[PRCo] Re: 3800 Series LOST

[John Swindler]

It was Pittsburgh, not SEPTA general manager, and it was from newspaper article in late 1980s on PAT Executive Director's goals in which increasing ridership did not make the top five.  I should still have the news clip somewhere in large pile of Pittsburgh news releases, press clippings, etc to sort.
 
John
 
> From: fwschneider at comcast.net> Subject: [PRCo] Re: 3800 Series LOST> Date: Thu, 8 May 2008 16:45:32 -0400> To: pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org> 
>  Last Saturday night a group of us ... Russ Jackson, John Swindler, > Joe Boscia, myself were sitting on Ed Lybarger's back porch. Herb > Brannon was there too. The discussion was about contemporary > industry practices. Joe worked for New Jersey Transit and is now in > consulting. Russ worked for Louis T. Klauder in rail car design. > After than he did the same thing for SEPTA and was in charge of the > Kawasaki surface cars and the N-5 project (P&W) and then he went back > into corporate consulting ... I don't think he'll ever retire John > heads the senior citizen program for PennDOT. Somehow the > discussion brought up the qualifications of the current SEPTA general > manager: fund raising, political schmoozing, etc., but at no point > was increasing passenger revenue part of the deal. Afterward > someone said we should have recorded it. So now you know why the > cars are now double-end again or you may have an inkling.> > fws3> > > > > On May 8, 2008, at 3:23 PM, Phillip Clark Campbell wrote:> > > Mr.Schneider!> >> >> > This is easily recognized isn't it -- NO OOOOPS about it is > > there!!. That still leaves the fact that the predominant equipment > > on PRC was single end doesn't it. The high-floor 4000s, 4700s thru > > 5500s, 3750s, 3700s, 3800s, 3600s all single end. Inherited > > equipment was hodge podge and with the introduction of the low- > > floor it became the standard equipment, predominantly single end. > > This made it very easy for the introduction of PCCs. A backup > > controller doesn't change the operating configuration does it.> >> >> > Phil> >> >> >> > ----- Original Message ----> >> From: Fred Schneider <fwschneider at comcast.net>> >> To: pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org> >> Sent: Wednesday, May 7, 2008 3:44:37 PM> >> Subject: [PRCo] Re: 3800 Series LOST> >>> >> OOOOPS! Phil, all of the early low-floor production cars were> >> double end. Note the word production.> >> The first four cars were converted trailers. They were initially> >> single-end but I think they evolved with time into double end cars.> >> The only one that last any length of time was 4423 which became an> >> instruction car and then became a play room for Bob Brown and company> >> in the old Pittsburgh Chapter of the National Railway Historical> >> Society. Most of the NRHS members were drafted during the war and> >> the car shell became a lovely candidate for a war time metal scrap> >> drive. After the war most of those guys created the Pittsburgh> >> Electric Railway Club. I think many years later there was a> >> Pittsburgh NRHS Chapter again but not the same guys. And there> >> really isn't any one I can ask. Note that there are three founding> >> members of PERC still around but all the old guys that were in the> >> prewar NRHS group are pushing up daisies.> >>> >> Then came the 4200s and 4300s. the double end motor cars came between> >> 1914 and 1917. There were also a dozen second hand double-end cars> >> from Beaver Valley Traction Company that PRC acquired in the 1920s> >> and numbered 4400-4411; they were built in 1917 as a tag onto the > >> 4350s.> >>> >> The single end cars were all built starting in 1917 and continuing> >> into 1927.> >>> >> The exception to that rule is that 3556 was the prototype for the> >> 3700-3714 interurbans.> >>> >> The 3750s were equivalent to the multiple unit equipped 5000s, 5100s> >> and 5200s except that they were built for interurban service. When> >> new they had toilets. They also had a higher gear ratio between> >> traction motor pinions and the bull gears on the axles allowing for> >> higher speeds but of course slower acceleration. When the company> >> selectively speeded up certain cars of the 4700-5549 group, I think> >> they also did all the 3750s. Ultimately ten of the 4350s were done,> >> probably for the 99 Glassport line and our 4398 is one of the few> >> high speed double end cars.> >>> >> One thing I noticed when the truck was apart a few weeks ago is that> >> it has helical drive gears. Now that wasn't something that the car> >> got when it was new. I suspect the helical gears were installed as> >> part of the rebuilding when the cars were speeded up to make them a> >> little less noisy. That was done in the early 1930s> >>> >> I put a roster on line perhaps five years ago and I'm putting it on> >> again. But you need Microsoft Word to open it.> >>> >> To make life easier for those who do not have Word, i.e. those who> >> have the home MS Works edition or have Word Perfect, I resaved it as> >> a text file. It isn't formatted into pages ... just a bloody run on> >> document, but you will be able to open it and read it.> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >> -- Attached file removed by Ecartis and put at URL below --> >> -- Type: application/octet-stream> >> -- Size: 105k (107520 bytes)> >> -- URL : > >> http://lists.dementia.org/files/pittsburgh-railways/ > >> PITTSBURGH_RAILWAYS_COMPANY_roster.doc> >>> >>> >> -- Attached file removed by Ecartis and put at URL below --> >> -- Type: text/plain> >> -- Size: 4 bytes> >> -- URL : http://lists.dementia.org/files/pittsburgh-railways/ > >> ecartjj7tty> >>> >>> >> -- Attached file removed by Ecartis and put at URL below --> >> -- Type: text/plain> >> -- Size: 28k (28845 bytes)> >> -- URL : > >> http://lists.dementia.org/files/pittsburgh-railways/ > >> PITTSBURGH_RAILWAYS_COMPANY_roster.txt> >>> >>> >> -- Attached file removed by Ecartis and put at URL below --> >> -- Type: text/plain> >> -- Size: 5k (5822 bytes)> >> -- URL : http://lists.dementia.org/files/pittsburgh-railways/ > >> ecartvXUisn> >> >> >> > > > ______________________________________________________________________ > > ______________> > Be a better friend, newshound, and> > know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile. Try it now. http:// > > mobile.yahoo.com/;_ylt=Ahu06i62sR8HDtDypao8Wcj9tAcJ> >> >> > 
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