[PRCo] Re: Interurban Route Speeds

[fwschneider at comcast.net]

That is the same as a good operator can make a smooth stop 80 percent of the time with one air brake application and a couple of releases but the world is populated with people who don't care.   Every time I went to New Orleans I watched men and women fanning the air all day long ... people who were clueless.   I know from personal experience it can be done right IF YOU CHOOSE TO.

You can also walk a car out of a stop ever so smoothly by timing the brake release to the application of power but again most operators don't care.   (Not on a PCC however because you cannot have brake and power at the same time.)
-------------- Original message -------------- 
From: Herb Brannon <hrbran at sbcglobal.net> 

> You were probably riding on a "city" type PCC with the B2 trucks. They did 
> bounce and sway if the operator was not careful. You could get a half-way decent 
> ride out of a B2 equiped car if you took the time to learn the trackage and 
> apply the brakes at those places where the most severe bouncing took place. I 
> have said before that I prefered the 35 and 36 lines because you (at least 99% 
> of the time) got an "interurban" type PCC with the better riding B3 trucks. 
> Again, however, if the operator was attentive to the car, the roadbed, and the 
> passengers then a fairly good ride could be maintained. 
> Bob Dietrich wrote: For a time I commuted on the PCCs 
> from Bethel Park into town. For my own 
> safety I always got into the center of the car, even if it meant standing 
> when seats were available. The motormen would wind those cars up between 
> Castle Shannon and Overbrook to the point where I thought they would shake 
> apart. The oscillation was tremendous; I wondered how anyone could sit and 
> read a paper during such a ride, let alone the motorman. It was all in the 
> track. 
> 
> Bob 
> 
> -----Original Message----- 
> From: pittsburgh-railways-bounce at lists.dementia.org 
> [mailto:pittsburgh-railways-bounce at lists.dementia.org] On Behalf Of Jerry 
> Matt Matsick 
> Sent: Monday, September 24, 2007 9:58 AM 
> To: pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org 
> Subject: [PRCo] Re: Interurban Route Speeds 
> 
> Fred your (perception is reality) is so true, I know when living and riding 
> the subways in 
> NYC the same "flying" sensation was evident, same way with the Philly 
> subway, now I 
> remember riding a car out to Paoli and thought we would take off, forgot 
> what line that 
> was back in mid 1960s? Also I was reading somewhere (hate to get off of 
> PRCo and into Philly traction) where the city put in or completely rebuilt 
> an old line (Germantown?) and 
> yet they are not running street cars on it? why is that? 
> Jerry Matsick. 
> -- 
> Jerry "Matt" Matsick 
> Jacksonville, Florida 
> 
> 
> -------------- Original message from fwschneider at comcast.net: -------------- 
> 
> 
> 
> > Remember too that "perception is reality." Excessive noise causes one to 
> > believe they are going faster than they really are. When you are 
> accustomed to 
> > riding in an automobile on rubber tires on an asphalt highway and you are 
> > morphed into an interurban car riding on poorly maintained track, suddenly 
> it 
> > seems like you have been placed on a rocket sled. 
> > There is a document in the PTM library that establishes speed limits for 
> > different portions of the PTM system. Most were because of track 
> conditions. 
> > I do not have access to any of my files now but I do recall that motormen 
> were 
> > told not to exceed 50 mph between Eldora Summit and Black Diamond Junction 
> 
> > because of "passenger complaints." That document was issued in the days of 
> 
> > 3700s and 3800s. The PCCs simply would not run that fast because, if 
> memory 
> > serves, they had overspeed relays and would cut out. 
> > 
> > I recall my early perceptions about how fast the New York City subways 
> were. I 
> > thought I must have been traveling at mile-a-minute speeds because of the 
> heavy 
> > trucks and solid steel wheels in confined spaces. I later learned that the 
> 
> > fastest part of the entire system was a short express track under the 
> northwest 
> > side of Central Park where speeds approached 50 mph. Normal was a 30 to 40 
> mph 
> > range. I suspect the old wooden elevated cars seldom got much over 25 but 
> > their advantage was not being bogged down in traffic. 
> > 
> > fws3 
> > 
> > -------------- Original message -------------- 
> > From: "Boris Cefer" 
> > 
> > > Some of the 1700 and 1600 series PCCs were designed to carry 
> acceleration up 
> > > to a higher speed than the earlier models, that might be why you seemed 
> > > flying. 
> > > 
> > > B 
> > > 
> > > ----- Original Message ----- 
> > > From: "Jerry Matt Matsick" 
> > > To: 
> > > Sent: Monday, September 24, 2007 1:50 AM 
> > > Subject: [PRCo] Re: Interurban Route Speeds 
> > > 
> > > 
> > > >I had the opportunity to ride the Charleroi Interurban and thinking 
> back 
> > > >as a 10-12 year old boy, I thought the car was "flying", but in reality 
> it 
> > > >probably wasn't, all I know on some of the open straight aways, it 
> seemed 
> > > >like we were "flying", some thoughts on this? 
> > > > and travel times from Pittsburgh to Li'l Wash and to Charleroi, the 
> > > > conversations on this 
> > > > group have been fantastic, keep it up! 
> > > > Jerry Matsick 
> > > 
> > > 
> > 
> > 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Herb Brannon 
> 
>