[PRCo] Pittsburgh---PA---Trolleycar---Body---Repair

[Jim Holland]

Good Morning!!

	Most comments about Pittsburgh go something like this:::::::  
"excellent mechanical and electrical maintenance but legendary poor or
non-existant body maintenance."

	While there is an element of truth to this, it seems that this
statement is overly--exaggerated and to an extreme.  This might be true
of PRCo in the last several years of operation, but it can hardly be a
good qualifier of the bulk of transit service rendered to Pgh. by PRCo.

	Here is a timeline of significant events affecting PRCo:::::::

1938.05.11 (May--11)  --  PRCo enters bankruptcy  *again*
	(emerged from previous bankruptcy in 1922.)

1952  --  PRCo emerges from 15--years of Bankruptcy proceedings.

1953.06.22  --  The Allegheny Conference on Community Development
	released its second citizens' mass transit study;
	it recommended creation of a transit authority to 
	acquire and unify bus and trolley lines in the county.

1954.12.05  (December--05)  --  The County commissioners made 
	public proposed legislation, drafted by a seven-member 
	citizens' committee, for creation of a county-wide 
	public transportation authority to acquire and consolidate 
	bus and trolley lines.  The legislation required approval 
	of voters in a referendum scheduled for primary election of 1956.

1964--April  --  PRCo ceases to operate Pittsburgh transit and
	is replaced by the Port Authority of Allegheny County
	(PAAC) in this capacity, which agency also took over
	independent bus lines within the city.

	In his report below, Mr. Dennis M. Linsky indicates that mechanical
condition of the equipment was very good and that the body work was
good; track and overhead were quite good on a majority of the system.  I
have learned from other sources that Trustees during the time of the
bankruptcy did a fair amount of track removal and essentially purchased
all the PCCs trying to keep the system intact rather than to make
changes.

	Movies taken by Mr. Roger Jenkins (ROGERTROLLEY) in the latter 1950s
confirm this.   Roger's movies are exceptional for their clarity, esp.
considering 8mm or even super--8.   Car numbers are crisp and distinct
the majority of time  --  usually one has difficulty seeing a fuzzy
trolleycar let alone a trolleycar--number on 8mm!!   The PCCs of this
era, as they are seen in Roger's movies, appear to be in quite good
condition.

	But there was still a very heavy Black Cloud hanging over the Railways
Company (pollution abatement removed the same from the rest of the city
but was not successful in removing that Black Cloud from over the
Railway!)   Fifteen years of bankruptcy, a city government generally
hostile to PRCo, a widely scattered system mostly through low-density
neighborhoods, an horrendous number of underliers which siphoned off
money (this was rectified in the 15--year bankruptcy,) a recommendation
for a public- and county-wide transit system in 1954 which surely had
been discussed locally not long after WW-2, the formation of the Port
Authority of Allegheny County (PAAC) in 1956 as a legal entity,
hostility towards trolleycars in general, and a very uncertain future
certainly combined to discourage PRCo from investing any more than
necessary in a system which would be wrested from it in short order.

	PRCo equipment and infrastructure was in quite good condition in 1950
and remained such with minimal maintenance through this decade.  But
once a system like this starts going bad in a big fashion, it is near
impossible to stop.  Such was the decade of the 1960s and this was only
accelerated by the attitude of PAAC which wanted to rid Pgh. of the
unwanted notoriety as the larges operating trolleycar museum in the
nation  --  and unfortunately, PAAC succeeded.

	Thus the horrible image of body maintenance on trolleycars in
Pittsburgh is from the 1960s  --  a time after which PRCo knew for
certain that its days of operating transit were over.   While PRCo
certainly did not have the best in body maintenance, it probably was not
the worse, either.  The poor body maintenace on PRCo equipment reflects
on the very, very end of PRCo--transit and is hardly representative of
the bulk of PRCo service to Pgh.

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From: Dennismk1 at aol.com
    To: Dennismk1 at aol.com

Re: "SMOKY CITY" AND PHILLY NEWS AUGUST AND SEPTEMBER, 1953

    Good Afternoon, Trolley Folks:

	It was 48 years ago when the mechanical and electrical maintenance of
Pittsburgh's PCC cars seemed to be excellent.  Most PCC's rode extremely
smoothly, even on PRW; only one PCC was extremely bouncy.
	Apparently, a few of the older PCC's have been rebuilt with drum
brakes, as cars 1231, 1249, and 1272 were seen with this equipment. 
Body maintenance was good, but the exterior paint didn't look as good as
in Washington, St. Louis, or even Philadelphia and the cars were
extremely dirty inside.  The most frequent comments HEADWAY RECORDER has
heard from passengers was about the dirtiness.
	The old cars seemed to be in fairly good condition, although most
appeared to leave the barn for their rush-hour runs without having been
cleaned inside and were very dirty.
	The large number of shuttle routes converted to buses since Pittsburgh
Railways emerged from bankruptcy plus declining patronage have permitted
all base service, except on 2 lines requiring double-end cars (and which
were soon to be bustituted), to be operated by PCC cars.  But 20% of the
rush-hour service was operated by single-ended, high-speed conventional
cars (the 3800's)-->>-->>[incorrect  --  please see notes above.]
	The track on a typical line seemed to be in good or excellent condition
on over two-thirds of the line, but in fair or poor condition on the
remainder.  Two routes were exceptions: 88-Frankstown operated entirely
over street track that was in excellent condition and appeared to have
been recently rebuilt while 31-Sheridan-Ingram operated entirely over
track in poor condition despite some patchwork.
	The most unique route, aside from the scenic 21-Fineview, was
65-Munhall-Lincoln Place, which operated almost entirely over single
track on city streets with meets controlled by Nachod signals.

Very Sincerely,

    Dennis M. Linsky
    1350 East 5th Street, Apt. 3P
    Brooklyn, NY   11230-4686
    email:  Dennismk1 at aol.com
    8/26/01

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James B. Holland

Holland  Electric  Railway  Operation
    "O"--Scale  St.-Petersburg Trams Company Trolleycars  &
        "O"--Scale  Parts  mailto:pghpcc at pacbell.net
        Pennsylvania Trolley Museum (PTM) http://www.pa-trolley.org/
    Pittsburgh  Railways  Company  (PRCo),   1930  --  1950
N.M.R.A.  Life member #2190; http://www.mcs.net:80/~weyand/nmra/

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