[PRCo] Re: New Railfans, Historians and Lack of Background Knowledge

[Jim Holland]

 Going along with this thought is the fact that we humans tend to want to
neatly categorize an item into one box when it can actually fit into a
variety of boxes.
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_StreetCar_  is a Generic Term and  _Cable_Cars_ and _Trolley_Cars_ are two
specific forms of  StreetCars as is an _HorseCar_,  _BatteryCar_  (There
werea few such systems for a short time)  and  others.     A PCC is both a
TrolleyCar and StreetCar  (what about Peter Witt~?~!~?~!~?)  and as we have
seen it can also be an Interurban_TrolleyCar~!~!~!
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While a StreetCar is a vehicle which operates primarily in the streets,
lightrail is defined as a  _System_  which operates primarily on prw.    
Shaker Heights fits the definition of light rail since its inception  -- 
totally prw.     Can it be argued that Shaker Isn't light rail because the
term wasn't in usage until the 1970s or thereabouts~?~?     Possibly, but a
Rose by Any Udder Name.......     It seems that Shaker could easily be
calledlight rail retroactively and thus ALL the equipment used by Shaker can
qualify as lrv  --  old equipment  (those beautiful center entrance
vehicles,)  PCCs,  etc~!~!~!     Many people don't like that~!~!
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>Kenny J wrote:::
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>"...The sub title alone:
>interurban trolley cars. 
>Now I always thought an interurban car ran
>between cities and a trolley car ran in a city. 
>I know I'm picking nits."
>Have at it, guys.....
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The Above Is 100% Correct~!~!~!     _Interurban_  is an Adjective and needs
to modify a Noun, thus  _Interurban__TrolleyCar_  Is  The  Correct  Way  To 
Identify  The  Vehicle  --  _Interurban_ is used by Us'n RailFans as a noun
and I have Found One Dictionary that lists it as such  (it's unfortunate,
butthis is The Dumbing Down of the Language when Usage is Accepted by the
Dictionaries as a Standard.)     Most Dicts. will list  _Interurban_  as an
Adjective and the example given by these dictionaries is  _Interurban_Bus_ 
(presumably because no one knows what is a TrolleyCar~!~!~!)
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SomeThing else that Us'n RailFans and even this writer does is to Glorify
TheVehicle as something Extremely Grandiose and Magnificent, such as PE and
North Shore, but in reality AnyThing that is used regularly and fits the
daffynition of running between 2 cities Is An Interurban Vehicle  --  be
thatvehicle a bus, TrolleyCar, or whatever.
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Many can take issue with PRCo PCCs as Interurban_TrolleyCars  --  they
certainly are at the bottom of the scale of vehicles when compared to the
likes of PE and NS  --  and their special equipment while highly functional
for PRCo was window dressing compared to other vehicles.     NeverTheLess,
those PRCo PCCs Are Interurban_TrolleyCars.     There are Many Examples of
older equipment that was little more than the City Trolley but was regularly
used as Interurban and is Thus an Interurban_TrolleyCar~!~!~!
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-- 
Body
Jim Holland 

Studying Pittsburgh Railways Company 

....................From 1930 -- 1950 

Pennsylvania Trolley Museum (PTM) 

http://www.pa-trolley.org/[1] 

N.M.R.A. 

http://www.nmra.org/[2] 

--- Links ---
   1 http://www.pa-trolley.org/
   2 http://www.nmra.org/