[PRCo] Re: Merry Christmas Westmoreland County

[John Swindler]

The cruel and unusual punishment was catching the 5:35 train.  Even the dog reluctantly came down the steps at 4:30 with her eyes almost shut.
 
Could not discern any unique 'odor' in track area around 35th St. nor south of Walnut station.  But City Hall station was another matter.
 
As a warning, the video cameras will soon arrive. 
> From: fwschneider at comcast.net> Subject: [PRCo] Re: Merry Christmas Westmoreland County> Date: Wed, 10 Dec 2008 22:34:51 -0500> To: pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org> > Amen brother, Amen. Just going to Philadelphia is like stepping > into another world.> > I know that is cruel. We used to consider our state employment > offices in Philadelphia as non-functioning. Then when I worked with > Dave Roach and had to work state wide I found that Philadelphia and > Pittsburgh may have been two cities but the people behaved totally > differently. The staff in Philly didn't work. If you told them to > work, they would do nasty things like emptying pencil sharpeners into > the file cabinets. They I slowly began to realize that the whole > city functioned that way. It wasn't just us. I walked into a > Stouffer's Restaurant one night for dinner. I stood at the door for > five minutes. Finally as asked the cashier if there was a hostess. > She said, "Yeah, that's her over there talking to her friends. Wait > another five or ten minutes and she'll get to you." I said, "Bull > shit." I turned and walked out. A few months later when I was back > in town the restaurant was out of business. Wonder why? And Russ > Jackson wanted to know if I knew where he could get a transmission > fixed on his VW. Turns out there was a VW dealer two blocks from > where he worked but they only did oil changes. They couldn't hire > any qualified mechanics. The solution was simply to give up on all > repair work. And that strange spell in the Broad Street subway? > I once saw a guy adding to the smell at 5:00 in the afternoon right > in the middle of hundreds of people ... sadly he missed the third > rail. I would have enjoyed watching him light up. I think Rich > Allman told me that there is a special provision in the law for > people living in Philadelphia that allows them to carry their license > plate inside the car so it will not be stolen ... I've seen as many > as three in block with the corners containing annual renewal sticker > cut off with tin snips. (For those of you outside Pennsylvania who > wonder why? Insurance is compulsory to get a license plate and in > Philadelphia the rate for insurance can be well over a thousand bucks > a year for a junker. So they buy a car. Insure it. Get the > plate. Cancel the insurance. Then steal someone else's plate.) > Every time I had to drive into the city, I took the oldest car in the > fleet. It's a city wide malaise. And you wonder why the city lost > one-third of its population since 1950? The good people moved out.> > On Dec 10, 2008, at 9:43 PM, John Swindler wrote:> > >> > Will find out Friday. Off to SEPTA tomorrow on the 5:35. This > > constitutes cruel and unusual punishment.> >> >> From: fwschneider at comcast.net> Subject: [PRCo] Re: Merry Christmas > >> Westmoreland County> Date: Wed, 10 Dec 2008 21:12:01 -0500> To: > >> pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org> > That differential is changing. > >> At Thanksgiving it was more like 20 > cents.> > On Dec 10, 2008, > >> at 8:38 PM, Edward H. Lybarger wrote:> > > I doubt if VW or Sony > >> ever had any ownership in this facility. > > I'll bet it> > > >> belongs to an industrial development authority. The story is going > >> > > around> > that there are two tenants wanting to take space in > >> the place...but > > they> > were going to sublet from Sony anyway, > >> not replace Sony.> >> > Yes, I coined the name of the railroad.> > >> >> > I'll bet gas is $1.39 or $1.49 in Carlisle, because it's > >> $1.79 at > > the end of> > my street. There has typically been a > >> 30-40-cent differential.> >> > -----Original Message-----> > From: > >> pittsburgh-railways-bounce at lists.dementia.org> > > >> [mailto:pittsburgh-railways-bounce at lists.dementia.org] On Behalf > >> Of> > Schneider Fred> > Se!> > nt: Wednesday, December 10, 2008 4:43 PM> > To: pittsburgh- > > railways at dementia.org> > Subject: [PRCo] Merry Christmas > > Westmoreland County> >> > For those that did not see it....> >> > > > Back in the 1980s Volkswagen was touted as the economic savior of > > > > southern> > Westmoreland County when the opened a brand new > > factory to> > build the Golf automobile; the American version was > > called a Rabbit.> > I nicknamed mine Thumper. After a few years of > > the union beating> > them to death including pouring things like > > sugar into the gas > > tanks of> > brand new cars, VW of America > > threw in the towel and closed the> > plant. The United Auto Workers > > won. They didn't have to work any> > more.> >> > Eventually VW sold > > the plant to Sony. The announcement that made> > today's papers is > > that SONY is laying off 8,000 people worldwide.> > Closing the New > > Stanton plant in February is included. A total of> > 560 people in > > Westmoreland County will be idled. Note the word> > worldwide. > > Underscore it!> > . Don't for one minute think we are in> > this by ourselves.> >> > > > Wil> > l we tear up the Milton Shapp Memorial Railroad or will someone> > > > else buy the empty factory? (I think it was Ed Lybarger who coined> > > > that name after Governor Shapp spent millions to build a branch > > > > north from> > Mount Pleasant to the factory for Volkswagen.)> >> > > > If you want to tie this to trolleys, the factory was probably > > half way> > between the Hunker and Hecla Junction mainline routes > > of West Penn > > Railways> > south of Greensburg.> >> > Back to > > worldwide. If you have not picked up on it, General Motors> > has > > factories in something like eight countries. If we bail them> > > > out, we are bailing out the economies of seven other countries. If> > > > we don't bail out GM, Ford and Chrysler, we also let the other> > > > suppliers collapse. They are also building parts for BMW, Honda,> > > > Nissan, Toyota, Mercedes Benz who also have factories in this > > > > country. If> > the guy making seat fabric and wiring harnesses and > > tires goes > > down, so do> > those other cars and their f!> > actories close and> > layoff people. Goes back to I see the > > problem but I don't see the> > answers.> >> > Lowest gas price I > > saw today was $1.69 9/10s at a Sheetz station.> >> >> >> >> >> >> > _________________________________________________________________> > Send e-mail anywhere. No map, no compass.> > http://windowslive.com/Explore/hotmail? > > ocid=TXT_TAGLM_WL_hotmail_acq_anywhere_122008> >> > 
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