[PRCo] Re: Spare trolley poles---&---Dewirements

[Jim Holland]

Good Morning!!

> Bob Rathke wrote:

> A few days ago, there were some mentions on this
> list about the tool kit and spare pole on
> Washington interurban PCCs.

	.......AND  on Charleroi PCCs.   Don't find any evidence of such on the
older interurbans, Brills nor St.-Louis'.

> - How common was the incidence of trolley pole damage,
> and what type of damage - a bent pole,
> a malfunctioning wheel...?

	Probably not very common  --  but it happens, of course.   By 1960, a
single quite--noticeable kink half-way up the pole was quite common!  
*Think*  this might result from the sudden stop of the upward movement
of a dewired pole when the retriever or the catcher stopped it.   *Or* 
the result of a back-up movement.

	There were some problems on the 42--Dormont at the wye.   The motorman
was supposed to stop the car when backing to determine that the pole was
on the right wire before completing the back-up move.   But sometimes
even then the pole would dewire.   The biggest problem here is that it
is caught in the spans and can't be lowered and the motorman needs
someone to hold the pole against the wire for power to move the car
forward.   In the heat of summer, the wire expands and the pole rises
and falls considerably during back-up maneuvers.   I remember seeing
several broken poles changed out at this location.
	One motorman didn't check the pole when backing and the wheel grabbed
the overhead and put a very large kink in it.   I stood there for
considerable time watching cars pull into the wye without dewiring on
this kink, but finally one did.   I showed the motorman the kink, he
called the dispatcher, and the line crew came out and hammered the kink
straight again!

	The 42--Dormont was my hometown line and I remember only one dewirement
while riding  --  at Dawn Jct. outbound  --  shallow turnout and
difficult for trolley to follow the correct way.
	I did see one or two poles dewire on prw outbound on the 42 near
Kelton  --  hanger out of alignment  --  was there when line crew came
out in M210(?) and showed them the spot.  They pushed the hanger more
toward the inside of the curve to keep the alignment consistent with
other hangers and the problem disappeared.   The banked curve at this
point also went flat so the car was shifting under the wire as well,
contributing to the dewirement.   But other than this, it was only at
the wye.
	There were only 5-owl trips, ca. 1.30--AM, 2.30, 3.30, 4.30, and
5.30--AM, that went straight thru to Mt. Lebanon.   With much traffic
turning into the wye, the points in the frog wore in that direction and
occasionally an owl would lose a pole going straight through  -- 
flashing from pole striking the overhead lit up my room at night.   They
changed the frog and that problem was eliminated!

	Did extensive riding after school, all day in the summer with various
operators, and of course on Sunday Pass year round.    Remember a
dewirement on the North Side passing under a RR overpass, never dewired
on 56--McKeesport, and don't remember dewirements anywhere else.

	A 1000--series PCC would dewire at the trailing turnout frog on
Duquesne that connected the West End to the North Side, but none of the
other series did.   Stayed at this point for 3-4-hours, and only one ten
in the group and this ten dewired here every time.   Could have been the
wheel!

> - Was the chance of such damage greater on the
> interurban line compared to street lines,

	In theory, yes, since we think of interurbans as travelling at a little
greater speed than their city cousins.   Also, that is the reason for
the retriever on an interurban as opposed to a catcher on city cousins.

	John Swindler took a movie of me replacing a dewired interurban pole
inbound on Overbrook during County Fair days  --  Walthers car!   Rode
Walther's at night during County Fair days and we dewired in the same
location  --  all lights go out, of course, and there are many people on
board who are not used to interurbans let alone dewirements.    Car got
extremely quiet and Walther made some quip about this type of
entertainment not costing any extra!
	If I can remember a half--dozen dewirements total on the interurban,
that is many!   And I rode these cars extensively.   In any dewirements
I did experience, the retriever worked nicely and dropped the pole below
the running wire.   Sometimes we coasted considerably before the
motorman stopped to replace the pole.
	Never saw or experienced a dewirement at South Hills Junction with all
that complicated overhead!

> or was the spare pole carried simply because
> of the remotenesss of the interurban line?

	This was probably the biggest reason for the spare pole.   In those
days, it would be difficult to get anything other than a line car to
some locations, and that would be extremely slow!

> - if an interurban PCC suffered pole damage,
> was the motorman prepared and able to replace it himself? 

	Yes - motorman could replace it to keep the car moving.   Shop would
later align it to make sure the wheel was square with the wire.   Today,
there is an apparatus that clamps to the back of the vehicle to align
the wheel//shoe, but have never seen it used.   Might have been
something similar in PRCo days  --  but it seems that alignment is just 
*eyeballed!!*

> Is that what the tool kit was for?

	One reason!

	Also, the reason the left--rear--window  opened on PCC--interurbans is
for access to the trolley rope on the high bridges.   But what about the
1,000--foot long Palm Garden trestle on the 38--Mt.-Lebanon,
39--Brookline, 42--Dormont??   Thompsonville trestle on Washington
interurban not quite this long and the rest were ca. half that!!

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James B. Holland

Holland  Electric  Railway  Operation
    "O"--Scale  St.-Petersburg Trams Company Trolleycars  &
        "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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