Maintenance Pittsburgh Style

[Jim Holland]

Greetings!

> Kenneth Josephson wrote:

> . . . We've
> all seen (at least in pictures) the beat up, rusted carbodies and read
> posts about rattling brakes on 1700s. Some of us have seen motormen run
> duct tape around the dash vent doors during winter.

	PRCo  d-e-f-i-n-i-t-e-l-y  doesn't stand alone!

> . . . Some cars
> had to have "nasty personalities" or chronic problems that caused
> operators to groan when they discovered they had to take one of those
> particular cars out. Which individual cars were the most or least popular
> with the motormen?

	Motormen did not like 1613 in PRCo days - rode too hard.  She
apparently had her original trucks re-installed, the Clark-B-2s with
weight added for interurban service.
	Strange how all cars are built alike but that they definitely have
individual  *personalities!*  Used to know individual personalities very
well from one car to the next at one time, but difficult to recall
details at this time.
	Some of the better performing interurbans, about 1958--1962, were: 
1700, 1705, 1707, 1708, 1709, 1710, 1712, 1714, 1717, 1718, 1719, 1720,
1721, 1722, 1723.  Not a bad listing.  But the characteristics that made
them better performing are more subjective than objective.  They all did
their job pretty well.
	The 17-interurbans had a definite tendency to hunt - 1712 is a car that
literally bucked that trend by bouncing, and a very gentle, comfortable
bounce at that.  Another characteristic of the 17-interurbans is that
the backend would bounce, but the front would not.  Weight distribution
may have been more forward - overhand about 1-foot shorter in the rear!
	The 16-interurbans were rarely in service except as rush hour trippers,
even into early ({[pat]}) days!
	The air-cars had a tendency to *slug* when the power was released, esp.
at lower speeds - took a little skill to get beyond this.
	And the 10s and 11s had grabby tread brakes - motormen were supposed to
fully release and reapply the brakes just before the car made a complete
stop to prevent the grab.
	Motormen did  NOT  like the 12s - esp those converted to drum brakes -
had a definite tendency to roll back when stopping upgrade.
	Don't remember any comments about the 14s and we didn't have 15s in
South Hills until the early 1960s when barns started closing.
	The 1600-series city cars  *seemed*  to be the fastest cars but in
reality were the same as all the rest.

> The bodywork of the "light rail" fronts installed on the two wrecked 1600s
> and what was need to make it work would also be an interesting topic.

	I was home once waiting for an interurban at SHJ outbound when the
interurban emerging from the tunnel went behind the Admin Building.  The
relief operator had pulled out the Flat--Front Interurban and passengers
were transferred here - new, different, so he liked operating it!

James B. Holland

        Pittsburgh  Railways  Company  (PRCo),   1930  --  1950
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