[PRCo] Re: Cleveland_--_Shaker

[Fred Schneider]

I only walked it once Herb.   Forty-seven years ago.     I can't  
argue with the guy who lives there.   After I came home from the army  
I bought one of those things called an automobile and I gave up  
walking 10, 15 or 20 miles a day to take pictures.   I grew fat and  
lazy.   And I forgot a lot of what I saw as a young man.

  In most cities a block is about 1/10th of a mile.   If this is true  
in Cleveland, Shaker trains averaged about 2 miles between stops  
going between the Terminal Tower and Shaker Square.    This was one  
of the few places where you could actually unwind a PCC.

On Feb 1, 2007, at 8:58 PM, Herb Brannon wrote:

> All of both Van Aken and Shaker Blvds have been upgraded with a new  
> signaling system. If the autos cross in front of a car and have an  
> accident then the auto driver is guilty of running a red signal. In  
> addition to the signals, regulatory traffic signs indicate "Do Not  
> Block Transit Tracks." Shaker Heights and RTA police also ticket  
> auto drivers who do not obey the signs and signals. Prior to this  
> upgrade the accident rate between autos and lrv's was out of control.
> Also, the stops between Shaker Square and Terminal Tower/Public  
> Square are: *Shaker Square; East 116th St.; *Woodhill/Buckeye; East  
> 79th Street; *East 55th Street; East 34th/Campus; *Public Square. I  
> have been acquanted with the SHRT operation since about 1955 and  
> these stops have always been in place. Those stops where I have  
> placed an (*) are heavy patronage stops. The remaining three stops  
> without the (*) have light patronage.
> Herb Brannon
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----
> From: Fred Schneider <fwschneider at comcast.net>
> To: pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org
> Sent: Thursday, February 1, 2007 7:39:56 PM
> Subject: [PRCo] Re: Cleveland_--_Shaker
>
>
> Just going through the file trying to catch up on some old stuff.
>
> Pittsburgh Railways interurban PCCs had retrievers, not catchers
> Jim.   If you get your finger caught in one, you'll know the
> difference.   They did in the 1950s at least.   And the 1700 at PTM
> has a retriever.
>
> I recall a Shaker motorman back in 1959 telling me just how much the
> line had been tamed down because of motorists making left turns in
> front of the cars, particularly out on Van Aken where the tracks were
> flanked by the highway on both sides.   He commented, in essence, the
> more motorists did it and got away with it, the more they continued
> to do it and further slowed down the cars.
>
> This same phenomena was explained to me by Donald Duke as a curse or
> pox on Pacific Electric.  Henry Huntington built many of the PE lines
> to serve housing projects that he also created.   Sadly, a lot of
> those records are locked up in the Huntington Library for something
> like 100 years after the death of Huntington ... one can only suspect
> there was some monkey business.   Don recalled that a lot of the
> lines originally had grade crossings a mile apart on PE.   Then the
> communities forced crossings in between ... a half mile apart.   Then
> more intermediate crossings.   And pretty soon the trains that were
> barreling through towns  at 50 mph were now running at 25 down the
> middle of paved streets.    The automobile had won the war.
>
> O doubt of the average on Shaker was over 20 mph because they made
> far more stops that the Pittsburgh interurbans and the top speed was
> still nothing more than a standard PCC but modified with 1 inch
> larger wheels  ... the balancing speed might have been 43.5 unless
> they were governed to a lower speed but we need to remember it still
> takes a mile to get up to that speed.   You might have gotten 45
> downhill into the terminal with a full car in the AM rush but up hill
> in the evening rush hour with standees ... I would bet that 30 mph
> was pushing the envelope even with no stops for a full mile.   And
> once you passed Shaker Square, you would have no more than a quarter
> mile between stops.    The advantage that Shaker Heights had was that
> long haul with only two intermediate stops between (I my mind is
> working ... E. 55th and E 34th)  between Shaker Square and the
> Terminal.   You could not do that with a bus or a car or your own
> automobile on city streets.
>