[PRCo] Re: 1948 1.>--Allegheny__County__Fair__Service 2.>--Radio__Telephones 3.>--Track__Renewal 4.>--New__Bridge

[Fred Schneider]

What I was trying to get at, Jim and the others, was a simple question.
Were Pittsburgh interurban cars restricted to specific routes.  I need to
rewrite the car info cards at Arden.  The card for 1711 implies that it was
delivered to Washington in 1949 and that it ran there until 1953.  Nice try
guys.  I photographed the car south of Mingo on the Charleroi line in 1953.
We do know that somewhere around 6 PCCs were at both Charleroi and
Washington barns, and the remaineder were at Tunnel.  I was trying to use
the radio telephone issue perhaps to prove where the car belonged.
My point was that I never saw the phones used except on a fantrip, and then
only to let the dispatcher know how close the car was to schedule because a
man was supposed to meet us at Homewood Shops for a tour.   The motormen
didn't stop the car and get out for clearance under normal conditions; they
ran on signals.  My suspicion was that the phones were there principally for
emergency use, such as "Car 1722 between Van Eman and Morganza.  Man on car
choking.  Pain in his right arm.  Chest pains.    What do I do?"  or
"Automobile just ran fell off the bridge at Cheeseman and I hit it.."   And
if this be so, then why would it take more than 7 to 10 minutes to get to a
siding to use a line phone.  Otherwise,  does not compute.

Prior to color light signals, I have no idea what PRC was using to keep cars
from unexpected violent encounters with each other.  May have been manual
signals.  I've never seen any pictures prior to 1929 showing signals.  There
were Nachod signals in certain areas and they may have predated color light
signals used elsewhere.

Since I have never seen a picture showing a signal, there were several other
possibilities.  One might be calling the dispatcher on a wayside phone from
every siding asking for a clearance.  Or perhaps railroad type train orders
("Car 3613 had right over opposing traffic from County Line to Van Eman.")
That could become very cumbersome and was not a common method.  Some
companies used staff or token systems --- you passed the metal object back
and forth between cars giving you the right to enter a certain block (but
traffic needs to be balanced for it to work).

Don't think I'm trying to be a know it all ... I have no idea what they
did.  I can offer my own belief that timetable authority was perhaps the
most common method used other than signals, i.e. the employee's timetable
might be printed with selected sidings in bold type, and those sidings would
be regular meeting points for the normal schedule.  When you got to the
regular meeting point, you simply waited for the opposing car.  Rulebooks
would often suggest that you wait to your scheduled departure plus twice the
running time to the next siding before taking action.  Then, depending on
company policy and rules, you might have either phoned the dispatcher for
instructions or run carefully to the next siding, expecting to find a
disabled car around a blind curve, but without bothering to call OS.  This
sounds highly dangerous, but with disciplined and responsible staff, it did
work.  Here in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, hourly service was provided on about
130 miles of track and half-hourly on another 10 miles of track, all using
timetable authority.  They had one accident in October 1923.  (That was
certainly no worse than Pittsburgh's record with color light signals).  In
the example cited, the local company in Lancaster did eventually install
signals as a prelude to eliminating conductors (mostly in the late 1920s)
and then all service vanished a few years later.  The point here is that two
men double checking each other could run a pretty safe railroad.  (Don't
tell me it was not perfect, I know that.  I can cite accidents too.  But it
was a way of life in many places. )

Yes.  The 1700s also had phones.  I know that.  My original question was did
all cars have them, or only cars assigned to Tunnel and Washington.  Did
Charleroi asssigned cars also have phones so that they could be reassigned
at will to the other two divisions?


Jim Holland wrote:

> Good Morning!
>
> > "Edward H. Lybarger" wrote:
>
> > As far as I know only Route W got the trolleyphones.
> > I don't have a list of the cars so equipped.  John Baxter
> > wrote most of the Pittsburgh material for Headlights in
> > that era and was generally accurate.  But I can't conceive
> > of 7-10 minute delays on a routine basis.  Maybe Harold G.
> > could shed some light here.
>
>         1700-Interurbans had phones as well so the potential was there
> for use on Charleroi.    These were  *FM__Trolleyphones*  and
> don't know what kind of equipment would need to be installed
> wayside for such usage.    None of the city cars received the
> phones to my knowledge  --  none of the city cars used on the
> interurbans had the interurban gear so common on those 16s and
> 17s.
>
>         The motorman would need to stop the car and get out, call on the
> wayside phone and get back to the car.    All this takes longer
> than using an onboard phone.    Doing this several times a trip
> could add up.
>
>