Philadelphia PCC retriever for sale on Ebay

[brathke at juno.com]

No one ever accused Ebay sellers of being accurate when it comes to
historical facts:-)

Bob 11/4

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On Sat, 04 Nov 2000 08:17:07 -0800 Jim Holland <pghpcc at pacbell.net>
writes:
> Greetings!
> 
> brathke at juno.com wrote:
>  
> > A Philadelphia PCC trolley retirever is for sale on Ebay.  See:
> > http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=488798257
> 
> 	Philadelphia PCC cars  NEVER  had  RETRIEVERS  --  they used 
>  CATCHERS 
> to take up the trolley rope.  There is a  BIG  difference between 
> the
> two.
> 
> 	A catcher stops the upward movement of a trolley pole; a 
> retriever not
> only stops the upward movement of a trolley pole but has a mechanism 
> to
> *retrieve* the pole - to pull it down clear of the wires.
> 
> 	Even the description is suspect - the *retriever* is in the 
> *original*
> orange but underneath is the PTC green?!?!?!?!?!?!  A quote of the
> description follows:::::::
> 
> 	"This is an original 1947 PCC Philadelphia Trolley car 
> RETRIEVER. It is
> still in its original color (Orange).  There are some minor chips in 
> the
> paint and underneath is the original PTC (GREEN) paint. SEPTA had
> experimented with many paint schemes before The red white and blue 
> was
> standered. This retriever was salvaged from an orange PCC at LUZERNE
> Trolley Barn years ago. I got it from a freind, it is in good 
> condition.
> A RETRIEVER's function was to yank the pole in a downward position 
> when
> the pole dewired. the retreiver prevented the pole from getting hung 
> up
> in the wires or tearing down the overhead. A GREAT PEICE OF HISTORY 
> AND
> A GOOD CONVERSATION PIECE. I hate to let it go but I have to sell it 
> for
> financial reasons. GOOD LUCK! Buyer pays shipping."
> 
> James B. Holland
> 
>         Pittsburgh  Railways  Company  (PRCo),   1930  --  1950
>     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/

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Take a picture before it's gone
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