[PRCo] Re: Road Salt

[Fred Schneider]

Retirement is great, Bob.

Sorry that you don't have the time now.  I've deleted some messages after
scanning the first line or two, but I think the only good day is a day in
which I learn something.  It's amazing how much I can learn just by looking
at this computer monitor.   Even if they do go on and on about baseball
games in Oakland!!!  Please guys, a big grin on my part.

"Dietrich, Robert J." wrote:

> 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