[PRCo] Re: Early loops

[Fred Schneider]

COULD NOT HANDLE ... NOT COULD HANDLE.

On May 19, 2008, at 9:01 PM, Fred Schneider wrote:

> You guys are all grasping for an early loop to prove something ...
>
> Here is one.   Pittsburgh Railways opened the loop at 62nd and Butler
> on November 16, 1915.   When that happened only the 4000s and 4100s
> were on the property.  The route cards for Aspinwall make no mention
> of PAYE cars being used.  They may have neglected to mention their
> use.   They do mention that the Guyasuta Bridge (in O'Hara Township)
> was condemned in 1917 because it could handle "large" cars.
>
> Butler Street at the old Sharpesburg Bridge was probably a pretty
> congested location with 94 and 96 cars trying to run through and 95
> cars attempting cross over to cut back.
>
> For the youngsters on the list, PAYE stands for Pay As You Enter as
> opposed to the older PW or Pay Within scheme.   Under PW fare
> collection, the conductor waited until you took a seat and then he
> approached you and collected your fare.   And you looked at him with
> a perfectly straight face from behind your hastily raised newspaper
> and said, "You already got my fare."   So the PAYE scheme evolved to
> catch the cheats.   The earliest designs had the conductor at the
> rear of the car as in the 4000s and 4100s in Pittsburgh.   Then
> Philadelphia (I suspect that Thomas Mitten might have held the
> patent) about 1911 came along and suggested that we can put the
> conductor at the front the car behind the motorman and collect make
> the stops on the near side of the intersection, hence the cars were
> called Nearside cars.   Because of Mitten's involvements with both
> Philadelphia and Buffalo, both had Nearside cars.   Then the
> Cleveland transit commissioner patented a scheme in which the
> conductor was placed in front of the center door and it was named
> after him:  Peter Witt.
>
>