[PRCo] Re: Electric Railway Accidents

[Fred Schneider]

Depended on length of run, Jerry, and the civility of management.    
And don't for one minute think the hoards of Huns only date to Europe  
in the middle ages.

The Pittsburgh 3750s, for example, were built with dry hoppers.  The  
West Penn 700s also.   Same with the PHB&NC cars.   Many of the older  
interurban cars had dry hopppers.   More enlightened management has  
come to recognize that a toilet takes the place of a seat that can be  
sold.   Of course a motorman would not want to stop and walk back in  
front of his customers and use the smallest room in the house.  One  
West Penn motorman told Ed and me that you went back to check the  
trolley rope a lot.    I've yet to find an advertisement for one, but  
I have been told that motorman and conductors could purchase a device  
called a "Motorman's Friend," which was simply a leather pouch that  
you strapped to your thigh and emptied at your convenience.

Now if you really want me to get down and dirty, Amtrash was running  
SEPTA single multiple unit electric cars in the Philadelphia -  
Harrisburg corridor in the 1965-1990 period, many of which had no  
toilets.  Not a good deal for a two hour run.    There were days when  
the train would be delayed in Lancaster while passengers were  
directed to run up to the mens and ladies rooms in the station.    
Another time when train 614 made an emergency stop at PARK  
interlocking (Parkesburg) so a lady could dash into the tower and use  
the toilet, only to have her find the block operator in the shower.    
And I witnessed another time when a ticket collector stood guard on a  
vestibule door while a female passenger squatted out in the  
vestibule.    No, I don't make up these stories.

Perhaps, Jerry, you've stumbled on the reason why most interurban  
passengers rode short distances?

And the reason for chemical toilets on trains today?   It all started  
with a man on a track maintenance crew who was upset with getting a  
bath one day when a train passed him.   (I didn't like the bath  
routine either but it was one of the obstacles of railroad photograph  
in days gone by.)

fws




On Sep 25, 2005, at 10:00 PM, <mtoytrain at bellsouth.net> wrote:

> Fr
>
> PS - I got a question,  i never had to go, but on the interurban  
> runs from Pittsburgh to Washington
> and Charleroi, what if you have to use the facility?   what did you  
> do?   Jump in the woods?
> On my recent visit to PTM, Mark Mcguire and myself got on the T to  
> go downtown, and boy did I
> have an experience, thankful for a Sandwich shop near the Library  
> station, or it would have been
> a disaster for me!    So where did one go when riding the interurbans?
>
> This should lead to interesting responses.
>
> Jerry M
>