[PRCo] Re: Ancient trolley cars

[Edward H. Lybarger]

I think Dengler photographed 1700 in December '49 on the North Side on 22.
The official in-service date is 12-7-49.

1700 became 4009, which was one of the cars used on September 5, 1999...the
day after the last day of scheduled PCC service (I won't say "revenue,"
because they didn't charge fares the last week).

So it wasn't quite 50 years, by a hair more than two months.

The 1600s that weren't rebuilt were scrapped or otherwise off the property
(Ed Mitchell still has a few) by the Spring of 1973.

-----Original Message-----
From: pittsburgh-railways-bounce at lists.dementia.org
[mailto:pittsburgh-railways-bounce at lists.dementia.org] On Behalf Of Fred
Schneider
Sent: Friday, July 25, 2008 1:18 PM
To: pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org
Subject: [PRCo] Ancient trolley cars

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."