NC Zones in Pittsburgh & gauntlet (gantlet?)! Overhead

[Robert E. Rathke]

The 5 Spring Hill line was single track with a loop at the end on Rhine
and Buente Streets.  There was a double trolley wire on the single track
line, and the trolley wheel rode on the righthand wire; this meant that a
crossover wire device was needed at the loop track switch which was a
righhand track turn.  Was double wire on two-direction single track a
common practice on PRC?  When you're photographing trolleys, the wire is
a low priority point of observation.  I know about the Spring Hill wire
because I grew up near the loop, and with long headways you didn't have
much else to look at.

Bob Rathke 7/17



On Sat, 17 Jul 1999 09:03:58 -0700 Jim Holland <pghpcc at pacbell.net>
writes:
>Greetings!
>
>Kenneth and Tracie Josephson wrote:
>> 
>> Jim Holland wrote:
>
>> >         Track centers were as low as 9' 6" which would leave a
>> > theoretical 6" between cars; all the curves would be NC - No 
>> > Clearance!
>> 
>> Weren't there NC zones around Pittsburgh where even the narrow PCCs
>> couldn't pass each other? I seem to remember reading about areas 
>where
>> one car would have to wait for another to pass before proceeding.
>
>	On my above statement, let me emphasize that  A-L-L  curves, 
>not 
>some or even most, but  A-L-L  curves where 108" wide PCC cars would 
>be 
>used would require NC - No Clearance.
>
>	And to answer your question - absolutely - *NC* signs hung 
>prior 
>to many turns where streets were too narrow to allow spiral easements 
>to 
>spread the devil strip or where this would have required unusually 
>tight 
>radii.  No signal lights were used at most of these turns and I do not 
>
>know of any collisions or even near misses but by the time I was joy- 
>riding, it was the very late 50s.
>	Probably the most famous NC turns were on the 67 and / or 64 
>where the devil strip narrowed to less than a foot - these were blind 
>turns and sometimes traversed short blocks in between two such reverse 
>
>turns so clearance lights were used here - it was essentially running 
>single track with double track, not even gauntlet (gantlet?)!
>
>	Once clearing the special work of South Hills Junction, there 
>were no frogs in the trolley wire on the interurban line until the 
>Castle 
>Shannon Loop even though four passing sidings were encountered 
>enroute.  
>This was all strung with hangers to accommodate double trolley wire 
>spaced about 6" apart on the single track sections (sorry, 
>Cincinnati!) 
>but only one trolley pole.  This is from the Fall of 1953 forward.
>	Before that (the Fall of 1953) it was *probably* single wire 
>with 
>frogs for there were only two passing sidings between South Hills 
>Junction and the bridge over Saw Mill Run Blvd. and the single track 
>sections were longer.
>	Drake, because of the long stretches of single track, used 
>single 
>trolley wire with frogs at the two passing sidings, at the stub track 
>leading to the old Drake trestle, and the Drake Loop - and of course 
>there was a frog to return to double track heading north into 
>Washington 
>Jct.  Because the turnouts at the sidings were shallow, directional 
>frogs 
>were used to ensure the trolley would follow down the right wire.
>
>-- 
>James B. Holland
>       PITTSBURGH RAILWAYS COMPANY (PRCo), June of 1949 -- June of 
>1953
>       To e-mail *off-list,* please click here: 
>mailto:pghpcc at pacbell.net
>N.M.R.A.  Life member #2190; http://www.mcs.net:80/~weyand/nmra/

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