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

[Ken & Tracie]

>From a passenger's perception, I liked the single "fan seat" in the 1700s. 
BTW, yesterday marked the 35th anniversary of my first ride on a 1700. The 
fans surprised me. The ones in the roof, not the ones with cameras.

My first Pittsburgh trolley ride ever was on 1614 during December, 1967. 
Caught 1614 going both ways on the Library line one evening.

BTW, 1727 was Roberta Hill's favorite all electric Pittsburgh PCC. She even 
stood outside a store somewhere along an East End route to take a photo of 
1727 passing the address sign which read "1727." Too bad it wasn't taken at 
5:27 PM that day. :-)

She also had an affinity for car 1601 (the car which had its dash patched 
and repainted semi-annually due to some serious rust just above the 
anticlimber, which was never properly cut out and replaced with fresh 
steel.)

Her first ride on a Pittsburgh car was in 1267. She acquired 1267's gong 
when it was scrapped. I have no idea what happened to that gong. I do have a 
tail light from a DC Transit PCC from her personal collection.

BTW, I remember riding 1730 during a 1979 visit. I've mentioned this before, 
but during that visit, the car squealed horribly on every curve. Don't know 
what was wrong.

The pretty, curvaceous young weather babe on Fox News just mentioned heavy 
rain in Pittsburgh as I type. So stay dry, people.

K.
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Herb Brannon" <hrbran at sbcglobal.net>
To: <pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org>
Sent: Sunday, May 27, 2007 11:05 AM
Subject: [PRCo] Re: Drum__Brakes_--_All-Electrics,__etc........


> It was not so much the fact that the air cars may have been 
> unsafe...............for that matter the all-electrics were not the best 
> either. It was strictly the "looks" of the car. The all-electric 1700s had 
> a more comfortable operators area. Better seat, higher seat, better 
> arranged switch panel. Also, I personally liked the fans. During hot 
> weather the 1700s, even with the sealed windows, were cooler than the 
> 1600s. The fans, when operating at full speed, created gale-force winds 
> within the car. This air turblence, coupled with the side window in the 
> operators area which opened, gave a brisk breeze past the operator. Cars 
> 1700 - 1724 also had the opening rear window which I would open during hot 
> weather. I also like the seating arrangement in the 1700s better than the 
> 1600s. All forward facing seats seemed more liked by the riders than the 
> bench seats in the 1600s. People especially liked the single seats on the 
> closed side of the 1700s between the front and center doors.
> Generally the layout of the car interior of the 1700s was more pleasing to 
> the eye than the "cattle-car" look of the 1600s. The all electrics also 
> had better door and wiper operation than the air cars. All in all, inside 
> and outside, the all electrics had it over the air cars in my book.
>
>  CAR 1727 -- AND A "True Tales Short"
>
>  As for 1727, I did not hear an 'official' cause of that accident. 
> However, as I said, mechanical things can only go so long before they fall 
> apart.
>
>  I never cared for 1727. When it operated as normally as it could it rode 
> rough and jerked a lot when accelerating and braking. I can remember one 
> time having it on the 42/38 going across the Palm Garden Bridge. At the 
> south end of that bridge was a curve to the right. Formerly this point was 
> the switch for 39 cars going down the ramp to W. Liberty Avenue. I was 
> going south, across the bridge, and gave an application of the brakes just 
> short of that right-curve. Instead of slowing it felt as if the car gained 
> speed. It was actually 'free-wheeling'. The curve was right there and 
> while the speed was not fast enough to cause a derailment, I knew it was 
> fast enough to cause things inside the car (such as passengers) to go 
> flying if the car were to hit the curve at that speed. I actually turned 
> and announced that they should hold on for a sharp turn to the right. Just 
> as 1727's front truck hit the curve the brakes took hold and the car went 
> on, normally. People looked at me
> like I didn't know what I was talking about. Another time, a week or two 
> after that incident, another operator was heading into downtown in 1727 
> and left S.Hills Jct normally during a morning rush hour. As the car got 
> up to speed in the tunnel, and downhill at that, that operator made an 
> application of the brakes and good ole 1727 did its "No Brakes Trick" 
> again. The car gathered speed so he actually went so far as to have 
> passengers get on the floor, fearing the worse at the Carson Street end of 
> the tunnel. Then, according to this operator, about three-fourths of the 
> way down the tunnel the brakes applied themselves and the car operated 
> normally. Bear in mind he had a car full of passengers, heading to work, 
> dressed fairly well, and now laying on the floor. PATransit paid big time 
> cleaning bills over that incident. I heard other operators making fun of 
> this guy for getting excited and having the passenger get in the "crash 
> position". I had, until this tunnel incident, not
> told anyone about the experience I had with 1727 on the Palm Garden 
> Bridge. Now, however, I told the Station Superintendent and also told the 
> other guys to stop ribbing that operator about what happened. Several 
> times after these two incidents I heard other operators relate incidents 
> of "no brakes", then normal operation with 1727.  Now I really disliked 
> 1727 and it became the only all-electric I would try to avoid. I guess 
> they never actually figured out what caused 1727s malady.........and we 
> know the final result when it crashed INSIDE the P & LE Station building.
>
>  As we all know,  any "True Tales" are copyright 2007 by Herb Brannon dba 
> High Energy Productions, Ltd., Cleveland, Ohio.