Missing Blocks of Car Numbers

[Jim Holland]

Greetings!

>> Jim Holland asked:
>>      Where's the 3900s?.....
>>              Where's the 4500s?.....
>>                      Where's the 4600s?.....
>>                              Where's the 5300s???????

> John Swindler wrote:

> So they got to the 3600s, which just happened to be for interurban service.
> But when first steel car orders arrived, perhaps a decision was made that
> this warranted a new sequence starting at 4000s and 4100s. 

	Sounds Good  -- 3600s as interurbans so some blocks of numbers were
saved for future interurbans.
	PRCo assigned 'Group Numbers' to its cars and the 3700--3712 series was
Group--18 and we know that these cars arrived in 1917--1918.  The
3750--3769 series (built specifically for use on Charleroi) is Group--19
and these cars did not arrive until November of 1925, almost at the end
of the low-floors for city service!!
	So I do not think it was steel vs. wood but interurban vs city!

> Rather then mingle a small group of interurban cars among the growing ranks
> of low floor city cars, the next interurban car order got the next block
> above the 3600s, or 3700s.  And when you order a group of 20 cars for
> interurban service, do you number them as next group of low-floor steel cars
> or group them with other interurbans?  Maybe just for convenience, PRC ended
> up with a 3750-3769 series, and not a small 5600 series.  So maybe there was
> no "plan" to keep the interurban cars as a group in 3600s-3800s - it just
> happened that way over time.  And thus no 3900s.

	I think that 3700, 3800, and 3900 series were left for the interurbans
following 3600.

	But by the time that they got to the PCCs, this numbering system was
forgotten or ignored.  The 1600--series cars converted for interurban
service should have been 3900s  --  but then, where would the 17s be
numbered?
	The 3750s were sort of kin to the 3700s - similar trucks, control,
body, similar operation.  I personally see a big difference between
air-electric and ALL-electric PCCs, but maybe others don't.
	The 1600--series interurbans could have been 3900--3911 (this includes
1644 which was semi-interurban until the advent of the 17s) and
1700--1724 could have been 3950--3974!!

> Concerning 5300s, were not the 5000s-5200s mu cars?  Maybe a block of
> numbers skipped for additional mu cars that never materialized?

	Excellent deduction!  Very possible explanation!

James B. Holland

        Pittsburgh  Railways  Company  (PRCo),   1930  --  1950
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