[PRCo] SPTC Models

[Fred Schneider]

This was sent earlier today and bounced because I have fat fingers
(according to Derrick).

Open letter to Jim Holland:

Send to Leonid if you think it proper.

For those of you who have not ordered a St. Petersburg model of a
Pittsburgh low-floor car ... they are everything I had hoped for and a
little more.  Leonid and his
gang did a great job.

The orange paint is just as I remembered it from the 1940s and early
1950s ... a yellowish orange and not the orange that Bob Brown preached
was correct at
Arden.   I've never been successfully able to argue at PTM that the
color had more yellow in it than the orange on West Penn cars and the
later orange on PRC /
PAT work cars.  I've always been told by Bob's followers  it was more
yellow because the orange or red in the vat faded over time.  Surprising
that with inks, the
yellow always goes first turning your book to magenta!  Interesting that
paint pigments would behave differently.  I'm trying to suggest that
they didn't fade, and that
there really was more yellow than on work cars.  At any rate, the cars
are great.  And they look as proper as possible.  The white on the lower
end of the trolley
pole should be metallic silver ... probably put there to improve
conductivity between the pole and the base.

One of the few things I would nitpick is the clear plastic over the side
sign that looks, in the model, like glass.  They were simply painted
steel plates which got dirty
and seldom if ever looked shiny.  If protection is needed, a dull coat
of photographic print spray might do the trick.

My 5440 comes with a conductors stand at the center door -- that is as
built for Pittsburgh Railways (these were center entrance cars, not
Peter Witts). I never
gave it a thought that the interior would be so detailed when I ordered
it. .  I can no doubt remove it to get to the 1940s configuration.  I
think, if anyone is ordering a
5500, that they never had provision for two-man operation.  Now the
conflict ... all of the cars have a stop light on the rear just below
the belt rail and that probably
was never on a two-man car.  The as-built configuration had a red marker
light on the rear in the letterboard over the center window.  The stop
light under the belt
rail was added when cars were converted to high speed machines circa
1930.

This all goes back to the fact that motor vehicle registrations in
Pennsylvania grew by staggering proportions from 1920 to 1930 ... from
slightly more than 500,000
autos and trucks in 1920 to over than 1.5 million ten years later.
There were not enough automobiles on the roads to worry about when the
first low-floor motor
cars were built in 1916.  By 1930 auto-trolley accidents were happening
right and left.  To make it worse, most autos only had two-wheel
brakes.  When PRC
speeded up the cars circa 1930 it was imperative that something be done
to reduce rear end collisions.  So the stop light actuated by a pressure
switch in the brake
pipe was added.  And what about the incongruity between two-man cars and
stop lights?  Pittsburgh Railways was one of the earliest major transit
operators in the
nation to convert to one-man operation ... heavy routes were being
converted to one-man cars in the early to middle 1920s.  I'm not
positive but I doubt that there
were many conductors out there when the high speed program was
underway.  I have no documents to prove it. The high speed notes only
say what was added to
cars, but I would not be surprised if the conductor's stands were also
removed at that time.  More proof is needed.

What the cars need is a conversion kit that includes brass trucks and
under floor motors, a working trolley pole, suggestions on how to run a
fine wire from the pole
to the motors, and a selection of people for the inside (these could be
unpainted).  They are too good to remain as bookcase models.   We also
need a small can of
paint that mixes rust and mud to paint those new brass side frames and
wheels!