O Scale Pittsburgh Feeder Cable Brackets for Steel Poles

[Edward G Skuchas]

All right.  Some modeling qustions.  
I would not approach Leonid about those brackets.  My personal choice is Q Car who I talk to almost daily.  There are other choices, but they are custom or have a habit of making promises and not producing.
I would approach it this way.  If I can obtain the information, I'll contact Q about making the pattern and selling the part.  Then he can supply us.  I'd make them from white metal to keep costs down.  If we need them for power connections, then maybe lost wax brass at a much higher cost.  Few problems.  One is that he is really busy, and the second is that his white metal casters are backed up and can't keep up now.  He makes pole caps now.  Use brass tube and put pole cap on top.  Can build up a pole using telescoping brass tube sections (to match prototypes that have progressively larger diameters closer to the ground).
Second way is to go to a private pattern maker (know of one) and have them cast ourselves.  We would have to decide what metal to use because patterns have to be made slightly oversize to accomodate shrinkage.  This way may not be too bad, as long as those who want the parts suport the process by buying the parts.  Talk is cheap.  Pattern cost may not be too bad.  I have 2 or 3 lost was casters who I deal with.  I have one or 2 white metal casters.  Would need to sell a couple gross to keep the costs down.
Please advise.  Should do any other Pittsburgh specialty items to make a complete pole system.
Regards,

Edward G. Skuchas, P.E.
Senior Mechanical Engineer
Parsons Energy & Chemicals Group, Inc.
2675 Morgantown Road
Reading, PA 19607
610-855-2532 voice
610-855-2385 fax
edward.g.skuchas at parsons.com


-----Original Message-----
From: Kenneth and Tracie Josephson [mailto:kjosephson at sprintmail.com]
Sent: Tuesday, March 21, 2000 11:00 AM
To: pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org
Subject: O Scale Pittsburgh Feeder Cable Brackets for Steel Poles


Hi All,

I finally took my Pittsburgh feeder cable brackets down to my favorite
machine shop to have them dipped in the hot tank. Once all the old paint
and grime is off, I can glass bead and repaint them. Then I can take
measurements and make drawings for scale model reproductions (unless
Uncle Ed finds drawings of these unique to Pittsburgh items in the
Miller Library collection.) 

Leonid at St. Petersburg Trams Collection is willing to repop these in O
scale. Are any of you Pittsburgh scale model fans interested? It will be
quite some time before Leonid would be ready to tackle this project.

Ken J.