[PRCo] Re: "Runaway PCC Crashes at Station Square" --- Revisited

[Jim Holland]

> Jim Holland wrote:

>         The following is copied from
>                 <*>--Trolley  Fare--<*>
>                         November--December--1987

> "'Pittsburgh Points'  by Edward H. Lybarger and Lawrence G. Lovejoy"

> . . . This situation was not discovered prior to the car's being put on
> the road the following morning, as the Port Authority apparently did not
> have a formalized repair inspection or road testing procedure.

	Muni doesn't either and adamantly refuses to institute one!  In fact,
Muni people graduated from the Ron Popeil School of Cooking with the
Motto:::::::   "Set--It--And--Forget--It."
	Muni doesn't maintain anything until it falls apart, and not even
then.  But maybe that is not completely true  --  starting about 1982,
and Definitely Not Before That, Muni does do some equipment maintenance.

>         A number of passengers stated that they smelled burning rubber as far
> south as Washington Junction.

	In reality, just minutes after it was placed into service.  Except for
yard leads, curves would be relatively gentle so it would seem that
there should be little scraping.  This means the cable must have had a
severe drag and possibly been rubbing on the roadbed.

>         Not reported elsewhere, but relayed to this writer is a rumor that
> another recently retrucked PCC suffered similar brake failure while
> operating on the Library line a few days before the crash.  The incident
> did not receive any attention since the car was in a sag between two
> hills.  It is reported to have rolled back and forth in Toonerville
> Trolley style until it came to rest [only 2-places this could happen::
> 1)--between Lindemer & Brightwood;  2)--between Brightwood and Lytle.]
> If true, this story suggests that PAT's maintenance practices are
> getting sloppy at best and negligent at worst.

	This is like a  wake--up--call  to double check subsequent retruckings
before sending them out onto the road  --  but it wasn't done!

> . . . Citizens of then-independent
> Knoxville Borough (where the run had originated) were properly outraged
> and devoted considerable effort trying to exact some sort of revenge
> from the railways company, including an ordinance giving their health
> inspectors the right to "wash, scrub and disinfect" dirty streetcars
> entering the Borough.

	Certainly a cost saver for PRCo - shut down the wash racks, reassign
or  *attrit*  the people, and send all the cars into Knoxville for a
free cleaning!!<GG>

-- 
James B. Holland

        Pittsburgh  Railways  Company  (PRCo),   1930  --  1950
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