[PRCo] Re: Ancient trolley cars

[Richard Allman]

Fred-dou've STUMPED me re: the date! Did the 9000's enter regular service in 
1980? I'm reasonably certain that the 100's on SEPTA-Red Arrow entered 
regular service in 1982. BUT, if there ever was a question for C. Maximus 
aka Russ Jackson, this is it! He will surely know this one!RICH
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Fred Schneider" <fwschneider at comcast.net>
To: <pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org>
Sent: Friday, July 25, 2008 1:17 PM
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."
>
>