[PRCo] Re: PRCo 3555 & 3550

[Jim Holland]

Hi Fred!


The car just doesn't look Pgh~!~!~!     The 4000s and 41s, even with end 
doors, did look PRCo but this one just doesn't fit in.

I have a 1944 roster put together by Charles J Murphy using rosters by 
Henry J. Leinbach-Jr and Charles Dengler as sources.     Kuhlman is 
listed as the builder here and the weight is given as 46,500 and the 
date of purchase is listed as 1912.     Motors listed are 4 WH-56 45hp. 
   The 1400-series PCCs are the latest listed on the roster.
.
An Updated Roster 1963.08.10  (Bartley,  Dengler,  Leinbach,  Murphy,  
Cummings)  lists 3555 as built in 1909 but still lists Kuhlman as 
builder and everything else listed is the same.     The notation is that 
this is the first Steel car ordered by PRCo.
.
Another roster lists everything about All the cars, even their scrapping 
date and location and method~!~!~!~!     The weight is listed as 46,500 
4 motors total horse 240, builder Standard.     It was scrapped by 
burning at West Park on 1932.04.23.
.
.
What about 3550 built by Niles, also 1909 weighing 49,000?     This is 
listed as 2 WH 303 100hp with siderods; 4 WH 93 60hp without rods.     
K35 w/rods;  K43 w/o-rods.     Trucks were SLCCo 47-A.
.
Notes say some 34s and 35s were later converted to rods~!~!~!~!
.
.
The first two rosters indicate that 3556 was built from 4200s for use on 
the interurbans~!~!~!
.
.
.
Fred Schneider wrote:
> The roster shows 3555, the "Jolly Bachelor," built by Standard Steel 
> in 1909 and riding on Standard C-50 trucks. It was the first arch roof 
> PRC car. It had K-35 control and 4 Westinghouse No. 56 motors. There 
> are conflicting weights in PRC records: 38,000 pounds versus 46,500 
> pounds. PCC cars were in the 36,000 to 38,000 lb. range as were the 
> low floor cars with arch bar trucks. There is no way this critter 
> could have only weighed 38,000 lbs. with Standard C50s. Some sources 
> show the builder as Kuhlman but PRC vouchers files show it came from 
> Standard Steel.
>
> The weight differences may have been for two different periods. The 
> side rods were used when it was a two-motor car. They were removed 
> when it became a four-motor car. Four 40 horsepower motors might have 
> weighed around 5000 pounds. I have no clue what was on earlier but if 
> we assume it had two 60 horse motors, that might have been 3000 lbs. 
> plus the side rods. That still isn't enough to account for the 8500 
> pound difference.
>
> Those side rods were not unique to this car. All the 4000s also had 
> them for a while. They also started out as two motor cars and were 
> converted to four motors.
>
> http://mywebpages.comcast.net/shawncd/SHJ/cr3555.htm
^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^
Jim  Holland
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Studying Pittsburgh Railways Company
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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/