 Allentown route was created in 1984 by renaming what was then the 49 Arlington-Warrington, in April 2010 the 52 Allentown was rebranded the Brown Line by the Port Authority. Prior to being discontinued, Brown Line service was reduced, operating only during Monday to Friday rush hours. The Port Authority considered ending all Brown Line service, but this would have provided only limited savings unless the tracks, more importantly, however, the Brown Lines tracks provided an alternate route when the Mt. On March 27,2011, the Brown Line service was due to a system-wide 15% service cut. The line is used occasionally when the Mt. Washington Transit Tunnel is closed The Brown Line was much shorter and ran less frequently than the Red. The route began at South Hills Junction, climbing upwards to Haberman and it continued along Warrington in an easterly direction until turning left onto Arlington Avenue, where it followed the sharply curving street northwards, over the shoulder of Mount Washington. The entire line operated within the city of Pittsburgh, Brown Line - Allentown schedule effective April 4,2010 Brown Line - Allentown Route Map Supplementary Bus Service to Allentown via bus route 46K - Schedule
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PATrain
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Service began in 1975 when the Port Authority assumed control of the Pittsburgh—McKeesport—Versailles commuter trains operated by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. The Port Authority discontinued the service in 1989, at the time the B&O operated six weekday round trips from Pittsburgh to Versailles, while the P&LE operated a single weekday round trip from Pittsburgh to Beaver Falls. The Pennsylvania Railroad had ended service on its six routes in 1964. Neither the B&O nor the P&LE showed much interest in expanded service, citing existing operating losses, PAT then proposed that it take ownership of the B&Os service, with the B&O operating it under contract. The B&O trains made the run from McKeesport to Pittsburgh in 25 minutes, among the strongest supporters in the local government were then-mayor Peter F. Flaherty and County Commissioner William Hunt. Another champion was Harold Geissenheimer, PATs director of transit operations, in 1974 PAT estimated capital costs for a three-year trial at $1.7 million, plus $1.9 million in operating costs. The capital costs would be split between the government, the state of Pennsylvania, and the county, and would include the purchase of two locomotives and nine coaches. PAT would increase the existing two-car trains to four-car trains, while also increasing frequency of service, the per-passenger subsidy was estimated at 95 cents, compared to between 6 and 13 cents for the typical bus passenger. Daily ridership then stood at 300, PATs best case projection was 3,000, a proposal by Hunt to extend service further to Elizabeth was unsuccessful, the route was owned by the P&LE, which requested $500,000 to rehabilitate the line. This the state would not provide, as the line would still mostly carry P&LE freight traffic, on February 1,1975, PAT took over the service from the B&O. By mid-1977, daily ridership had grown to 1,400, on the other hand, the per-passenger subsidy stood at $2.77, nearly three times the 1974 projection, while the bus subsidy was 8 cents per passenger. Defenders pointed out that the figure included capital costs, which inflated costs, in addition, the PATrain made the trip from Versailles to Pittsburgh in 23 minutes, while it took over an hour by bus. In 1978 PAT renewed its agreement with the B&O, and was able to secure the capital funding for the new equipment plus a new intermodal transportation center in McKeesport. The McKeesport Transportation Center opened on December 21,1981, in addition to buses and the PATrain, the center saw service from Amtraks Chicago—Washington Capitol Limited. Additional capital improvements included the construction of new park and ride lots at Braddock and Versailles, in mid-1979 service stood at eight round-trips Monday-Friday and five round-trips on Saturday. There was no service on Sundays, three round-trips terminated at McKeesport, with the remainder continuing to Versailles. In a nod to tradition the Port Authority assigned names to the trains, PATrain, Early Bird, Pittsburgher, Golden Triangle, Shopper, Mid Day, Mon Valley, McKeesporter. Daily ridership peaked in 1981 at 1,800 during the reconstruction of Parkway East, by 1983 daily ridership had dropped below 1,300, spread over eight daily round trips
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Transit Expressway Revenue Line
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In contrast to the traditional streetcars then in use, the technology used a dedicated elevated concrete track and rubber-tired driverless cars. A demonstrator was built and operated in the South Hills area, with support from the state of Pennsylvania and the federal government, Westinghouse and PAT built a 9, 340-foot demonstration track at the Allegheny County Fairgrounds in South Park. The cars, which could operate separately or be coupled together, were powered by a pair of 60 horsepower motors, each of the four cars was 30 feet 6 inches long and could seat 28. Power was provided a 565 volt three-phase AC underrail system, during the 1960s the Port Authority formulated its so-called Early Action Program, the purpose of which was to establish a more robust rapid transit system in Pittsburgh. The program called for an 11-mile Skybus line and two busways, plus rehabilitation of existing equipment, the entire project would cost $295 million, Skybus alone was $232 million. In July 1969 an alternative emerged to the Skybus plan, the Westinghouse Air Brake Company proposed a $114 million plan for a more conventional steel-wheeled light rail system. The 28-mile system would originate in the South Hills area as the present streetcar system did, driverless operation would be an option, and the system would be fully grade-separated. WABCOs proposal notwithstanding, PAT voted to adopt the Skybus plan on July 10,1969, PATs decision provoked a storm of controversy, both for the decision itself and the manner in which it was taken. Throughout the decision-making process PAT held numerous meetings and was less than forthcoming about how it chose Skybus over the WABCO proposal. Republican County Commissioner William Hunt stated that PAT officials should be aware and that they are a public company using taxpayers money and these taxpayers have a right to know how the moneys being spent. Among the most vehement critics of Skybus was then-City Councilman Peter F. Flaherty, Flaherty accused PAT of prejudging in favor of Skybus and rushing the decision to secure federal funding for the project. Flaherty urged additional, open, hearings to evaluate the merits of the Skybus. In response, the Allegheny County Commission agreed to hold a series of hearings into the competing plans. Both Flaherty and John K. Tabor, his Republican opponent for mayor, Flaherty accused the PAT board of directors of having an emotional commitment. To the Skybus plan and of collusion with business-industrial interests in the Pittsburgh area who favored the plan, Tabor split the difference, presenting a plan which included WABCO and a 16-mile Skybus loop east of downtown. A continuing source of contention was WABCOs cost estimate, which PATs consulting engineer said was at least $100 million too low, the viability of the unproven Skybus technology, in particular the switching system, remained a concern. In September the County Commission voted 2–1 to adopt the plan, the Commission stated that of the $228 million only $20–30 million would be paid by the county, with federal and state funds making up the balance. The Commissions decision did nothing to end the controversy, Flaherty, now mayor, remained opposed and used his powers as mayor to frustrate the project
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North Shore Connector
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The North Shore Connector is a light-rail extension opened in 2012 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The Connector extends the light rail systems Free Fare Zone, enabling passengers to ride to, planned since the late 1990s, the North Shore Connector received federal funding on February 6,2004 and had crews complete the initial bore under the river on July 10,2008. The Connector had an opening on Friday, March 23,2012. The final cost of the project was $523.4 million, the North Side Station serves PNC Park and the Community College of Allegheny County. The Allegheny Station serves residents in Allegheny West and Manchester, as well as visitors to Heinz Field, the Carnegie Science Center, Childrens Museum of Pittsburgh and the Rivers Casino. During weekdays, downtown-destined vehicle commuters use the Connector by parking in one of the many North Shore parking facilities, the North Shore Connector project attracted considerable controversy on both the local and national level. Locally, it was argued that the Pittsburgh Light Rail network probably deserved to be expanded, the North Shore Connector, by comparison, could be built quickly and with a substantially smaller budget. As one local columnist wrote, People argue the T line should have gone to Oakland first, on the national level, the project attracted controversy due to its cost and its use of federal funding. The projects original budget was estimated at $350 million, but it increased to $435 million by 2006, eighty percent of the funding was provided by the U. S. federal government. The North Shore Connector was ranked #3 in the nation among stimulus-funded projects purported to waste taxpayer money in a report by Senators John McCain and Tom Coburn. According to McCain, the Connector was an example of stimulus dollars spent to fund projects with questionable goals, meanwhile, Coburn reminded the media that the initial budget was approximately $390 million, but quickly ballooned to a cost of $553 million. In 2009 then-Governor Ed Rendell, a Democrat, called the tunnel a tragic mistake, the engineers who planned the project concluded that a tunnel, rather than a new or retrofitted bridge, would be the most cost-effective solution to this issue. In addition, in December 2010, the Steelers began examining the possibility of increasing the capacity of Heinz Field by several thousand seats. Supporters have argued that the North Shore Connector will not only ease weekend congestion on the North Shore, but will also ease weekday congestion in the Central Business district. On weekdays, commuters will be able to ride the rail from the North Shore to the central business district by parking in one of the underutilized parking lots or garages of the North Shore
38.
Port Authority 4000 Series PCC
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The 4000 Series PCC was a streetcar used by the Port Authority of Allegheny County. The PCC streetcar was designed by the Presidents Conference Committee, a group of operators in the United States. The 4000s were a series of cars completely rebuilt from cars built in 1949 by the St. Louis Car Company for Port Authoritys predecessor, Pittsburgh Railways. In the early 1980s, the Pittsburgh Port Authority began its Stage I project to rebuild portions of its streetcar system into their new T system. This project consisted of a reconstructed Beechview-South Hills Village line supplemented by an order of 55 Siemens SD-400 light rail cars, originally, the Authority planned to overhaul forty-five of their 1700 series PCCs. However, budgetary constraints and technical difficulties resulted in only sixteen cars being rebuilt, of the sixteen, only twelve cars received the complete overhaul, while four were only partially rebuilt. The 4000 series cars that received the complete overhaul were essentially completely new vehicles built within the old cars body, all new propulsion and braking systems had been installed, as well as new interiors with improved lighting. Some cars were given two pantographs, where the front one was outfitted with a de-icing apparatus intended to help remove sleet from the overhead wires. As planned, nearly all cars would be air-conditioned, but with the budget issues, only one car. The 4000 series was intended as a solution for the Authoritys unrebuilt lines. Unlike the LRVs which had high and low level doors, the PCCs had only low level doors and were limited to street level boarding. As a result, all stations on portions of the system that were shared by PCCs. In 1993, the Overbrook Line was shut down between Castle Shannon and South Hills Junction due to the conditions of the track, bridges, walls. In 1999, the Drake shuttle was shut down, and the remaining PCCs were retired, Car #4004 was donated to the Pennsylvania Trolley Museum where it has become part of a collection of historic streetcars and trolleys from all across the United States and other nations. San Francisco MUNI acquired #4008 and #4009 in an auction in 2002 for $5000 each. However, they are low on the priority list for a return to service as they differ significantly from other MUNI PCCs, and will require re-gauging as well as modifications for ADA accessibility. The disposition of the remainder are as follows,4001, Static display in front of South Hills Village depot. of Public Works parking lot near the Detroit-Superior Viaduct,4007, Static display 100 yards east of South Park
39.
Wabash Tunnel
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The Wabash Tunnel is a former railway tunnel and presently an automobile tunnel through Mt. Washington in the city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. Constructed early in the 20th century by railroad magnate George J. Gould, it was closed to trains, conceived in the late 1800s, the tunnel was built in 1903 for Goulds Wabash Railroad venture into Pittsburgh, which failed in 1908. It carried passenger trains into the city until 1931, and freight trains until 1946, after the end of train service, the tunnel sat empty for many years. The tunnel was connected to the Wabash Bridge across the Monongahela River, but this was demolished in 1948. Its two stone piers remain in the river. In the early 1970s the Port Authority of Allegheny County spent US$6 million rebuilding the tunnel for the never-to-be-operational Skybus people mover system, during this period, the tunnel was used to hold up to 87 of PATs disused 1950s-era transit buses in reserve. The tunnel portals were reinforced to deter vandals, to the satisfaction of PATs insurers, despite this, in 1980, vandals gained access and smashed hundreds of windows and headlights on the two rows of buses parked inside. By 1992, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation was considering using the Wabash Tunnel as a roadway to compensate for a closure of the Fort Pitt Tunnel. As part of the conversion to a roadway, the guideways for the Skybus system were removed and replaced with new paving, when awarded in 1994, the contract for this work was worth US$3.2 million. However, in 1995, PAT declined to build a new bridge to connect the tunnel with downtown Pittsburgh. On July 23,2003 PAT approved contracts for US$10.9 million to build high-occupancy vehicle ramps and modernized the tunnel, as well as provide a 172-space park-and-ride lot along Woodruff Street. The little-used HOV lane was opened on December 27,2004, running from West Carson St. on the South Side, the Fort Pitt Tunnel to the west and the Liberty Tunnels to the east carry nearly all of the vehicular traffic heading downtown. On November 6,2013 the Federal Transit Administration lifted the car pool requirements to provide a route for drivers. Originally built for the Wabash Railroad, the Pittsburgh and West Virginia Railroad acquired it along with most of the property in 1917. The tunnel was sold in 1931 to Allegheny County for $US3 million, the county intended to convert it to a road and use it to relieve the traffic congestion in the Liberty Tunnels, and in 1933 commissioned a $5000 study to investigate this concept. As of April 2006, the tunnel was operated and maintained for PAT by Bruce & Merrilees, the tunnels north portal was severely damaged in a 1925 landslide. The tunnel was closed due to fallen trees on July 19,2012. Wabash Bridge Wabash Pittsburgh Terminal – A large railroad terminal that was located in downtown, across the river from the tunnel portal
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Pittsburgh metropolitan area
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The Pittsburgh metropolitan area is the largest population center in both the Ohio River Valley and Appalachia. The metropolitan area consists of the City of Pittsburgh in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, by many definitions the area extends into the U. S. states of West Virginia and Ohio. The larger tri-state region is defined by the U. S. Census as the statistical area while definitions of the metropolitan statistical area are within Pennsylvania. The area is renowned for its industries including steel, glass and oil, its economy also thrives on healthcare, education, technology, robotics, financial services, the region is an emergent area for oil and natural gas companies Marcellus shale production. The city is headquarters to major financial institutions including PNC Financial Services, Federated Investors. The region is also the 21st largest port in the United States with almost 34 million short tons of cargo for 2011. The MSA definition includes the city proper and the Pennsylvania counties of Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Butler, Fayette, Washington, the CSA definition also adds the two Western Pennsylvania counties of Lawrence and Indiana, West Virginias Brooke and Hancock as well as Ohios Jefferson. The MSA had a 2012 population of 2,360,733 and has an area of 5,343 sq. miles. It is classified as Northeast by the U. S. Census with the West Virginia and Ohio components of the CSA being classified as South, the entire MSA and CSA are within the Congressional Appalachian Regional Commissions definition of Appalachia. The areas media market extends to 15 counties in Pennsylvania, Maryland, population Since the U. S. Census officially began metropolitan definitions in 1950, the original counties included were, Allegheny, Westmoreland, Washington and Beaver. In 1983 Fayette County was added, in 1993 Butler County was added,2013 saw the combined area grow as both Indiana County, Pennsylvania was added and the counties of Jefferson in Ohio and Brooke and Hancock in West Virginia were added. The Regional Industrial Development agency has worked across county lines as early as 1967, foreign Trade Zones #33 and #254 cover the area. With the RIDC managing the centrally located FTZ #33, note, All census-designated places are unincorporated. The racial makeup of the MSA was 89. 8% White,7. 9% African American,0. 1% Native American,1. 1% Asian, <0. 1% Pacific Islander,0. 3% from other races, and 0. 9% from two or more races. 0. 7% were Hispanic or Latino of any race, the median income for a household in the MSA was $35,908, and the median income for a family was $44,709. Males had an income of $35,670 versus $23,993 for females. The per capita income for the MSA was $18,897, as of the census of 2000, there were 2,525,730 people,1,032,596 households, and 678,085 families residing within the CSA. The racial makeup of the CSA was 90. 0% White,7. 7% African American,0. 1% Native American,1. 1% Asian, <0. 1% Pacific Islander,0. 3% from other races, and 0. 9% from two or more races
41.
Butler Transit Authority
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Butler Transit Authority, operating as TheBus, is a public transportation service located in Butler, Pennsylvania. The goal of the service is to provide transit access for the central portion of the county. However, no bus routes run to the heavily suburbanized southern portion of the county, the agency does not provides its own commuter access to Pittsburgh. Instead, the private Myers Coach Lines is in charge of service on weekdays. The Pittsburgh service also travels to a 35 space park and ride lot in Penn Township
42.
Fayette Area Coordinated Transportation
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Fayette Area Coordinated Transportation, known by the moniker of FACT, is a public transportation service located in Fayette County, Pennsylvania. It provides inter-city bus and paratransit service to communities within the county. Because the region is located within the area of Pittsburgh. In 2009, the Connellsville-Uniontown Route was extended into Westmoreland County to the Countryside Plaza Shopping Center, near Mount Pleasant. There are two Hubs in the county, each with a park and ride lot, and a Bus Station to handle traffic that comes with a bench. The FACT Transit Center, locate at the Connellsville Airport Complex in Dunbar Township, was completed in 2005, there is a Waiting Area, Comfort Station, Vending Machines, and the Admiministrative Offices, as well as the Bus Garages. There is a 40-vehicle park and ride located here, where the Pittsburgh Commuter and Connellsvlle-Uniontown Routes are accessible to the rider in a safe, in 2010, the Transfer Center opened in the Fayette County Business Park in South Union Township. The 1,072 square feet facility is open Monday - Friday, the center is also equipped with Vending Machines, Comfort Station, Waiting Area, and a Ticket/Token Office. One can also receive real-time bus information, there is also a Park-and-Ride lot there with a capacity of 40 vehicles in a safe and secure environment. The Uniontown Hub is located at Church and Beeson Streets in Uniontown, there is only a bench and minimal shelter here. Public-Transit Buses stop here when the Transfer Center is closed on nights, FACT provides evening and weekend service, and commuter trips on weekdays to downtown Pittsburgh. Shown on this schedule are all municipalities that feature FACT stops, with the served villages within these jurisdictions in parentheses
43.
Indiana County Transit Authority
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The Indiana County Transit Authority, also known as IndiGO, is a public transportation system, serving the Indiana County Area of Pennsylvania. IndiGO operates five Monday-Saturday routes, five Monday-Friday routes, a Wednesday route and they also operate a route service called Call-A-Bus. Thus-sat Route 1 - Transit Center to Townfair Plazza Route 2 - Transit Center to St, on Tuesdays, this bus goes to Strongstown/Alverda. On Thursdays, East and West Wheatfield, Indy Park Flyer - Indy Park to Wyo-Tech Smicksburg/Plumville to Indiana - Serving Smicksburg and Plumville Areas. IUP Recreational Run Park and Ride Route 10 - Saltsburg Route 11 - Indiana Mall, Senior Center, Transit Center, Bi-Lo, Chevy Chase Since 1995, IndiGO used electronic fare boxes called GFI CentsABill
44.
New Castle Area Transit Authority
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New Castle Area Transit Authority is a public transportation service located in Lawrence County, Pennsylvania. It provides inter-city bus and paratransit service to communities within the county. Because the region is located within the area of Pittsburgh. Connections can no longer be made to Youngstowns Western Reserve Transit Authority, the New Castle system formerly served the nearby Lincoln Knolls Plaza and made a direct connection with the WRTA route, but New Castle buses no longer enter Ohio. All routes run Monday though Saturday and terminate at the Downtown New Castle transfer center, unless otherwise noted. org Shawn Bennears History Of New Castle Area Transit Authority
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