[PRCo] Ancient trolley cars

[Fred Schneider]

This is an open letter to Rich Allman and Ed Lybarger ...

I recently became aware that the Philly Kawasaki or K-cars (the 9000s  
and 100s on Red Arrow) have lasted in service longer than any PCC  
cars in Pittsburgh except for perhaps the 1700s.

Now let's address the 1700s...   What day in 1948 or 1949 did the  
first one enter revenue service, Ed?   And what day in 1999 did the  
last one go out of service?   Did 1700 get a full 50 years of  
service?   Did any car get 50 years?

Now the 1600s.   Seems to be that they were out of service about  
1972?   Correct?   That is about 27 years?   Aside from the 1700,  
they lasted longer than any other Pittsburgh PCC cars.

Rich: What month did 9000 go into public service in Philadelphia in  
1980?   Has it passed the 28 year mark yet?   Is it in service?    
When did the last car go into service?

One thing is certain, it is older than any PCC that ever ran on the  
streets in Washington, Baltimore, Dallas, Los Angeles, Detroit,  
Montreal, Chicago, Vancouver, Minneapolis, St.Louis, San Diego,  
Birmingham, Cincinnati, Kansas City.

The only PCCs that I can think of that have run longer than a K-car  
are those many times rebuilt war-time cars in Boston (65 years old  
this year), a couple of all-electrics in Toronto in excursion  
service, the F line fleet in San Francisco that is pushing 60 years  
old, and the El Paso cars that got up to about 38 years and the  
Pittsburgh Westinghouse 1700s that got to 50 years and a bunch of  
crap cars that SEPTA was running after the GOH program.  I am not  
counting the current cars on Girard because they do not have PCC  
trucks and the electrical components are all new and most of the body  
parts are all new ... I count them as "budget new cars."