[PRCo] PCC2s

[Jim Holland]

This Just In From Philly  --  seems  More  Like  'Speculation'  so 
far:::::::
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2a. Route 15 is down!

Date: Wed Jan 17, 2007 10:06 am ((PST))

I `ve told by Bill M via e-mail and telephone that Route 15 is currently 
being served by buses only. Apparently, the PCC II's have suffered 
cracks in the torque arms and, since this has been an on-going problem, 
all but two of the cars have been moved to Elmwood, apparently for 
repairs. Bill thought that two cars remained at Callowhill.

The saga began in earnest last Friday. A car had broken down and PCC II 
2336 was hooked up to the disabled car to tow or push it in. Apparently, 
the torque arm on 2336, which holds the motor in place, came loose. The 
drive shaft then hit the ground and derailed the car some two feet off 
the rail.

Bill has gotten all of these data second hand, and so he could offer no 
prognosis. The change to bus-only operation, in other words, is 
apparently for the foreseeable future until the torque arms can be 
repaired or replaced.

The danger, of course, is that SEPTA could decide to throw in the towel 
and return Route 15 to a permanent bus-only operation. Bill thought that 
was unlikely; SEPTA, he felt, has too much money invested in Route 15 to 
give up that easily.

I'm planning a trip to Philadelphia tomorrow to do some riding and will 
sniff around to see what I can see or find oiut. Naturally, other list 
members should pass along whatever information they come across. Let's 
hope the repairs are done with some degree of dispatch so that Route 15 
can soon return to a rail operation.

D
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2b. Re: Route 15 is down!

Date: Wed Jan 17, 2007 10:57 am ((PST))


You would think that if this is an issue that it could have been 
addressed while they were out of service for the water main break. On 
another issue, is this a design problem for Brookville? Strange that one 
year in the fleet is seeing problems. Hope it is not a Grumman Flixible 
thing.

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2d. Re: Route 15 is down!

Date: Wed Jan 17, 2007 11:25 am ((PST))

I rode the 15 bus today looking for my operator friend , Roro Garrett. 
The 8:20 AM bus from 63- Girard was not her. I found out form the 
driver, Rodney, that she was sitting at Richmond & Westmoreland with bus 
5130 and a bad oil leak. I rode with Rodney up to Richmond & 
Westmoreland and sure enough she was there. They had a mechanic drive a 
frankford bus down for a bus change and they brought 3443, a Neoplan, so 
Roro used that for her 9:45 trip after they figured out how to put up 
63rd & Girard on the sign. About 10 minutes into the trip, the center 
doors would not close unless you recycled the bus (restart), so she 
called it in. We were met by a supervisor at 63rd St. who gave her 5057 
to drive, all set up with the talking announcements.

Roro said the trolleys are in for inspection, I think you guys feel it's 
more than that. If it's a torque arm problem, we have a long road ahead 
of us.

So it looks like neither the trolleys or buses are doing well on the 15.