[PRCo] Re: PCC2s

[Derrick J Brashear]

On Thu, 18 Jan 2007, Ken & Tracie wrote:

> Dan says one of the secrets to his success to "listen" to what the "dead old
> men" of previous generations HAVE to say. He does this by reading old
> engineering manuals written by designers and service people of past
> generations.
>
> It's too bad Dan isn't a transit vehicle design engineer instead of a
> heating contractor.
>
> His philosophy is spot on.

At the same time modernization is necessary, it's not looking at 
yesterday's lessons, it's what you learn from them.

Ever-larger open hearth furnaces (because that worked before) and punting 
on the Linz-Donowitz process because you tried once and lost a bunch of 
money is learning from the past, but it means you build the Fairless works 
new from the ground up post-war and it's effectively gone before the turn 
of the century.

> Every failed attempt to re-invent the streetcar, trackless trolley or rapid
> transit car is another nail in the coffin of North America's traction
> future.

Only because:

> The most modern and efficient propulsion, electrical, heating, cooling and
> braking systems mean nothing if the basic structure of the vehicle can't
> handle the normal stresses of daily operation.

There are basic things you need to pay attention to. A PCC can run on 
salty streets for years and if you take care of it, it runs... for years. 
Bus frames, on the other hand, apparently rot out, because the lightweight 
tubular fuel-saving (you're not hauling around a big heavy chassis) design 
needs to have something applied to it to make it not rust, or you need to 
clean it too often (see "Neoplan") for american transit systems.

Modern is important, but it isn't always better. If you ignore it though, 
that's no good either.

> Imagine what would happen if Toyota, Ford or GM invented an automobile that
> got sixty miles per gallon, could do zero to sixty in four seconds and
> seated nine obese people in total comfort..................if the frames,
> body mounts, axles or driveshafts broke on a weekly basis.

Imagine what happened if you invented a state of the art operating system 
and it lost your files while making a blue screen with white gibberish 
appear periodically.

...