[PRCo] Re: Boston Resilient Wheels

[Phillip Clark Campbell]

I have heard the same, Mr.Cefer.  Logic causes one to wonder why other systems didn't have similar problems with shunts but only Boston doesn't it.  In some photos it appears that SR wheels have shunts 180 degrees apart on the front side plate so guard rails couldn't interfere here could they.  Also from photos it appears that there could be shunts on the front plate of R wheels but can't really see them.  From what I can tell of shunts on the back side, the guard rails would have to be extremely high to hit the shunts wouldn't they and then these guards would probably interfere with the plate connecting the two track brakes on each truck and causing damage here.
Political interference is indicated in Mr.Schneider's comments isn't it while using safety as the concern.


Phil



----- Original Message ----
From: Boris Cefer <westinghouse at iol.cz>
To: pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org
Sent: Wednesday, February 13, 2008 9:05:48 AM
Subject: [PRCo] Re: Boston Resilient Wheels


It 
had 
political 
background. 
Streetcars 
were 
undesired 
in 
Boston 
and 
the problem 
with 
wheel 
shunts 
and 
incorrectly 
working 
track 
circuits, 
rather imaginary, 
was 
used 
as 
an 
excuse 
for 
use 
of 
solid 
wheels. 
Solid 
wheels 
were noisy 
and 
thus 
an 
another 
reason 
to 
get 
rid 
of 
streetcars.

B

----- 
Original 
Message 
----- 
From: 
"Fred 
Schneider" 
<fwschneider at comcast.net>
To: 
<pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org>
Sent: 
Monday, 
February 
11, 
2008 
7:33 
PM
Subject: 
[PRCo] 
Boston 
Resilient 
Wheels


There 
was 
a 
dialogue 
going 
back 
and 
forth 
that 
I 
am 
summarizing 
here regarding 
the 
removal 
of 
resilient 
wheels 
from 
the 
Boston 
PCC 
cars.

Two 
close 
friends, 
Phil 
Craig 
and 
Russ 
Jackson 
filled 
me 
in 
on 
the details.  
 
Rather 
than 
cut 
and 
pasted 
paragraphs 
of 
commentary, 
it seems 
what 
was 
happening 
is 
that 
the 
shunts 
around 
the 
resilient rubber 
inserts 
were 
failing 
and 
thus 
not 
shorting 
out 
signal circuits.  
 
I 
recall 
from 
earlier 
correspondence 
that 
perhaps 
the commonwealth 
had 
something 
to 
do 
with 
forcing 
the 
hand 
of 
the 
MBTA into 
solid 
steel 
wheels 
on 
the 
PCCs 
because 
of 
the 
safety 
issue 
with the 
PCCs.

Now, 
why 
were 
they 
failing?  
 
Was 
it 
wheel 
maintenance?  
 
Russ pointed 
out 
that 
it 
had 
nothing 
to 
do 
with 
wheels.  
 
It 
had everything 
to 
do 
with 
sloppy 
guard 
rail 
maintenance 
that 
was 
shearing off 
the 
the 
shunts.  
 
He 
blamed 
it 
on 
the 
track 
department.

And 
now 
I'm 
going 
to 
delete 
all 
those 
messages. 








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