[PRCo] Roster -- Book -- PRCo -- http://www.voicenet.com/~shawncd/SHJ/carlist.htm

[Jim Holland]

> Charles Brown wrote:

> Sheesh, you make one little suggestion...
> For the record, I'm 46 and have lived on the west coast for most of my
> life.  If I had any memories of Pittsburgh, I wouldn't be bugging you
> guys to write a book on it.

	As has been mentioned here previously, there are 2-different parties
working on a Pittsburgh book(s)//volume(s):::::::

	1)--Blaine Hayes et all near Cleveland
		supposedly more than one book to cover the system.

	2)--Ron Beal, author of "McKeesport Trolleys."
		supposedly a one-volume treatise.

> It was the TGM South Hills video that sparked my
> interest, but again, there was no information available on Pittsburgh.
> It wasn't until I joined this list that I learned anything about the
> system.  And the more that I've learned, the more that I've wondered why
> this interesting system has never been documented outside of the PTM
> archives.

	I think that Greg hit the nail on the head on this one - the system
still existed - part of our  *inhumanity*  is we are not interested
until something has disappeared - and then we lament that little was
saved!!

> You're right about the lack of interest in a PR roster
> outside of the Pittsburgh area, but I think that is because no one has
> promoted the idea that PR had anything of interest on a national level.
> It seems criminal that the definitive PR work is a 32 page reprint of a
> couple of magazine articles (although it is an excellent book).

	WHICH  book is this, please?!?!

	PRCo  *seemed*  belittled by outsiders - deck roof cars when everyone
else was  *modern*  with arch roof.  Yet isn't this the appeal of
traction  --  the older, standard type equipment?!?!  And I think the
mellow glow of lights through the clerestory adds charm and character in
addition to being quite practical in allowing heat, which rises, to be
released in summer!!  Don't know if the belittling started within or
without!!
	On a general trolley list several years back, there was quite a
discussion about PRCo and one person chimed in that he thought it was
enough and asked us to stop talking PRCo because he didn't like it  -- 
so anti--PRCo sentiment is still around!!
	Russ Jackson has also noted that the preponderance of movies used in
the  TGM  productions come from outsiders, not native  *Burgers!!*
	On the other side of the coin, these deck-roof cars were a real advance
in low floor and small motor technologies - something PRCo is rarely
credited for if at all.

> And
> maybe a nice editorial from Jim Holland praising PAT for their kind and
> considerate takeover of PRC (hee hee hee).

	I don't have a good response to this one right now, Charlie, but I can
usually think of one when the topic is all but forgotten.  So maybe I'll
blind-side you with one later on!!!(:->)

>> Harold Geissenheimer wrote:

>> Does any one have an answer to Jim Beeler (of Chicago) in his question
>> about a pre-pcc Pgh roster?

	Rosters were published in a number of places - the most accessible was
the trilogy of articles written for the British 'Light Railway Transport
League' by Tom E. Parkinson and assembled into booklet form under the
title  *The Street Railways of Pittsburgh, 1859--1967.*  This is offered
thru PTM but might be in reprint or update now.
	Various chapters of the NRHS and other organizations, possibly even
ERA, also published rosters of PRCo.

> So
> that's why I'll keep pestering you guys to publish something, anything
> on the Pittsburgh Railways system.

	You don't pester anyone, Charlie!!

> I've got the third volume of the Pennsylvania series that deals with
> Pittsburgh,

	This series of books were to be color samplings of traction from the
1940s and 1950s.  My  *disappointment*  with this book is that the bulk
of PRCo was almost 1960 or even later and I would like to see more hard
copy of memories before my personal experience with PRCo in the mid to
later 1950s!

>>> Derrick J Brashear wrote:

>>> The West Penn coverage, while better than Pittsburgh, isn't really much to
>>> write home about either. Not to pick on CERA, necessarily, it's just not
>>> hard-core enough for my taste. It was a good read, when I first read it at
>>> age 11 or so;-)

>>>> Kenny J writes::

>>>> I guess that makes two of us.  There
>>>> are a few of us who enjoy the politics, corporate structuring and economics
>>>> concerning our favorite systems.
>>>> The consolidation of all those independent systems into Pittsburgh
>>>> Railways would be a fascinating read. At least in my opinion.

	Isn't consolidation of independents also politics?  That's why the
'McKeesport Book' doesn't much interest me - just a very dry listing of
all the underliers which predates 1910 and I am far more interested in
the final consolidation of PRCo from about 1910 forward!  Precious
little new information on PRCo in the McK book - and I have most of the
photos from their original source!
	And I think much about the consolidation of all the independents was in
that  *course*  by PRCo for managers which some of us bought from Ed 
--  and is even in the McK book, so do we really need it again??

	Everything and anything has a negative side - that is a given - even
PRCo.  But PRCo is the system I grew up  ON  and I have very fond
memories of it - and I want to keep the memories fond!  I am not
concerned about the warts of the system, but the day to day operations,
the routes, the people behind the scenes and even those out front, the
equipment, the infrastructure including rail, track, overhead wires,
wayside structures, the property, the schedules, the challenges, the
unusual happenings, etc. etc. etc.

> Thank you for your attention.  You may now return to your regularly
> scheduled discussions.

> Charlie

> Charlesebrown at webtv.net

-- 
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/