Qualifications to Operate Cars -- & System

[Fred Schneider]

Pittsburgh Railways had some system-qualified men.  Roy Taylor who operated
my 1958 charter was one of them.  But he had never been over 65 Lincoln
Place / 56 McKeesport since they had made track changes where they
intersected, so they sent a local supervisor over to meet Roy at that point.


The only instance that comes to mind where operators ran on routes for which
they were not qualified was the County Fair service during Labor Day
weekend.  For that to work properly, the company posted white hats all over
the Triangle to direct operators from other divisions (for example a 13
Emsworth - County Fair car) and at other possible diversions.   Warning
signs were erected the week before on the interurban ahead of every highway
crossing to protect the operation.   It would be interesting to know if the
Railways allowed any vacations over Labor Day weekend.  There were several
pictures taken by Art Ellis at Mesta stop during one of those events.  The
one we exhibited at Arden several years ago showed several supervisors in
white hats to make sure that the bus/trolley transfer worked.  I would
imagine they also had people at Library to make sure the operators turned.
And there had to be people at Shannon to help back extra cars into that
yard.  And also up on the loop under the Warrington Avenue tracks.  It
surely gobbled up staff.    

 
		-----Original Message-----
		From:	Jim Holland [mailto:pghpcc at pacbell.net]
		Sent:	Monday, February 28, 2000 5:27 PM
		To:	pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org
		Subject:	Qualifications  to  Operate  Cars  --  &
System

		Greetings!

		Fred Schneider wrote:

		> Hey Jim, take a week off and go
		> home and research it.

			I'd love to - but more like a month.  But then Ed
would definitely go
		bald!

		> Did the union and/or the company allow any PCC qualified
man to run any PCC
		> at that time or were the qualifications restricted to car
types in the barn
		> you worked?

			Super Question!  I have had similar thoughts but
never expressed them.
			Car 1600 itself could be considered a 1700
operationally so
		theoretically there would be little difference in operating
them.  But
		being the first powt-war all-electric and a one-of-a-kind, I
am sure
		there were many features that were distinctly different from
the 17s. 
		And like many such similar cars, the 1600 was disliked by
both operators
		and the shop alike, so I have been told.
			But if a division never had 17s, I think a person
would be barred from
		operating one without training.  How would an operator know
how to
		release the brakes when being towed or pushed is just one of
many
		points.

			Now this raises a question, too.  When motormen were
picked for
		charters, did they come from the division from which the car
came or did
		they come from any division?  AND, did the operators have to
be
		qualified on the whole system or were they put out there on
their own? 
		Charters rarely stayed within the confines of one division
and usually
		traversed them all!

		>                 -----Original Message-----
		>                 From:   Jim Holland
[mailto:pghpcc at pacbell.net]
		>                 Sent:   Sunday, February 27, 2000 2:48 AM
		>                 To:     PRCo -- WP -- JTC -- The Big *3*
		>                 Subject:        Car  Barns  &  Car
Assignments
		> 
		>                 Greetings!
		> 
		>                         It is definitely a given that car
assignments to
		> various Car Houses
		>                 frequently changed for a variety of
reasons, yet it is
		> interesting to
		>                 note and / or speculate on some of the
equipment
		> assignments.
		>                         From photo identifications, it
appears as though
		> PCCs 1775-1784 were at
		>                 Keating in the very early 1950s and Ingram
had 1795-1799.
		> Did
		>                 Manchester or Millvale ever have any 17s
assigned to them?
		>                         I have a *possible-listing* of car
assignments in
		> the early 1950s but
		>                 Millvale (closed 1952) and Plummer (closed
1954) are not on
		> the list.
		>                 This compilation has 1775-1792 at Keating
with 1793-1799 at
		> Ingram.
		>                 With the closure of Ingram, Keating then
had 25 of the 17s
		> and
		>                 *probably* all the equipment here was GE
equipped.
		>                         Again, for the early 1950s,
Manchester is listed as
		> having only 25-10s,
		>                 8-14s, and 10-16s.  Even with 20-Rebecca
gone, that still
		> leaves 4 good
		>                 lines to dispatch and one would think that
some 17s might go
		> to the
		>                 13-line at least - neighborhood values
(like the best cars
		> were to go
		>                 out on Mt.Lebanon!!)  <VBG>
		> 
		>                 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/
		> 

		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/