What About 1300s?

[Dietrich, Robert J.]

I don't know of any building with a 13th floor.  It us usually used as an
equipment floor for HVAC etc.

 -----Original Message-----
From: 	Tom Phillips [mailto:tsquare at toad.net] 
Sent:	Wednesday, January 10, 2001 9:54 AM
To:	pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org
Subject:	RE: What About 1300s?

To Ken Josephson:

Hi Ken:

Jim Holland wrote:

> Greetings!
>
>         Tom  --  Why did PRCo skip the 5300--series?
>         .....And also the 3900--series?
>         .....And the 4500--, 4600--series?

You wrote:

Or the 1300 series? The usual reason doesn't fly since people still
boarded 1113, 1213, 1413, 1513, 1613 and 1713. And frankly, since 1613,
1713, Twin Cities 1300, etc. are still with us, there is nothing unlucky
about them. The largely devout Roman-Catholic and Lutheran city of
Milwaukee, Wisconsin had 20 TDH 4511s and 80 TDH 5105s numbered in the
1300 series and no one has ever found a complaint on record from the
public that they wouldn't board a transit vehicle with the number "13" on
it. Heck, Pittsburgh had a Route 13!  

As to the PRCo's "1300's" I posed the same rhetorical question in 
my 1/5/01 transmission:

  >And lastly, who in PRCo's management was so superstitious as to 
  >skip the 1300 series of PCC's?

In one-hundred car order lots, one car had to be numbered xx13 if the 
xx-- were to be kept intact -- my guess that, under the circumstances, 
numbering this way was the expedient way out of the dilemma.  Maybe 
ninety-nine car order lots should have been considered (tongue-in-
cheek, Ken -- no offense intended!). 

Incidentally, the Philadelphia & West Chester had a Car #13 in their 
purchase of cars in 1898 and later, as Red Arrow, a second Car #13 
in the 1949 St. Louis Car Co. order.  (Ergo, it might even be assumed 
that only we Western Pennsylvanians are superstitious, albeit ever so 
slightly  -- your comments!) 

Capital Transit, Washington, D. C., numbered their cars consecutively, 
not giving any credence to superstition when 1300 came along.  Same with 
Baltimore Transit Co. which had some GMC buses in the 1300 series.

I remember several Pittsburgh buildings that had no floor numbered 13 
-- the Pittsburger Hotel, now long gone, at Forbes (nee Diamond) and 
Cherry Way was one.  This phenomenon was a prevalent trait of the 
builders in the 20's and 30's -- much more so then than now, I suspect. 
I don't remember the Grant Building, Koppers Building, or the Gulf
Building -- maybe someone in this web can recall. 



-----Original Message-----
From: owner-pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org
[mailto:owner-pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org]On Behalf Of Kenneth
Josephson
Sent: Tuesday, January 09, 2001 7:08 PM
To: pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org
Subject: What About 1300s?




Jim Holland wrote:

> Greetings!
>
>         Tom  --  Why did PRCo skip the 5300--series?
>         .....And also the 3900--series?
>         .....And the 4500--, 4600--series?

Or the 1300 series? The usual reason doesn't fly since people still
boarded 1113, 1213, 1413, 1513, 1613 and 1713. And frankly, since 1613,
1713, Twin Cities 1300, etc. are still with us, there is nothing unlucky
about them. The largely devout Roman-Catholic and Lutheran city of
Milwaukee, Wisconsin had 20 TDH 4511s and 80 TDH 5105s numbered in the
1300 series and no one has ever found a complaint on record from the
public that they wouldn't board a transit vehicle with the number "13" on
it. Heck, Pittsburgh had a Route 13!

Ken J.