[PRCo] Re: Road Salt

[Dietrich, Robert J.]

This has been the most amazing thread I remember seeing from this group.
What started out as a comment/question about Johnstown streetcars, went
through a tour of the North East and Canada, got into old automobiles,
salt, rust, rusty busses (naturally), then right back on topic with salt
cans in PRCo streetcars.  Wow!  I must admit, though, my delete key was
working overtime; I just don't have time to work and read all these
posts.  But don't quit - only 2 1/2 years and I'll be reading
everything. 

Bob

-----Original Message-----
From: pittsburgh-railways-bounce at lists.dementia.org
[mailto:pittsburgh-railways-bounce at lists.dementia.org] On Behalf Of Bob
Rathke
Sent: Thursday, May 26, 2005 10:11 PM
To: pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org
Subject: [PRCo] Re: Road Salt

I remember seeing a PRC ACF (orange) bus in service as a salt spreader
on
Troy Hill in 1956, salting
streets on the 4-Troy Hill trolley line.

I also remember seeing cinder barrels (55 gallon drums tipped on their
sides) along highway route 30 in Greensburg in the mid-1950's.  This was
when route 30 ran through town on city streets, and before the days of
the
four-lane route 30 bypass. Local residents and motorists would scatter
cinders from the barrels to the streets as needed after a snowfall.

Bob 5/26/095

----------------------------- 
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Fred Schneider" <fschnei at supernet.com>
To: <pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org>
Sent: Thursday, May 26, 2005 11:04 AM
Subject: [PRCo] Re: Road Salt


> I can only give a partial answer.  PRC did have at least one old ACF
bus
with a
> salt spreader therein.  Whether they used it on their own property or
on
public
> streets is unknown to me.  Remember that there was also a lot of paved
private
> right-of-way in Pittsburgh.  I've not sure who had to do that.  I do
remember
> that PAT was ordered by the courts to build new highway bridges in
places
where
> their older bridges had been decked for automobiles.
>
> We moved out of Pittsburgh in 1949 ... the winter of 1948-49 was my
last.
I
> never saw salt but I vividly remember a man in the back of a dump
truck
with a
> shovel ... he was tossing cinders out on PA route 80 in Penn Township.
One
> might suspect that cinders, in those days, were cheap if not free to
state
and
> township road crews.  Crushed slag and cinders all appear black
against a
white
> show ... could have been either.
>
> I'm not sure when salting became common.  Pittsburgh always has some
snow
in the
> winter.   Here in Lancaster we can go several years between measurable
snows,
> then get it with a noreaster.  Sometime in the 1950s I saw salt.
>
> Of course, Ken, this is asking a 65-year old demented individual to
remember
> what happened 50-55 years ago.
>
> Ken & Tracie wrote:
>
> > Well, my Imperial and my truck are a bit newer than my station
wagon.
Tracie
> > is driving a '99 Toyota, so maybe she has the most sanity.
Especially
with
> > gasoline at $2.50 per gallon.
> > I would suspect the El Paso PCCs have/had some rust. Desert winds
blow
dust
> > into nooks, crannies and crevices. During the rainy season, moisture
gets
> > absorbed by this packed in dirt, leading to some rust issues, but it
is
> > never as extensive as salt induced rust damage.
> >
> > When did Pittsburgh begin salting the city streets? Did Pittsburgh
Railways
> > apply the salt along car lines, or was this completely the
responsibility of
> > local government?
> >
> > I seem to remember somebody noting crushed slag was used for a time.
> >
> > K.
RR