PRCo Equipment Vagaries & Some RE---Numberings

[Jim Holland]

Greetings!

PRCo    Equipment    Vagaries    &    Some    RE---Numberings

"Ye Editors, Hannegan & Hamley, have started to copy the all-time
Pittsburgh Railways roster from the equipment records at the Homewood
Shops.   This is not an easy task, as we soon found out.   There have
been a total of 3,804 passenger cars on this system, from single truck
opens to all-electric PCC's.   A quick tour thru the records turned up
some interesting facts;    In 1928, when PRCo took over the Homestread &
Mifflin St. Ry., the first order of business was to junk the half-dozen
or so cars then owned by the H&M.   One of the cars however, had a
somewhat different fate:   #6 was sold on Sept.15,-1928 to Miss Wanda
Nurndorf, who was then the leader of Troop #15 of the Girl Scouts in
Homestead Park.   What Wanda and the girls did with old #6 is beyond us,
but apparently the GSA liked the idea, because at a later date trailer
B423 was also given or sold to the Girl Scouts.   Another odd
transaction took place in March and June of 1911 when motor cars 3330
(Ex-PRC 581, Ex-Southern 140)   3333   (Ex-Prc 301, Ex-Southern 143, and
3336 (Ex-PRC 610, Ex-Southern 146, all built by Laclede in 1901, 44'
DTDE) and trailers A7 and A56 were sold to the Pittsburgh & Lake Erie
Railroad.   This is odd because all these cars were broad gauge, and the
P&LE has apparently always been standard gauge (or close to it.)   We
would like to have Chuck England explain this affair, it should be
interesting.   During its early years, PRCo concocted double-truck cars
from two single truck cars on at least two occasions.   In November and
December of 1912, two cars, 2101 and 2100, were built from four 20'
Ex-Consolidated single-truckers which had been built by Laclede in
1897.   The 2100 was built from Con. 530 and 500 (which by 1912 had
become PRC trailers A4 and A76) and 2101 was born of 537 and 566 (A6 and
A38).   Both of these unusual cars were scrapped at West Park in May
1927.   The other occasion involved a group of 25 cars (600--624) each
of which was a product of two single-truckers.   Other single-truck cars
met a wide variety of fates:    several were converted to waiting rooms,
one was converted into a coal bin.   A rather large number of them met
fates such as 'derailed and went over embankment on Verona line,
demolished" and similar incidents.   Those that survived fires, wrecks,
floods, and conversions eventually wound up at Ingram or West Park,
where they met their match (flaming type.)   All this information is
being collected with a view toward publication of an all-time
illustrated roster.   Any additional information will be welcomed."

P.R.M.A.   *Trolley   Fare*   Vol. IX   #3,   July 1962.
=========================================

James B. Holland

        Pittsburgh  Railways  Company  (PRCo),   1930  --  1950
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N.M.R.A.  Life member #2190; http://www.mcs.net:80/~weyand/nmra/