Track Switch Control ...MOST LIKELY, crazy question, but...

[brathke at juno.com]

Reminds me of the comment made by a PRC maintenance guy in the early
1950's.  He was working on a PCC that had been shoved into the turnout
track inside the 5-Spring Hill loop (one of the very few times I saw a
car on the spur track), and a passerby asked him what he was doing under
the car.  He immediately replied, "Changing a flat tire."

Bob 4/1

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On Sat, 01 Apr 2000 10:43:14 -0800 Jim Holland <pghpcc at pacbell.net>
writes:
> Greetings!
> 
> 	No - if there were such a device, it was for the handbrake 
> when the car
> was shut off.  This was usually a pump type action on the air-cars.
> 	People would constantly get on the PCCs here in San 
> Francisco asking
> where the steering wheel was.  After years of patiently explaining, 
> and
> using the analogy of a model railroad that runs on tracks without a
> steering wheel - I finally gave up and said that the person in the 
> back
> seat had the wheel - upon which they would go back to check!
> 
> 	Incidentally, you have the VIRUS HAPPY99.EXE - it came 
> through as a
> separate message behind this one.  Hope you can get it cleared out 
> of
> your computer before you have trouble with it!
> 
> mrb190 wrote:
> > 
> > I have what is probably a smeared-up recollection of boarding a 
> PCC with my
> > grandfather now and again, and seeing a "steering wheel" on the 
> dash.....   Was
> > there ever such a call for this on a PCC?   Or is the imaginings 
> of a child of 5 or
> > 6?   I don't think I dreamed it.   Maybe we were boarding a 
> bus...who knows.
> > 
> > Matt
> > 
> > Bob Schmidt wrote:
> > 
> > > Good morning!
> > >
> > > I remember quite clearly the motormen of the high and low floor 
> cars
> > > "powering up a notch and applying the brake simultaneously" for 
> on-board
> > > switch throwing operations. There were also various episodes 
> when the
> > > track switch failed to 'throw', the  manual pinchbar being 
> yanked from
> > > its holding niche next to the emergency brake wheel, and the 
> entire
> > > episode accompanied by barely audible four-letter words.
> > >
> > > Both of the inbound tunnel de-rails at SHJ were activated 
> likewise, and
> > > were the ones incurring the most wrath. Of course, a young lad 
> of the
> > > mid-1940's at the time would've been impressed by this scenario. 
> And so,
> > > you've just heard (read) the playback.
> > >
> > > Bob S
> > >
> > >   
>
------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > >
> > > Subject: Track Switch Control
> > > Date: Fri, 31 Mar 2000 20:29:48 -0800
> > > From: Jim Holland <pghpcc at pacbell.net>
> > > Reply-To: pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org
> > > To: PRCo -- WP -- JTC -- The Big *3* -- 
> <pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org>
> > >
> > > Greetings!
> > >
> > >         The PCC cars used a toggle on the dash for controlling 
> track switches
> > > and it was forbidden to use the power pedal thru the overhead 
> contactor
> > > to set the turnout for diverge.
> > >
> > >         How did the low-floor cars and other non-PCC car set the 
> switches?  Did
> > > they have a toggle installed for such purpose or did they notch 
> up the
> > > controller and apply the brakes?
> > >
> > > James B. Holland
> > > ------- -- ---------
> > >         Pittsburgh Railways Company (PRCo), June of 1949 -- June 
> of 1953
> > >     To e-mail *privately,* please click here: 
> mailto:pghpcc at pacbell.net
> > > N.M.R.A.  Life member #2190; http://www.mcs.net:80/~weyand/nmra/
> 
> James B. Holland
> ------- -- ---------
>         Pittsburgh Railways Company (PRCo), June of 1949 -- June of 
> 1953
>     To e-mail *privately,* 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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For the English majors: I put commas and periods outside my quotation
marks when I think it makes more sense or makes the sentence easier
to read (adapted from Dr. Ed Friedlander, <www.pathguy.com>)
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