Great tidbits!

[HRBran99 at aol.com]

In a message dated 05/09/2000 4:04:20 AM Eastern Daylight Time, 
mrb190+ at pitt.edu writes:

<< OR tell me folks, was it a common thing to
 have a car coming up behind to push a disabled car to a car house?  >>

Yes, this was common. After all, how can a car come up to the front without 
backing through traffic to get to it?

Several times I was either operating the disabled car or the 'pusher' car. On 
rare occasions, if a car went disabled and there just happened to be a car 
standing in front of it, then the disabled car could be pulled. Pulling was 
far safer than pushing, especially through downtown Pgh.

The first step was to couple the two cars together with the drawbar. This 
required two operators and a lot of forward and backing movements of about 
two inches each to get the drawbar over the hole that the pin was pushed down 
into. Next, the brakes had to be pulled if the car were a 1700 series. Then 
the real fun began.

The operator of the first (disabled) car would have to convey to the operator 
of the active car whether to stop, go, slow, or whatever. This was dangerous 
inasmuch as the operator running the two cars was over 50 feet behind the 
front cars' windshield. The operator of the first car would usually use one 
of the windshield destination/information signs (which PAT was famous for 
using) held out at armslength (right arm). Fanning the card in a 
forward/circular motion meant go, holding the card straight out meant stop, 
holding the card out, but at a downward angle meant slow. Usually the guy in 
the second car, doing the power pedal, could barley see the front operators' 
signals. Could you imagine breaking down at Smithfield and Forbes and being 
pushed all the way around Smithfield, Seventh, Grant, and Ft Pitt Blvd 
through heavy traffic. I always made it, but was really glad when we reached 
the tunnel and PRW. Smithfield and Carson was really 'fun' getting through. I 
always referred to that intersection as the 'largest intersection on the 
planet without traffic control devices'. If you broke down before Fourth, on 
Smithfield, you could use the 'short turn' track on Fourth over to Grant. 
This routing only aged you 10 years instead of the 20 years you aged on the 
whole city loop. Breaking down on Grant (inbound 35, 36, 37) gave you the 
treat of making the broad left turn from Grant to Liberty. Then the left from 
Liberty to Wood and the right turn (across traffic) from Ft Pitt to 
Smithfield Bridge.

It was fun, though.

HrB