[PRCo] Re: New Large Scale PCC

[Fred Schneider]

Would have to measure it.   The basic air car was 46 feet long.    
Changing the front end to account for the increase windshield slope  
to minimize glare at night is what added 5 3/8th inches on the post  
war all-electrics, making them 46 feet 5 3/8 inches long give or take  
manufacturing tolerances ... perhaps give or take 1/16th of an inch  
when new.   They were all put together with jigs and were probably  
pretty close, unlike the earlier cars which could come out of the  
factory all over the place.

You need to find a copy of PCC The Car That Fought Back by Carlson  
and Schneider and the companion book PCC From Coast to Coast by  
Schneider and Carlson.   The basic car could easily be altered by  
adding to the platform length ... Chicago added both to the front  
platform with the prewar cars and to the rear platform on the postwar  
cars.   The double-end cars all came out at 47 feet simply because  
the front ends or front platforms were 12 inches longer than the rear  
platforms, and the basic double end car also had no center doors  
because the underfloor space was needed for equipment boxes.   It was  
OK on one side but not both sides.   If you wanted center doors on a  
double end car, like the Pacific Electric cars, it was accomplished  
by lengthening the central part of the car and spreading the truck  
centers in order to get more room in the middle of the car for  
electrical equipment.   It was also easy to shorten the basic car (to  
produce the Washington car) or lengthen it (to get the second order  
for Detroit).

Think just how cheap the light rail vehicles of today could be if we  
had a corporation like transit research spearheading standardization  
instead of a group of consultants each out to make a buck for  
themselves telling the local politicians you need a special car for  
the unique conditions in your city....



On Jan 20, 2007, at 1:22 AM, Mark McGuire wrote:

>  So what car is this designed after? Which city's specs I should say.
> Just like the Corgi PCC cars are designed after the Philly cars. Then
> again I should say the STANDARD Corgi cars are designed after Philly.
> The Pittsburgh and Toronto cars were a tad different and we all know
> the reasons why.
>
> -- Fred Schneider <fwschneider at comcast.net> wrote:
> Curious that they would paint a car that was too long to fit in that
> city with a Washington DC scheme,   All the Washington cars were 44
> feet long, two feet shorter than the normal PCC in order to fit on
> transfer tables.
>
> On Jan 19, 2007, at 5:17 PM, Jim Holland wrote:
>
>> This 1/2-inch scale model of an early model Air-Electric PCC is
>> based on
>> an  St.-Petersburg Trams Collection  (SPTC)  "O"-Scale model and is
>> 'digitally__enlarged'  (to coin / use a term(!~!~!))  with the
>> permission of  SPTC  to make this car.
>> .
>> .
>> .
>> Jim___Holland
>> .
>> .
>> .
>> mtoytrain at bellsouth.net wrote:
>> .
>>
>>> Gentlemen
>>> For those of you interested please find:
>>> Jerry M>
>>>
>> http://lists.dementia.org/files/pittsburgh-railways/
>> aaLargeScalePCC.jpg
>>
>>
>>
>
>
>