Double trolley wire (was: Johnstown PCC Scans & a Pittsburgh Fantasy

[Derrick J Brashear]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: "Vigrass, Bill" <billvigrass at hillintl.com>
Subject: RE: Double trolley wire (was: Johnstown PCC Scans & a Pittsburgh 
	Fantasy
Date: Mon, 19 Jul 1999 12:50:34 -0400


Washington Railway & Electric Co. used double wire on some lines in the
early days. WB&A had to be so equipped in its early years.  See Leroy
King's book on the WB&A.   Bill V.

> ----------
> From: 	Don Galt[SMTP:GaltFD at compuserve.com]
> Reply To: 	pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org
> Sent: 	Saturday, July 17, 1999 5:13 AM
> To: 	pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org
> Subject: 	Double trolley wire (was: Johnstown PCC Scans & a
> Pittsburgh Fantasy
> 
> >> Cincinnati was a bit weird anyway.  They didn't know how many wires
> to
> stick overhead and while they got the correct number of trolley poles
> on
> the cars (2), they stuck them both at one end! <<
> 
> This is wandering way outside Pennsylvania, of course. Go ahead, slap
> me.
> 
> In addition to well-known Havana, I know of at least one other system
> to
> employ double overhead. The Seattle Municipal Street Railway, which
> started
> out with one new line and one gift line which it rehabilitated, in the
> days
> when the main network was still in the hands of Stone & Webster, used
> double wires for its "A" division. This configuration lasted only for
> a few
> years and didn't survive past the city's purchase of the Seattle
> Electric
> (S&W) system.
> 
> Cincinnati Street Railways at one time actually had cars with four
> (count
> 'em, 4) trolley poles, taken over when the Millcreek Valley lines were
> absorbed. These double-ended cars were of no particular use on CSR,
> which
> universally used loops and single-enders. The Millcreek Valley lines
> were
> an early example of that Cinti phenomenon, the suburban/interurban
> line
> which raised an otherwise unused pole the moment it entered the city
> limits. For that matter, CSR's own cars dropped the second pole when
> they
> crossed the boundary on the way to Lockland or Sedamsville.
> 
> D2
>