[PRCo] Re: PCC book

[Bob Rathke]

Fred,

If those are the "significant errors," I don't need to mark-up my copy of
the book.

It's a book to be read, re-read, and then referred to on an ongoing basis.
Which is what I do.

Thanks for your efforts in freezing a point in time.

Bob 1/2/05

-----------------------------
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Fred Schneider" <fschnei at supernet.com>
To: <pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org>
Sent: Saturday, January 01, 2005 7:51 PM
Subject: [PRCo] Re: PCC book


> Depends on what you consider significant.  On the fold out you can change
the
> compressors on all of the Pullman cars in Baltimore from PC to CP-27.
> Baltimore Transit did not like the PC1s on the St. Louis cars; they
rebuilt them
> to PC2s but simply would not accept that design on any more cars.
>
> Another that I remember making was changing the name of West Carson Street
to
> West Ohio Street under a caption (page 169 in Coast to Coast). The mind
plays
> tricks.  Hell, I know the names of the streets.  I've driven them many
times.  I
> walked all of West Carson from McKees Rocks to the Point Bridge.  And I
walked
> all of the Nor-side too.   Both of these were my mistakes.
>
> Steve may be trying to forget a few of his.
>
> There were, of course, true errors and perceived errors, and I recall more
of
> the latter than the former.  One man complained openly that we had not
included
> all of Cincinnati Car Company's weight reduction efforts as significant to
the
> PCC, even though the CCC curved side cars reduced weight by reducing trim
> (headlining, side panels inside) and the PCCs did it by reducing motor and
truck
> weight ... totally different themes.   This person was also not willing to
> accept the fact that his home town builder was in bankruptcy and never
paid
> their subscription to the Electric Railway Presidents' Conference
Committee.
> Another man took us to task for saying that PCCs ran on Sundays on PTC
route 57
> (Coast to Coast, page 153) ... the statement was in a caption next to a
picture
> of a regular service car on route 57 on a Sunday.  (One does not question
Ed
> Miller, who took a notebook with him to record every picture after it was
taken,
> even the hour and minute of the day.)  Both were fabulous examples of I'll
> believe what I want to believe and you cannot change my mind.
>
> One that I remember making was changing the name of West Carson Street to
West
> Ohio Street under a caption (page 169 in Coast to Coast). The mind plays
tricks.
>
> Neither the CP27 mistake nor the street renaming were ever brought to my
> attention by readers.
>
> I've also encountered a few people that told me that Mr. Schneider wrote
thus
> and so in his book.  "No, I do think so.  I don't remember reading it."  I
know
> he did ... I saw it there.  "No I never wrote that.  Oh, you're Mr.
Schneider.
> "Yes."   Well, I really didn't read the book ... just looked at the
pictures.
> And why should I be surprised?  When Howard White and I were co-editing
> Headlights for the ERA, we put a flier in one issue asking what people
liked
> best in the past year, what they liked least, and why.  Why was almost
never
> filled in.  But we found out that people liked best articles about systems
at
> home, least about anything they had never seen, and their favorite issues
were
> those in which we increased the ratio of pictures to text.   Unfortunately
we
> were unable to simplify the discussion on trucks, patents, and so forth to
the
> degree that the average person would actually read it, and thus a lot of
the
> myths continue but now they continue with our stamp of approval.
>
> Significant errors ... the one that bothered me the most was the omission
of the
> gray benday around the pictures on several of the pages between 76 and 83
... it
> resulted in "I'll see a page proofs of the second book, or else."
>
> Actually, Bob, I was told many times afterward by people in the industry
that it
> was "the definitive history."  I've had so real nit pickers (even some who
pick
> nits better than I do) tell me that the proof reading was above average.
I've
> picked up a copy 20 years later and found that it still reads well (You
cannot
> find the mistakes a day later; you need to forget what you were trying to
say or
> meant to say before you can find the glitches).   I think it was pretty
clean.
>
> Bob Rathke wrote:
>
> > My copy is the First Edition, including the data foldout.  I'd be
interested
> > in knowing about any of the signifiant errors in this edition.
> >
> > As I mentioned in an e-mail to the list this Spring, I bought my copy of
the
> > PCC book at the Illinois Railway Museum in April - it was in a large box
of
> > books that I bought at $1/inch of book thickness.
> > So, the PCC book cost me...75 cents???
> >
> > Bob 1/1/05
> >
> > -----------------------------
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Fred Schneider" <fschnei at supernet.com>
> > To: <pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org>
> > Sent: Saturday, January 01, 2005 2:05 PM
> > Subject: [PRCo] Re: PCC book
> >
> > > The first printing had a data foldout in the back ... the second did
not.
> > > Make sure it is there if you bid or you might just as well look for a
> > > second printing which had some of the other mistakes cleaned up.   fws
> > >
> > > Mark McGuire wrote:
> > >
> > > >   Believe me, the price won't stay that low for long. The last
minute
> > > > bidders will have a field day. The cheapest I ever saw one of these
go
> > > > for was $45.00, which is an absolute bargain.
> > >
> > >
> > >
>
>
>