Car Life

[Derrick J Brashear]

On Wed, 27 Dec 2000, Kenneth Josephson wrote:

> I do believe it is fair to state if the PCCs and (in those few unique circumstances where
> trolley coach operation remained feisible) trolley coaches still in service during the
> mid 1960s did not have that reserve of longevity within them, there may have been no
> surface traction operations left anywhere in North America by the 1970.
> 
> By the way, I wonder how long the Skybus cars would have lasted with proper maintenance
> on the South Hills lines? Ken J.

This is one of those reasons why I wish the "Transit Expressway"
experiment had continued longer than it did. It was a nice "lab
environment" where they had occasional loads to play with also, but in
conditions that actually simulate a property like Pittsburgh, the cars are
expected to keep running without necessarily being properly or adequately
maintained (it depends what you consider proper or adequate). Would they
have the longevity of a PCC? Would they still be running now, not even as
long as some of the PCCs ran? How many overhauls? 

I suppose in some sense we'll see at Pittsburgh International, or maybe
that this should have been the domain of the test facility at Pueblo, CO
and not something at South Park... There are really too many variables for
us to compute with the information we have, we can only guess.

-D