[PRCo] Re: Maintenance

[Bob Rathke]

I remember seeing a disabled PCC on the spur track inside the 5-Spring Hill 
loop, probably around 1951.  I remember asking what the problem was, and one 
of the locals jokingly replied that it was a "flat tire."

Bob 11/3005

-----------------------------
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Fred Schneider" <fwschneider at comcast.net>
To: <pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org>
Sent: Wednesday, November 30, 2005 3:01 PM
Subject: [PRCo] Re: Maintenance


> Good point.    The only one I remember was a GE 1100 that failed on
> Perrysville Avenue and a supervisor's truck was being used to push it
> into the wye at Charles Street so the next outbound could push it
> back to Keating.   That was 1958.     My memories of PRC were limited
> when I was old enough to remember what was happening, i.e. after I
> became a teenager.   At that time we went back to Pittsburgh for one
> week every Easter during which I roamed all over the city.   My last
> year of that was 1958; then I had one week in town on leave from the
> army in 1959.   There were also a few isolated periods ... funerals
> and the like in 1952 and 1953.   And like Jim points out, I too never
> saw car failures.   Paint work was fair but even the yellow cars were
> not too bad because there was a rash of painting in the late 1940s.
> The real paint collapse came in the early 1960s ... why fix anything
> when the politicians are talking about taking your empire away from you?
>
> I think it also deserves to be pointed out that when the steel mills
> belch out sulfur dioxide in smoke, that turns to dilute sulfuric acid
> in rain.   The environment was not exactly conducive to keeping
> things looking nice.
>
> On Nov 30, 2005, at 2:49 PM, James B. Holland wrote:
>
>> Fred Schneider wrote:
>> .
>>
>>> ...Charles Schauck... Charley was the Superintendent of Power and
>>> Inclines for PRCo from the early 1950s to the end. ...He told me a
>>> lot
>>> about what it was like to try to survive in that business. I recall
>>> conversations about annual budget meetings where he would walk in
>>> with
>>> a list of things that had to be done and he would come out trying to
>>> figure out how to but Band Aids (bandages) on things that didn't
>>> work.
>>> I remember another conversation about a court case between a former
>>> family member and PRCo ... the railway power consumption was now so
>>> low that Duquesne Light Company was suing for payment of demand
>>> charges. After ten years worth of dinners with the Schauck family, I
>>> really don't need a lot of maintenance records to understand why PRCo
>>> didn't spend a lot of money. There simply wasn't a lot of money to
>>> spend.
>>
>> .
>> I do Not remember tow jobs in PRCo days  --  Maybe One  --  (Doesn't
>> mean they Didn't happen)    ----    but I do remember such under
>> ({[pat.]})       Do remember some PRCo cars being dead headed to the
>> barn for maintenance  --  torque arm front truck, right side snapped
>> --  trolley poles damaged and replaced would be sent in out of
>> service
>> to have them trued up officially so the wheel would sit square on the
>> overhead  --  equipment Moved in PRCo days with only traffic causing
>> delays.       It would be quite unusual for a PRCo problem to cause
>> delays.
>> .
>> The biggest PRCo delay I remember is when the car derailed at Bon Air
>> outbound one Sunday early 1960s, Mother's Day  --  caused a
>> reroute.       But PRCo handled this extremely well  --  I watched the
>> shenanigans at the derailed car for a bit but recognized I wasn't
>> *-riding-*  so walked back to SHJ where I caught a Drake car to
>> substitute for the derailed one that had already been sent around
>> downtown!!       We traveled the 38 to 38A then on to Drake  --  same
>> motorman as 1645(?) which was in the cornfield meet with 1261 on 38A
>> some time late 1963 or a little later.
>> .
>> .
>> .
>>
>>>> ----- Original Message -----
>>>> From: "Fred Schneider" <fwschneider at comcast.net>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>> The LA cars preserved at Perris testify to very impressive
>>>>> maintenance practices. At least when LARy or LATL people ran wires
>>>>> under the cars, they ran them in flexible metal housings (I'm not
>>>>> sure of the proper name). Nothing was ever run unprotected........
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>> ----- Original Message -----
>>>>>> From: "Fred Schneider" <fwschneider at comcast.net>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> We do know a lot about it. For example, all of the car record
>>>>>>> cards for Los Angeles Railway / LATL are at the museum in Perris.
>>>>>>> If someone wants to look, and there are those who have, we know
>>>>>>> precisely what was done. Jim is correct. LATL's maintenance was
>>>>>>> superb ... among the best in the nation and it was a National
>>>>>>> City
>>>>>>> Lines property to boot.
>>>>>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Jim__Holland
>>
>>
>> I__Like__Ike.......And__PCCs!!
>>
>> down with pantographs ---- UP___WITH___TROLLEYPOLES!!!!!!!
>>
>>
>
>