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<DIV><FONT size=4>Fred</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT size=4>While I agree with most of what you say (the only part being
the 100 mile rule, which with modern steam power was quite obsolete—a modern
steam loco could run a thousand miles before needing that sort of attention), we
were discussing the PRR, not railroads in general. In the PRR’s case one
had to take internal railroad politics into account. They had more effect
on the timing of conversion to diesel (which was inevitable) than anything else,
including then current legislation. As soon as Martin Clement and John
Deasy were deposed, and James Symes became the power on the PRR (even though
Walter Franklin was actually the President for a while), the conversion
proceeded as quickly as the PRR could obtain diesels—and from any builder!
Had that transition to power in Philadelphia taken place even five years
earlier, there would have been no T1s or Q2s and the conversion would have been
more orderly, less pell-mell, and ultimately less costly for the so-called
Standard Railroad of the World. </FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT size=4>And now someone wants to build a T1 from
scratch???? Just goes to prove the saying—not sure if was from Jack
White or George Hilton—that the amount of rail enthusiast interest in a
particular railway or railway part is inversely proportional to its economic
usefulness.</FONT></DIV><FONT size=4>
<DIV><BR>Dwight</DIV>
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<DIV style="font-color: black"><B>From:</B> <A title=fwschneider@comcast.net
href="mailto:fwschneider@comcast.net">Fred Schneider</A> </DIV>
<DIV><B>Sent:</B> Thursday, 15 May, 2014 09:01</DIV>
<DIV><B>To:</B> <A title=pittsburgh-railways@mailman.dementix.org
href="mailto:pittsburgh-railways@mailman.dementix.org">Western PA Trolley
discussion</A> </DIV>
<DIV><B>Subject:</B> Re: [PRCo] UMW blamed for diesels</DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV>
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style='FONT-SIZE: small; TEXT-DECORATION: none; FONT-FAMILY: "Calibri"; FONT-WEIGHT: normal; COLOR: #000000; FONT-STYLE: normal; DISPLAY: inline'><BR>I
think we have to look at everything ….<BR><BR>1. Smoke control
laws.<BR><BR>2. UMW strikes making it hard to get
coal.<BR><BR>3. Economics of running steam … we can lay off 4 out of
every 5 workers and well a lot of ground we had used for shop buildings.
Might even be able to sell some shop buildings to other people for factories but
that isn't too likely.<BR><BR>4. No need for water in the deserts of
the American west. <BR><BR>5. Locomotive availability …
that diesel will run for thousands of miles before it needs any
servicing. Fueling can be done from a truck driven up to the
railroad … we don't need water columns, tanks, coal tipples. And the
steam engine will run about 100 miles between service stops and it needs a lot
of spare engines along the way because it likes to self destruct.
<BR><BR>An example of the self destruct concept…. When the PRR ran
steam from Philadelphia to Harrisburg, there was a K4s stationed in Lancaster as
a protect engine. In the evening it sat in the station facing west
because most trains ran west in the evening. In the morning in faced
east. Always with a crew on it. John Bowman told the
story of standing in the cab of that K4 one day talking when he was told to jump
off NOW. The signals had changed to clear on the pocket track.
They were going to work. In January 1938, when the wires were
energized to Harrisburg, the protect engine was no longer needed.
<BR><BR>The steam engine may have been pretty to the railfan … dynamic … great
to watch. But we have to think how many billions of dollars were
saved by scrapping them ……….. and how much cleaner the sky is over Pittsburgh,
Pitcairn, Glenwood, Rook, McKees Rocks and other places. <BR><BR>I've been
sending these guys some interesting articles on Pittsburgh Railways.
I have ignored the smoke control stories but they are there too. And
there was an occasional picture of downtown on days when you couldn't see the
top of the Gulf Building from the street. <BR><BR><BR>On May 15,
2014, at 8:21 AM, John Swindler wrote:<BR><BR>> <BR>> <BR>> Easier to
blame another industry/organization than to look at the economics of railroad
operation. Some of David Morgan's writing talk about the
reduction/elimination of labor costs associated with conversion to diesel -
despite the high initial capital costs for diesel operation. <BR>>
<BR>> <BR>> <BR>> <BR>> <BR>>> From:
fwschneider@comcast.net<BR>>> Date: Fri, 2 May 2014 14:33:45
-0400<BR>>> To: pittsburgh-railways@mailman.dementix.org<BR>>>
Subject: [PRCo] UMW blamed for diesels<BR>>> <BR>>> Writer forgets
that the PRR announced several days earlier that it would cooperate with smoke
control. Blame cannot be totally based on either smoke control,
economics or John L. Lewis and his boys. <BR>>> <BR>>>
http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=FisbAAAAIBAJ&sjid=6kwEAAAAIBAJ&pg=3025%2C2594239<BR>>>
<BR>>> <BR>>> <BR>>>
_______________________________________________<BR>>> Pittsburgh-railways
mailing list<BR>>> Pittsburgh-railways@mailman.dementix.org<BR>>>
https://mailman.dementix.org/mailman/listinfo/pittsburgh-railways<BR>>
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