Track Gauge - PRCo vs PTC

[Jim Holland]

Greetings!

Charles Brown wrote:

> One further query that I'd like to ask is about the track gauge on tight
> curves.  I've heard that the gauge is increased by a certain amount,
> presumably to allow the wheel flanges to negatioate, negotiate, negoti,
> uh, to go around the turn without jumping the rails.  Is this true and,
> if so, by how much are they widened?

	Welcome back, Charlie - this paragraph is all you - definitely still
enjoy your wit!
	On various mail lists, I have seen strong arguments for and against (as
not necessary for city trolleycars unlike mainline railroads with three
axles per truck) the extra widening on curves and the arguments on both
side sound quite rational.  The various Electric Railway Journals would
probably be the best sources of such information.
> 
> Oh, OERM bought some normal width wheels for the New Orleans car some 20
> years ago.  They are displayed on pallets in the back forty (at least
> those that haven't sunk underground).  There are some radical members
> who want to remove them from display and put them on the car.  What a
> nutty idea!

	I wonder if the problems arise because of railroad standards being used
on the mainline of the museum.  I would imagine that the wheel profile
of the NO car shouldn't be much different than the PCC--at least as far
as tire width is concerned.  The standard tire width of the PCC is just
under 3.

> Charlie
> 
> Charlesebrown at webtv.net

James B. Holland
------- -- ---------
        Pittsburgh Railways Company (PRCo), June of 1949 -- June of 1953
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