[PRCo] Re: regarding picture in link...

[Ken & Tracie]

Yes, both are drawing the "Sweet 600" from overhead. Taken along one of the 
former Red Arrow suburban lines currently operated by SEPTA.

I do not know if the new car was being tested prior to being placed into 
regular service or if it was in regular service while the orange Brill was 
on a fan trip.

K.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "robert simpson" <bobs at pacbell.net>
To: <pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org>
Sent: Monday, August 04, 2008 2:59 PM
Subject: [PRCo] Re: regarding picture in link...


> Hi Fred (or whoever posted the link);
>
>  Regarding the picture....
>
>  Are both cars running off a 600 VDC overhead line?
>
>  Thanks
>
>  Bob from California
>  Where English is sometimes heard
>
>  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
>
> Fred Schneider <fwschneider at comcast.net> wrote:
>  Machinery evolves over time, doesn't it. (Retorical.) We have gone
> from breaker point ignition systems to solid station ignition in cars
> and from carburetors to fuel injection but they are still gasoline
> burning behemoths. Our trolley cars have gone from field weakening
> control to series-parallel control to series-parallel with field
> weakening for higher speeds to thrystor control to AC propulsion
> schemes but they are still trolley cars on steel wheels on steel
> rails. OK, so we have plastic seats that the little bastards can't
> chop up like they can leather. We also air condition them since
> about 1970 but does that make it any less a trolley car? Because
> General Motors figured out how to put air bags instead of steel
> springs on buses to get under Minnesota's weight limit in 1953 for a
> 40 foot bus, did that make it any less a bus? Hell no, but the
> invention carried through to the Aerotrain and later to the Budd
> Silverliners in railroad commuter service.
>
> The first time I encountered the term light railway, it was a good
> British term. The Brits used it for any railroad that was not part
> of British Railways. The Derwent Valley Light Railway, for example,
> was a common carrier that ran out of York, England, in 1960 with an
> 0-6-0 steam locomotive built in 1896. I rode that sucker. We
> stopped at every farmer's field to open and close the gates across
> the tracks. That was the first time I had ever seen a "light rail"
> but I had encountered the term in British literature previously.
>
> So we adopted the term. And now our politicians hang it on anything
> they want.
>
> The strangest example of a Light Railway project is between
> Lancaster, Harrisburg and ultimately, Mechanicsburg, Pensylvania.
> It isn't a light railway. But the politicians say it is. It is
> nothing more than a political scheme to fund Amtrak's commuter
> service in the Harrisburg - Philadelphia corridor beyond SEPTA's
> jurisdiction at the Chester - Lancaster county line. Every so often
> it appears in the Harrisburg Patriot or Harrisburg Evening News or
> the Lancaster newspapers as a light rail line. Remember,
> politicians must always obfuscate the truth for only through a stupid
> electorate can they stay in office.
>
> If any of you opened up the file I sent last week the list all the
> new light rail and heavy rail lines in the USA and Canada ... I have
> pretty much used light rail and synonymous with trolley car or
> streetcar. Russ Jackson (an industry consultant, industry employee
> and friend) always felt that light rail was a concept that allowed
> for a vehicle to move on streets in mixed traffic. I can easily buy
> into that. We have, however, created some even some lighter weight
> vehicles which we are now calling streetcars or trolley cars, and we
> are using the Portland Streetcar or Sound Transit in Tacoma or
> Washington's Anacostia project as the examples. I am not willing to
> distinguish because I'm going to stick with Russ's concept. My
> definition for heavy rail was anything with high platform loading,
> such BART, LACMTA's Red and Purple lines, CTA, WAMATA, New York's
> subways. The rubber-tired subway in Montreal fits that definition.
>
> The list I put out does not include the third, fourth and fifth
> categories. We have a list of commuter railroad lines if anyone
> wants it. I think we are looking for someone who wants to team up
> with us and do the other two lists, i.e. inclines and museum
> trolleys. Inclines are easily independent of the others. But
> museums are hard to separate from heritage lines operated by
> operating agencies and any of you that opened the file I sent last
> week will have discovered, there are some quasi-museum lines included
> with the light rail lines because they operate a large number of days
> of the year, the run on public turf, and the have their hands in
> public pockets. Therefore, whoever does the museum list needs to
> coordinate it with us.
>
> End of Fred's rant.
>
> On Aug 4, 2008, at 3:39 PM, Ken & Tracie wrote:
>
>> I briefly argued with a friend who claims a "light rail vehicle" is
>> NOT a
>> "modern" trolley, but an entirely new technology.
>> So I sent him the attached photo.
>>
>> His reply?
>>
>> "You win."
>>
>> K.
>>
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "Fred Schneider"
>> To:
>
>> Sent: Sunday, August 03, 2008 4:23 PM
>> Subject: [PRCo] Re: [PRCo]End of a Street car line?
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>> In December 2008, when the Phoenix light rail opens, we will have 58
>>> cities in the Unites States and Canada with light rail or heavy
>>> rail. Note that we have changed the name to make the politicians
>>> feel good. Only in San Diego can we still feel good calling it a
>>> trolley!
>>
>>
>> -- Attached file removed by Ecartis and put at URL below --
>> -- Type: image/jpeg
>> -- Size: 103k (106424 bytes)
>> -- URL : http://lists.dementia.org/files/pittsburgh-railways/
>> redarrow0001a.jpg
>>
>>
>>
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