[PRCo] Re: The North Side Lines - the third TGM Pgh tape

[Fred W. Schneider III]

Guess what Jim?  

I've seen a pole with more than a 90 degree bend.  And I saw it happen. 
Car dewired on Warrington Avenue where the 44 Knoxville cars turned off
from the 48.  Motorman didn't have enough brains to stop.  He kept
pulling power all the way through the intersection with the pole
swinging left and right and pulling out the most glorious arcs from the
wire.  Beautiful night.  No reason the motorman couldn't see because the
blue fire lit up the entire neighborhood. I watched the pole turn from
black to orange to white hot and bend like a piece of wet spaghetti. 
The I watched the motorman get out and scratch his head when he
discovered he couldn't put the pole back on the wire.  About an hour
later I was down at the junction ... looked through the window and there
was one very meek motorman getting one hell of a dressing down from a
white hat.

Maybe he really didn't understand.  Or maybe he was one of those types
who understand full well and cause a lot of damage anyway.  I'm met both
kinds.  So have you.

By the way, there really isn't anything on a PCC that is both hot and is
exposed to splash.  Resistor ribbons are hot but they are in a case
where air is blown over them.  Compressor and MG set are also in cases. 
The Master Controller is also encapsulated.  

I remember the scene but I don't remember the car.  If it was a 5500,
maybe water splashed on the resistors but usually they have a splash
guard.  I'm pretty much willing to accept the idea of a automobile on a
cold day or an automobile with bad rings or worn valve guides or valve
stems.  

Fred 

Jim Holland wrote:
> 
> > "Dietrich, Robert J." wrote:
> 
> > . . .  One of the hilly Fineview trips took place
> > during the winter and the brakes were either smoking or steaming like crazy.
> > It looked like a steam engine idling at the station.
> 
>         My reaction similar to Fred's - what else was on fire?
>         Had mucho experience with dragging drums in SF - ex-St.-Louis cars,
> SF-1100s.  Smoke is gray and dissipates rather fast - smells horrible.
> Seriously doubt it was PCC brakes smoking!
>         To be perfectly honest,  n-e-v-e-r  had that experience on PRCo and I
> was definitely on the cars mucho.  Doesn't mean it didn't happen -
> dragging drums - but never had that experience.  Once on ({[pat]}) - I
> was on 1619 on Library inbound AM rush, very late 1960s.  17 broke down
> in front, possibly drums, but don't know for sure.  We pushed her back
> to SHJ from Mesta with passengers on both cars!
>         What series car?  If air car, did it have drum or brake shoe?
>         And if the trolleycar was really having trouble, what was the reaction
> of people in the scene?
>         In this case, sounds like an auto just started on this cold day and is
> behind the trolleycar  --  mucho white exhaust from such a car and it
> could blow under the trolleycar.  The result is like one of those trick
> photos with 2-dogs side by side facing opposite directions making it
> look like a 2-headed dog!
> 
>         Haven't viewed my tape as yet!
> 
>         I seriously doubt the bend in the trolley pole was 80-degrees - optical
> illusion!
> 
> --
> James B. Holland
> 
>         Pittsburgh  Railways  Company  (PRCo),   1930  --  1950
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