[PRCo] training motormen

[Dennis F. Cramer]

    Having the opportunity to briefly chat with Fred Schneider on Saturday
at the PTM festivities, he brought up the subject of how long would it take
to train operators to run a route such as Fineview.  He then answered his
own question with the reply that it probably took no longer than any other
route, because the operators grew up dealing with hills.

    To further expand the thought, most of us who grew up around here also
learned to drive a standard transmission dealing with the hills and were
relatively successful.  However, I still find drivers drifting backwards on
hills to get going again as they try to engage the transmission.

    Just as we have successful automobile drivers today and those whom are
not so successful, I too feel that PRCo had their fare share of guys who
could not successfully handle a car on a hill.  How many operators failed to
pass training?  We will probably never know, but there had to be those who
could not do the task.

     Every so often at PTM, we come across a student operator who just never
gets the feel for operating a car and never makes it to the point of being
successful.  We train about 5 to 10 new operators a year.  Most of them make
it, but there is a small percentage who do not.  I assume then, Pittsburgh
Railways had the same problems.  I also assume they had operators who could
pass the training, but still got themselves into situations they could not
get out of due to a limited skill level.

Some questions that may never be answered:

How long was motorman training?

Did that time period change over the years?

What percentage failed the training?

What percentage passed, but then put their passengers at risk because of
limited ability?

Was there special training for certain routes?

Were operators routinely observed by supervisors as to their abilities?

How many motormen were fired due to a lack of ability?

When did the union come to Pittsburgh Railways and how many poor operators
did they protect?

Just some rambling thoughts to get the list going again.  Have a great
summer!


Dennis F. Cramer--Teacher-Trombonist-Historian-Conductor
www.geocities.com/armconband