[PRCo] Re: PTM__Equipment__Acquisition

[Fred Schneider]

And let us not forget that $50 then is $500 today.  Not really pocket  
change to most people.

On Oct 23, 2005, at 4:16 PM, Edward H. Lybarger wrote:

> PERC, later PRMA, now PTM was incorporated in 1953.  We date the  
> origin of
> the group to November 1946 and a West Penn fantrip.  M11 was a  
> piece of junk
> by 1967.  So were the 3700s in 1951, even if there had been money  
> available
> for the purchase of one.  It took some real scrounging to find the  
> last $50
> to buy M1 in 1949; Brown and Bartley were that much short when  
> Galbraith was
> imposed upon!
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: pittsburgh-railways-bounce at lists.dementia.org
> [mailto:pittsburgh-railways-bounce at lists.dementia.org]On Behalf Of  
> Fred
> Schneider
> Sent: Thursday, October 20, 2005 8:25 AM
> To: pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org
> Subject: [PRCo] Re: PTM__Equipment__Acquisition
>
>
> 1.    PTM did not exist when M-11 was around.   That was the
> Pittsburgh Electric Railway Club or the Pennsylvania Railway Museum
> Association.
>
> 2.    It was a club of men when the first cars were purchased.
> Some of the cars were purchased with personal money.    That was
> typical of many such organizations.   When Ed gets back home we'll
> have to ask him when PRMC was incorporated.    It didn't really
> become a true business venture until about ten years ago.
>
> 3.    Scrap prices were proportional to wages then as they are
> today.    Most cars in the late 1940s went to museums for $200 to
> $300.    Most members earned a whole lot less than a dollar an
> hour ...  I can't remember exactly but I think the minimum wage might
> have been somewhere around 50 cents an hour.   Maybe less.   A 3700
> would have cost more than the average car.   The guys couldn't afford
> a West Penn 700, so they couldn't buy a PRC 3700 either.
>
> 4.    Dave Hamley liked PCCs.   Always did.   M-11 was a bucket of
> rust.    It sat outside at Craft for years.  Then it sat outside at
> Tunnel.   Early PCCs had a canvas over plywood central roof
> section.   A lot of water got down inside the add racks.   I suspect
> the carlines and post caps were shot.   The general public can't tell
> the difference between 100 and 1138 let alone between 100 and a 1600
> and they keep us open.
>
> 5.   When I started at the Baltimore museum 17 years ago I had a lot
> of people who remembered semi-convertibles.   I have not had many
> lately who even remembered PCCs on the streets of Baltimore.   I get
> a lot of questions about why does it stay on the track, what makes it
> go, is that the engine (the air compressor) and parents who refer to
> it as a train or Thomas to their kids.   Like it or not, that's our
> world.....
>
> On Oct 20, 2005, at 5:33 AM, James B. Holland wrote:
>
>
>> Mark McGuire wrote:
>> .
>>
>>
>>
>>> Including M11(100)?      I'm sure if some of those old cars were
>>> around today, PTM would probably acquire M11, a 3800 series, and a
>>> low
>>> 3700 interurban.      I would have really liked to have seen a 3800
>>> series car in person.
>>>
>>> Mark
>>>
>>>
>>
>> .
>> B--I--G      discussion about this  *-Here-*  and Dave Hamley had
>> article in Trolley Fare roundly trouncing PTM for not getting M0011
>> (PCC  100.)       M0011 was on property well into the 1960s!!!!!!!
>> Railfans of the 1940s--1950s  thought PCCs were buses and didn't want
>> anything to do with them!       I Personally Distinctly Remember  
>> That!
>> .
>> Since PERC moved its first 3-cars to the museum site on 19540207,  I
>> have often wondered why a Brill 3700 wasn't picked up  --  scrap
>> price!
>> .
>> .
>> .
>> .
>> Jim__Holland
>> .
>> .
>> I__Like__Ike.......And__PCCs!!
>> .
>> down with pantographs ---- UP___WITH___TROLLEYPOLES!!!!!!!
>>
>>
>>
>>
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