West Penn 700s --- Pilots

[Jim Holland]

Greetings!

	This is absolutely fascinating  --  thought this was an item for which
we would never find an answer!!:>)  And I never did hear this as a
possible explanation.

	The photo on the top of pg.17 of the PTM West Penn booklet shows 738
painted for the 25th anniversary in 1929 and while it is not a head on,
one can tell that this is a *full-pilot* by looking at the one on the
rear (to the left) in the photo!

	I can't find the photo caption for pg.11 in the CERA WP book but it
shows 736 from the left front and it appears as though it has a full
pilot, too.  Must be a conductor because everyone is loading from the
left side center entrance - appears as though no one is entering the far
end door so it must be a photo prior to 1933 when the cars were
converted for one man.  The woman on the sidewalk in the left of the
photo definitely looks Roaring Twenties!!

	And 'Faywest' on page.14 of the same book shows a full pilot as well!

	Definitely not a need--to--know item but it explains an interesting
facet of the system!  Glad you knew the answer!

	THANKS!

Edward H. Lybarger wrote:

> When West Penn went to one-man cars in the very early 1930s they invented a
> motor-driven deadman system (for which I recently found the mechanical
> drawing [large]).  They cut away part of the pilot to accommodate this
> motor.

> Ed

> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org
> [mailto:owner-pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org]On Behalf Of Jim Holland
> Sent: Sunday, September 17, 2000 5:44 PM
> To: PRCo -- WP -- JTC -- The Big *3* --
> Subject: West Penn 700s --- Pilots

>         As you *face* the end of one of the big WP--700s, the right upper
> portion of the pilot is cut away.  I may have heard an explanation for
> this but can't remember; don't remember seeing anything in print.
>         Does anyone know the purpose of this cutaway in the pilot?

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/