Car Life

[Derrick J Brashear]

On Tue, 26 Dec 2000, Kenneth Josephson wrote:

> And things haven't changed in the motor coach era. Will anything built in the
> last twenty years ever last as long as a GMC Old Look or even a Fishbowl?  On
> Dr. DeArmond's trolley coach discussion lists, a number of us frequently
> lament how nothing built in North America today for service under twin wires
> (and on pavement) will ever touch the Marmon-Herringtons, Pullman-Standards
> or CCF/ACF-Brills for longevity. It is amazing what a struggling private
> sector industry can demand quality wise as compared to today's taxpayer
> supported systems with their "use it or lose it" funding mentality. Ken J.

And in an odd twist to "on-topic", I remember Johnstown picked up some
used TCs (They bought St. Louis TCs for Horner St. line conversion, I
think in 1951, and then supplemented the fleet later with used
Marmon-Herringtons and others, but all the details are filed away
somewhere now) and I know that at least one manufacturer made trolley
coaches which were apparently difficult enough to operate in Johnstown
(where the lines were actually pretty flat compared to somewhere like San
Francisco, because by and large they served the river valleys, the notable
exceptions being the Southmont carline, and the trolley coach loop in East
Conemaugh) that they were parked at the earliest convenient date. I'll
have to find out which. But, just because it had longevity, don't assume
it was necessarily "better" than today. I won't argue that the Boeings
were better than the PCCs, though. Not by any stretch.

-D