Speaking of Air Brakes on 1600 B-2s and B-3s

[Jim Holland]

Greetings!

	Sounds more like the air brakes were not working.  Dynamic slows the
cars to about 3 mph at which time the air brakes take over to complete
the stop and to hold the car when stopped.
	But at this low speed, the magnetic track brakes should be able to
complete the stop; I would be rather surprized if they were out, too,
because the two are not related.  If the car was able to slow
sufficiently, pumping on the handbrake should have stopped the car. 
Besides, throwing the reverser into reverse and gently applying the
power would have stopped the car as well - wouldn't necessarily stay
stopped if the air and track brakes were gone!
	Magnetic track brakes were primarily used during emergency braking. 
There were two settings on the track brake - low and full.  The low
setting might come on during regular service braking.
	At any rate, I question the motorman taking the car this far with
people on board and a brake problem.

mrb190 wrote:
> 
> I need to take a crash course in PCC Braking.  The story I'm about to
> relate would be a bit more interesting if I knew the mechanics better.
> 
> And I wish I could be more specific about the car series number, but I
> think it was a 1600...anyway, while staying at my aunt's house in the
> summer of 1966, there was the occasion where a car on the 39 Brookline
> route lost one of its braking capabilities.   We came down Brookine
> Blvd. slowly onto West Liberty, and continued coasting down West
> Liberty, not very fast, but we all knew something was up.
> First we went through a red light.  Then, we passed some very befuddled
> folks standing on the safety islands on West Liberty.  We just kept
> gliding without too much incident down West Liberty and up to South
> Hills junction.   I don't remember what track we turned off on up there
> - OR, even if we did (I was 8 or 9 years old at the time).  I remember
> hearing what I thought was a lot of crossing over or onto special work,
> and getting a kick out of the fact that we were all getting off the car
> near all these parked PCCs.
> Apparently, the brakes that slowed the car worked well enough to stop
> the car up in the yards, but the brake that actually grips the track to
> a complete stop, normally on the downgrade of West Liberty, did zilch.
> What I recall of out conductor was his soaked blue-gray shirt.  He was
> perspiring, to say the least!   My aunt was laughing as we passed all
> those people waiting on the West Liberty islands, (this was a.m. rush
> hour!), and so I guess I wasn't too worried.
> 
> Anybody else remember anything about this incident?  Since it went off
> without much trouble, i.e., nobody hurt, no derailment, perhaps it was
> never reported in the press.  In fact, I think we watched the news that
> night to see if it was mentioned to no avail.
> 
> Matt
> 
> Fred Schneider wrote:
> 
> > I have a tabulation of brake variants done about 1951 by Homewood
> > engineering staff ... I think the 1200s were the only air cars with spring
> > applied drums and they came from the factory that way.
> >
> >                 -----Original Message-----
> >                 From:   HRBran99 at AOL.COM [mailto:HRBran99 at AOL.COM]
> >                 Sent:   Monday, February 28, 2000 10:25 AM
> >                 To:     pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org
> >                 Subject:        Re: Air  Brakes  on  1600  B-2s  and  B-3s
> >
> >                 In a message dated 02/28/2000 5:25:43 AM Eastern Standard
> > Time,
> >                 pghpcc at pacbell.net writes:
> >
> >                 << Which way did the brakes work on the 1600s? >>
> >
> >                 The brakes were air-applied and spring-released. Hence, the
> > hand brake to the
> >                 right of the operators seat in case air pressure was lost
> > and the car had to
> >                 be stopped with that device. This did happen to me one time
> > coming down New
> >                 Arlington Avenue on the 49 line.
> >
> >                 HrB

James B. Holland
------- -- ---------
        Pittsburgh Railways Company (PRCo), June of 1949 -- June of 1953
    To e-mail *privately,* please click here: mailto:pghpcc at pacbell.net
N.M.R.A.  Life member #2190; http://www.mcs.net:80/~weyand/nmra/