[PRCo] Re: Drum__Brakes_--_All-Electrics,__etc........

[Jim Holland]

Fred Schneider wrote:
.
> My question would be why did you loose air unless you were running the 
> car all the way down the hill below the threshold where the dynamics 
> cut out ... say below 8 to 10 mph with most air cars. Some Pittsburgh 
> cars had extended dynamic brakes but I think they were mostly on 1400s 
> and 1500s. Some of that is archived on a list I sent around. 
.
PRCo 1601s were essentially 17s with air  --  ALL 1601s had extended 
range dynamics which were effective to 0.75-mph.  Most air-cars had 
dynamics effective to 2.9-mph.
.
.
> The compressors on PCC cars were not designed to put out a large 
> volume of air that would be needed to stop a car without dynamics but 
> then you don't need a large volume of air on a PCC ... just enough to 
> bring it down from 10 mph to a stop and hold it. You don't have a lot 
> of problems with stupid operators fanning air like you do in New 
> Orleans. Therefore I'm questioning if there was a compressor failure 
> or a bad air leak. You're talking the PAT era so my reaction is 
> "anything maintenance failure could have happened."  I'm not willing 
> to blame the car's design.
>
> f3
.
I rode 1776-2-(or is it -3?!?!) not long after conversion and she had a 
door air leak which caused the op to trade for another car.
.
.
>
> On May 26, 2007, at 9:47 PM, Herb Brannon wrote:
>
>> Strictly from a PCC operators viewpoint and in regard to New
>> Arlington Avenue, I would always change out a 1600series Air-
>> Electric for a 1700series All-Electric when working the 49 line. I
>> never had a problem with the All-Electrics holding on the hill. In
>> fact, the only problem I ever had was with 1776 the AIR car, after
>> its number was changed and it was painted red/white/blue for the
>> U.S. Bicentennial. It lost enough air pressure one time going down
>> the hill that I had to use the hand brake to get it stopped. BTW,
>> the hand brakes are not THAT effective. I recall slowly 'gliding'
>> through the red traffic signal at the intersection of New Arlington
>> and the McArtle Roadway. It was night and auto traffic was light.