Trolley Cowls and Vents -- Doors -- Trivia !!!!!!

[Jim Holland]

Greetings!

> John F Bromley wrote:

> Thanks for your "thanks" - so many people never bother.

> It occurs to me that the 1630 was the only PCC EVER to have both a pre-war
> style trolley shroud AND a forward roof vent.

	There were others, but  *probably*  not original.  PRCo 1161, 1169,
1171 come to mind - lived near the 42-Dormont wye and used to see them
on the 38 or 42 line often.
	These were square//rectangular rather than curved and rounded and the
front and back of the vents leaned forward.
	And rather than the front one facing forward and the back one (behind
the trolley cowl) facing toward the rear ala the 15s and 16s, all vents
faced forward on these 11s.
	And one of these cars had 3-vents - 2 fore and one aft!  For a similar
arrangement, see *PCC From Coast to Coast* pg.222 DCT-1152  --  this car
has 3 vents and these look just a little smaller than the ones used on
PRCo 11s.  Pg.221 top right photo - car 1121 - might show the vent from
the front.
	AHA  --  the Volkmer all-color  *PA Trolleys--Vol-3*  pg.96 shows 1161
on the 82-Lincoln which I suspect is a charter - the vents are
perceptible.  Here is possible charter information for this car by
PRMA::  1960.04.24  1161  PRCo  "Springtime Trolley Ramble" Monongahela
Incline, 85, 82, 96, 95, 94, 75, 64, 49, 48, 40, 36, 38A, 38, 42.

	I recall seeing a photo of one of the PRCo 11s with roof vents on
Dave's site but the site shut down on me as I was loading so I can't
offer a specific URL at this point.  Think the photo of the car was on
the outer terminal of the 94.

> 1630 never had the vent
> originally of course, having had roof fans, so the vent was another addition
> when the roof fans were removed.  Unlike other cars the rear-facing vent was
> not added.

	PRCo was extremely consistent in what they did down thru the decades,
but in the *latter--days* the system was less predictable.  Strange that
a front roof vent was added but not one in the rear - unless they only
had one.  And obviously there would be plenty of 10- and 11- roof cowls
as some of these cars were being scrapped.  Dash lights were not added
but the car received a beautiful hour-glass paint scheme and was
overhauled electrically and mechanically as well.  This was one stellar
performer after overhaul  --  had seemed somewhat sluggish before.  1630
was often on 42-Dormont!
	And of course, in the latter days the roof vents disappeared from the
cars as the roof was refurbished (so it is surprizing that 1630 even
received 'one' in 1961), dash lights disappeared, wings flew away, etc!

	PRCo 1019 is another oddity, probably an PRCo experiment with forced
air ventilation for the motors.  While still the small, pre-War cowl, it
looked more Pullman than St.Louis, was a little taller, and had vents
across the front - thus my suspicions about experimenting with forced
air!  In Volkmer's book again, pgs.86 and 112 are photos of 1019.

	PRCo 1200s had unique trolley cowls as well; SLPS-1500s had the same
cowl.  Others might have but it is sometimes difficult to tell from
photos.  The 1200s still had the original, small, prewar trolley cowl
with an additional unit before it to scoop up the air.  A moulding
between the original cowling and the addition was needed to smooth the
lines since the latter was wider.
	In Volkmer's book pg.114, look very carefull at 1242, bottom photo. 
Note the portion of the cowling at the trolley bases is mounted on the
wood roof walk while the portion in front of it definitely appears wider
and is mounted right on the roof.  Compare this to the 14 behind 1242
and beside it (TWA ad) and you will notice that the portion by the
trolley base does NOT sit on the wood roof walk, does NOT sit on the
roof, and is as wide as the portion ahead of it.  There are metal straps
between this portion and the roof walk to hold it in place.  *Trolley
Talk* #90, pg.2 center left photo shows this a little more clearly.

	PRCo 14s and 15s did not have posts between the 2-doors front and
center.  You can see this from photos in the many different books. 
Why--don't honestly know.  More space for boarding but it mustn't have
been desireable as the 16s and 17s return to posts between the doors.

> John Bromley

>> From: "Carl Zager" <czager at bloomington.in.us>

>> Thanks, John. Good information.

> On Wed, 29 Nov 2000, John F Bromley wrote:

> Re: 1630

> Pittsburgh Railways had 102 cars with roof fans, the 1700s (100), 1600 (1)
> and 1630 (1).  Whether you can see the numbers or not it is 1630, not 1620
> or any other 1600, simply because the other 101 cars with roof fans had
> the postwar body.  Look it up.  1630.  Period.

>> From: "Carl Zager" <czager at bloomington.in.us>

>> I enhanced a portion of the photo John refers to, but my tools, my skills,
>> and my eyes may not be as good as John's. The car in question is signed 73
>> Highland. At first (at full size on Robert's page) I looked carefully at
>> the "16xy." Even at that resolution the "y" is a "0," so we are now
>> "solving for x."

> On Tue, 28 Nov 2000, John F Bromley wrote:

> I was justt browsing your wewbsite, following the offered link, and have the
> flollowing to note on a coiuyple of your photos in the roster links.

> On the 1600 link the second photo is not 1600 but 1630, apparenmtly in front
> of Highland Park CH (you asked for more data).  The roof monitor was
> removed, I think about 1960-61 but I'm prepared to be corrected, when it
> received a small cowling from a 1000 or 1100 series to run out its
> days looking like one of those series cars.

James B. Holland

        Pittsburgh  Railways  Company  (PRCo),   1930  --  1950
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