TR: Pittsburgh Low Entry

[Jim Holland]

Greetings!

Carl Zager wrote:

> Dave's Electric Railroads page has 2 James B. Holland photos of Pittsburgh
> Railways 3756, a 30's-40's wooden low entry streetcar:
>         http://davesrailpix.railfan.net/pitts/jpg/pitt125.jpg
> and     http://davesrailpix.railfan.net/pitts/jpg/pitt126.jpg

> Does anyone know if there are published dimensions or plans for this class
> of car? I think they were built either by Jones or St. Louis.

	These cars were known as *Low-Floor Cars* by most in Pittsburgh and as *Jones Cars* by a 
few because of a superintendent by that name who made significant contributions to the design of 
the car.  Although painted traction orange, they faded quickly to a yellow and were known by the 
public as *Yellow Cars.*
	Ultimately there were over 1,000 of this similar design built for use in Pittsburgh between 
1915 and 1925.  This included trailers, motorized trailers, and single- and double-ended cars.  
Over a dozen cars were located at the Tylerdale Car Barn in Little Washington for use over the 
three local city lines and a handful were located at the Charleroi Car House on the Charleroi 
interurban for local use from Riverview into Donora.
	Car 3756 was part of a 20-car (3750-3769) order built specifically for use on the 
Charleroi-Roscoe interurban but they were rough riding and unpopular with everyone - public and 
railway alike.  The first nine of this series then had a left hand door cut into them for use on 
the 23 Sewickley line to prevent boarding or leaving passengers from stepping into traffic on side 
of the road prw on Neville Island.  All of these cars were still used as trippers on the Charleroi 
and Washington interurban lines to the end; many of them even saw service on city lines in the 
South Hills.
	The Low-Floor cars were the backbone of PRCo until the advent of the PCC cars.  These 
Yellow Cars saw service on every single route, even the isolated 29 Thornburgh.
	The only plans of PRCo streetcars in the Carsten's publication is one of a single truck 
bobber, M1.  *Traction Heritage* did print general plans for these cars.

	The Pennsylvania Trolley Museum in Little Washington has several very inexpensive booklets 
with very good photos of these cars.  They also have some general plans for a nominal fee.

> My own, under construction, cityscape is a simple, narrow dogbone from a
> city block to a suburban station. I have one, that's right one, Bowser
> PCC. I'm struggling with overhead, but that's still a little ways off.

	Guess overhead is an item that scares many modellers and that is really the only thing that 
makes it difficult  --  our attitude toward it!  It is time consuming but very simple and extremely 
rewarding.  Don't let it get the best of you!

-- 
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/