1613 versus 1640

[Jim Holland]

Greetings!

	Checking back issues of *Trolley Fare* for information on the above and
the team of L&L (this has nothing to do with M&Ms) state in their column
'Pittsburgh Points by Edward H. Lybarger and Lawrence G. Lovejoy' in
November--December--1978, and I quote:::::::

	"Car 1788, the former Bicentennial Tour Trolley, has recently given up
its red/white/blue paint in favor of a coat of standard orange, and the
last of the operable 1600s - 1613 - is in the shop for conversion to
1799."

	This is excellent evidence *if* the shop relayed the right information
to the writers.  It was possibly some time later that a question of car
numbers came up and that 1640 got substituted for 1613.  It was recent
investigation (within the last several years) which then redetermined
that it was 1613 and not 1640 which became 1799.

	Won't promise to read all subsequent columns but it now seems that best
evidence is 1613 as 1799!

	And tis definitely sad that 1614 was lost to an accident and especially
in light of its historical significance and the integrity of it original
condition.  It was truly a handsome car repainted in the simplified half
n' half scheme!

	Does anyone know the history of 1640?  in pat's March--05--1975 fact
sheet, this car was still in the half n' half scheme and 1613 was in the
red front scheme!

Kenneth Josephson wrote:

> I was looking at some Harre Demoro pix from his 1969 Pittsburgh visit. 1640 looked
> really terrible at that time. I am surprised it survived the 1600 series purge of
> 1972. It was a real shame that 1614 was wrecked. That car's body was still intact
> to the end. The front valance below the anticlimber and the wheel openings were
> never cut. In fact, there is evidence that when the front lower panel was bent in a
> minor mishap during the '60's, the shop crew straightened it rather than cut it.
> 1614 carried all three roof vents until its career was cut shot by that wreck.
> Besides, it was my favorite 1600.  Ken J.

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/