[PRCo] Re: Russian___PCCs

[Fred Schneider]

 From the list of Russian pictures that Jim provided, look closely at  
this photo guys.   Note how the belt rail floats up and down with  
reckless abandon like a dingy on a rough sea.

Bruce Bente and I had the privilege of seeing the car assembly  
factory in St. Petersburg, Russia about 18 months ago.   Bruce  
questioned why different cars going to the same city had different  
shades of red paint on them.   Our host looked at the cars, pondered  
the question for a minute, and then remarked very simply with a shrug  
of his shoulders, "It's Russia."

That could be an equally good answer for why the car is as crooked as  
a dog's hind leg.   They were still building cars in a manner we used  
in the United States a hundred years ago.   A frame was built from  
scratch  ... no standard jigs ... just a metric rule and a  
square.         Then once the frame was assembled, several guys would  
unroll steel from a large roll, cut it off, tack weld it to the  
frame, and then trim it.   Each car came out a little different.    
And this photo shows the ultimate example of different.  (Maybe that  
is why they like outside hanging doors ... easier than trying to cut  
doors to fill erratic sized openings.)

We used to do the same thing here.   If you go back to the really old  
cars ... lets use the 1900 convertible in the Baltimore Streetcar  
Museum as an example, each window is numbered to make certain the car  
house crew puts it back in the right opening when fall comes.

By the time we got to the PCC, we built cars with jigs and the end  
result was a car that was probably correct in length down  perhaps  
1/8 of an inch ... whatever error you might have when you weld the  
different components together.   That is no where near true with  
"modern" Russian cars.

I have some very curious pictures at the factory.   One is a staff of  
five planting flowers in front of the administration building.   It  
presents a wonderful view to those passing by on the street.   Then  
there is the test track that you cannot find because of the weeds  
that are a foot high.   And finally, you need to see the urinal in  
the men's room in the factory with the broken drain, which drains on  
your shoes and then runs across the floor to the central floor  
drain.   "It's Russia."
Yes, I photographed it too!     And I photographed trolleys unable to  
go through intersections because motorists have an inalienable right  
to cut them off.   And there was this line to check into the  
hotel ... they knew we were coming ... it was the CERA group ... but  
we still had to stand in a 30 minute line to check in, and then  
another 30 minute line to get the room key.   That got you in a roof  
with cast iron pipes and rusty water ... actually a class A hotel for  
westerners.

It was so nice to get to Helsinki afterwards.






On Oct 23, 2005, at 8:49 PM, James B. Holland wrote:
>
> http://www.railfaneurope.net/pix/ru/trams/Kolomna/113_20050130.jpg
>