[PRCo] Re: More Thoughts on 1600s versus 1700s

[John F Bromley]

16/15/14s that got PAT paint were without exception former ad cars and all
of those were painted in 1964-65.  1560 was the sole exception being
scrapped in Buhl Planetarium colors.  Even it had a few normal painted door
panels when it hit the scrapline.  Bob Rathke has a nice photo there.

----- Original Message -----
From: <HRBran99 at aol.com>
To: <pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org>
Sent: Sunday, March 09, 2003 3:16 PM
Subject: [PRCo] Re: More Thoughts on 1600s versus 1700s


> In a message dated 3/9/03 1:30:21 AM Eastern Standard Time,
> kjosephson at sprintmail.com writes:
>
> > I am not doubting Herb's assessment. I am simply
> > wondering if three additional years of service would make that much
> > difference or if the 1600s simply didn't receive as much TLC during the
PAT
> > renovation period.
> >
>
> The 17s were almost all painted into the 'new' PAT gray and white with red
> trim after the PAT takeover. The 16s mostly remained in PRCo Red and Cream
> with rust trim. The rust was, in my opinion, the reason for the fast
decline
> of the 16s. Many of the 16s running in 1974 were in such condition that I
> sometimes felt embarrassed to operator one of them on the public streets.
The
> exteriors looked more like the oxidized beams in the US Steel building
than
> the original red and cream colors. The interiors had large areas where
paint
> had peeled away leaving the bare wallboard. Rust had taken over the
painted
> metal parts and seat frames. Lack of proper maintenance by PRCo had left
them
> in this condition. PAT started with the newest cars (17s) and worked their
> way down to other series with the repainting and upgrades. PAT did, of
> course, repair/repaint other fleet series (16s/15s/14s) ,at the beginning,
> but not in a wholesale lot as with the 17s.
>
> HrB
>
>
>