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

[Jim Holland]

Greetings!

Robert E. Rathke wrote:

> And, by the way, except for the most frantic grab-shots,  I ALWAYS make
> an effort to get the trolley pole and wire in the photo.  It's just that
> I never spent a lot of time studying the wire...except on Spring Hill.

	Just razzing you a little, Bob!  The overhead wire and also the 
trackwork were always a fascination to me.
	Even though I grew up around PRCo it was rare to see a trolley 
dewire and even more rare to be on a car when that happened!
	I think that the only place I ever saw a trolley dewire *downtown* 
was at the ""trailing point switch"" where the West End lines joined the 
North Side routes on Fort Duquesne.  It was a cold winter day and I saw a 
1000 class car dewire there - nothing else.  1 1/2 -2 hours later the same 
car came through again and it dewired in the same place - different 
operator!
	Twice I remember riding a Dormont car when it dewired.  Once 
through the yard inbound because of a broken hanger blocking the wire and 
outbound of the Palm Garden Trestle where the 42 and 38 separated.  This 
switch was shallow which promoted dewirements - trolley follows the wrong 
wire.  My Dad and I were coming back from a ball game and we were on a 
1400, possibly 1454.
	I cam remember a few dewirements at speed along the interurban 
lines.  One car had a bad retriever and we think that was the culprit.  
Another time the operator claimed the spring was weak - probably the 
biggest *contributor* to dewirements in general.

-- 
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/