Speed

[Vigrass, Bill]

I agree.  For several years, Hill International, Inc. for whom I work owned
Gibbs & Hill, electrical design engineers. I was able to question the people
who designed the PAT electrification.  While they were defensive, they did
make some sense.  It went like this.  Land was available at only three
locations for substations.  No other sites were possible because of NIMBY's.
Therefore they needed powerful substations that would transmit power a long
distance (long insofar as 600 vdc is concerned, namely a few miles).  To do
so, they needed very heavy feeders or primary messengers.  To hold up all
that copper, they needed large structures. I still  think it could have been
done better, especially on the 52 Allentown line.  Anyhow, it is done and in
place. So that's the story.   Bill V.   

> ----------
> From: 	Robert E. Rathke[SMTP:brathke at juno.com]
> Reply To: 	pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org
> Sent: 	Saturday, October 16, 1999 11:26 AM
> To: 	pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org
> Subject: 	Re: Speed
> 
> Ken,
> 
> To comment on your last sentence: I always thought that only PAT's
> CATENARY SUPPORT STRUCTURES were overbuilt :-).
> 
> Bob 10/16
> 
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
> -------------------------------------------
> 
> On Fri, 15 Oct 1999 14:25:11 +0000 Kenneth and Tracie Josephson
> <kjosephson at sprintmail.com> writes:
> >Jim Holland wrote:
> >
> >
> >> - ALL of this is backyard running in very close quarters.  You may 
> >stop
> >> cars with crossarms but there are children all over the place - will 
> >they
> >> stop for crossarms?  It is far too congested an area.
> >>         Then you have the Beechview Streets - Broadway.
> >>         Then you have three long trestles, downgrade, long blind 
> >curves
> >> and several stops.  You can't get going 40 mph in case you have to 
> >stop
> >> at one of the stops and you can't see clearly around the curves.  
> >Signals
> >> won't prevent hitting something else on the tracks and the tracks 
> >have
> >> been common ground to many people for most of the century!
> >
> >Jim's common sense prevails to end my argument!!! I am embarrassed to
> >admit I am a safety officer at a county hospital. I have to admit, the
> >residents near the tracks never entered my mind. Thanks for bringing 
> >me
> >to my senses, Jim. But your rebuttal adds to my contention that the 
> >line
> >is way, way overbuilt. Ken J.
> 
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