[PRCo] Re: MU service on Frankstown

[John Swindler]

Hi Fred
 
Maybe to get rid of a high floor car or single truck car from a predecessor?  
 
The low-floor trailer fleet didn't disappear with delivery of 5000s.  Maybe the higher performance level of mu train not needed, or could not be used, as would be similar to mixing PCC cars and low-speed cars on a route.  For operational scheduling reasons, perhaps a motor-trailer operation worked best on 88.  As single cars the 5000s could replace two older cars.  Did the 5000s stay on 88????  There were a lot of routes operating on Penn Ave.
 
Maybe the delivery of 5100s, 5200s, and 3750s was in anticipation of future plan that did not foresee one-man cars on routes like 88.  This is like asking why did so many cities buy PCC cars after WWII only to discontinue rail service a few years later.  
 
We keep forgetting that we are looking back to this era with 20/20 hindsight.  We know that there was a Great Depression around the corner.  PRC management didn't.  Likewise we know how auto ownership, suburban development, etc occurred.  
 
Just surmising.
 
John
 
> From: fwschneider at comcast.net> Subject: [PRCo] MU service on Frankstown> Date: Tue, 13 May 2008 22:28:48 -0400> To: pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org> > Here is an issue that cries out for resolution should anyone want to > read stacks of newspapers.> > Why did Pittsburgh Railways install MU cars on route 88 FRANKSTOWN > on December 10, 1924 only to eliminate the service on April 8, 1925?> > One might suspect that they converted the line to one-man operation > so that there would no longer be a labor saving by running MU > trains. That wasn't the case. While PRC was converting to one-man > service all through the period from 1926 to 1931, route 88 did not > get one-man cars until Feb. 9, 1930 on Sundays and October 6, 1930 on > Monday through Saturdays. In fact, the platform hours do not drop > completely on October 6-11, 1930 rather obviously because they > continued to run trailers in the rush hours on 88 FRANKSTOWN through > August 29, 1931 and they needed conductors on the motor cars to pass > bell signals from the trailer conductors to the motormen of the motor > cars.> > So why did they quit running the MU cars? And why did they buy the > 5100s, 5200s and 3750s after they quit running the 5000s on FRANKSTOWN?> > Maybe just reading the Sun Telly or the Press or the Post Gazette on > or about April 8, 1925 will yield an > answer..................................... > > 
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