[PRCo] 1700_Accident_Charleroi

[Jim Holland]

Good Morning!!

> Fred W. Schneider III wrote:

> .......But I have a picture of a bashed in 1700 at
> Charleroi ... looked like the brakes failed to work in the space the
> motorman allocated for them to work ... apparently he hit the tail gate
> of a truck ahead of him on a street.  Behind that 1700 was one somewhat
> more pristine.  The passengers were walking back to the second car,
> allowing the first to be removed from service.  The motorman had run it
> all the way from God knows where to Charleroi with the wind blowing on
> his feet through the broken dash, and letting people on and off through
> the second front door.

	So that explains it!   I have a photo of 1700--herself in downtown Washington in 1952
with a very shiny front dash and sealed beam headlight, possibly the first 17 to receive
such a headlight.   Interesting to know the story behind it.   My suspicion was an
accident.

	My understanding is that cars were kept at each of the Car Houses.   I have schedules
indicating that cars pulled into the Charleroi and Washington barns when they finished
their interurban trips, so cars would be available for the AM pullout and for other
situations such as above.

	This is why I have wondered about how motormen made their relief and where they started
and ended their runs.   If they started at SHJ and ended by pulling into Charleroi as the
last car of the evening, how did they get back??

> And what you remember of the interurban lines was simply the pieces of
> something that apparently never needed anything.

	I remember the Whole Interurban line and even rode the same.   Often spent summers with
cousins in Pleasant Hill and we went down to the Charleroi line in Finleyville often.  
Vividly remember Richfol and the Houston--Leap as well as the wye in downtown
Washington!.......AND  much mnore!

>>> Harold Geissenheimer wrote:

>>> Pgh Railways had both departure clocks at the end of the line
>>> loops and headway recorders on the throats approaching downtown.

>>> The clocks were designed to keep a motorman from leaving early.

>> Jim Holland wrote:

>>         PRCo had Arrival and Departure clocks on most of the lines.   On the 42-Dormont, the
>> arrival clock was outbound nearside Biltmore, no passenger stop.   Inbound, the 42-car
>> left the wye and stopped about 2-3 car-lengths down the hill.   I thought it strange to
>> make the extra stops rather than include the clocks with a normal stop.
>>         Believe it was the same at Clearview loop but here they were integrated with the stops
>> --   outbound before making the loop and inbound before leaving it.
>>         Don't remember any such things on the interurban lines!   None at all!

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James B. Holland

Holland  Electric  Railway  Operation.......
......"O"--Scale  St.-Petersburg Trams Company Trolleycars  AND......
............"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.nmra.org

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