[PRCo] Birney

[Jim Holland]

-----Original Message-----
From: Russell E Jackson
Sent: Friday, July 06, 2007 9:11 AM
To: Alan Fishel
Subject: Birney web site

Thanks.  Very nice.  Amazing that 6000 were built, but then there were a 
lot of 1890s single truck cars that needed either upgrading or 
replacement by 1916.  Their Victorian appearance was by that time 
becoming "old hat".  Floors were high, steps were steep, probably had 
longitudinal seats.  The Birney sure looked an improvement.  The Birney 
surely was thought to represent the 2nd generation.  Post-war inflation 
had not yet hit home, so the small operator-to-passenger ratio was not 
yet perceived as important as it really was.  A lot of properties bought 
into the idea that a more frequent service would boost riding and 
counterbalance that.   Didn't really work unless you were dropping 
headways from 30 minutes to 15 or something like that.  Once autos came 
along you could run a 2 minute headway and they would still drive, if 
for no other reason than to show their status.  Public transit cannot 
fully compete with status symbols. Autos are now ubiquitous and much 
less of a status symbol, despite the manufacturer's advertisements to 
make it seem that way, so public transit now has more of a chance.  But 
it was a few years after the Birney craze before the operators woke up 
to the fact that pizazz was needed.  Birneys were a dowdy "yesterday" 
vehicle about 6 or so years after they were built. The Birney lover 
might argue that since neither the Birney or the PCC "saved" the 
industry, they were both flops.  But, it remains that the Birney was 
second rate and obsolete in 10 years or less, while the PCC remains a 
viable transit vehicle after 70 years.

regards, Russ Jackson

--- End forwarded message ---

^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^
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Jim  Holland
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Studying Pittsburgh Railways Company (PRCo)
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..............................From 1930 -- 1950
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Pennsylvania  Trolley  Museum  (PTM)
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http://www.pa-trolley.org/
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N.M.R.A.
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http://www.nmra.org/