[PRCo] Re: 3807

[Mark McGuire]

  Thanks for the photo, Ed! 


---------- Original Message ----------
From: "Edward H. Lybarger" <trams2 at comcast.net>
To: <pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org>
Subject: [PRCo] 3807
Date: Wed, 26 Aug 2009 09:18:13 -0400
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There was recently some discussion about PRCo 3807.  For years stories have
circulated about how this car never ran in service, but the facts do not
appear to bear this out.
 
Let's begin with the Charles Dengler note that accompanies the attached
photo of the car inside the Homewood Shops in November 1945:
 
"We have been told that 3807 made a round trip on the Charleroi line, and
she came back 8 inches out of line (her body).  Knowing PRCo track, this is
quite possible.  St Louis Car Co. built 3800-3814 in 1928.  St Louis Car Co
said they would not stock parts for the 3800s.  PRCo then did not pay for
3807, but kept her for parts, and the 3100, 3300 type trucks she sets [sic]
on, were used so that the original trucks could be spares for the other
3800s, they had a long wheel base and 28" wheels."
 
This is a story that a railfan could love.  It has that mystique that sets
this car apart as really different.  So what's wrong with it?
 
First...St. Louis Car warranted its products against structural defects, ot
it wouldn't have sold any.  Had there been such a problem in the beginning,
it would have been adjusted.
 
Secondly...and most compelling to me...is the fact that 3807 received a
complete #1 paint job on January 19, 1934, right on schedule for the series.
If it was damaged in 1928 and was never run (or paid for) in service, why
would it need new paint?  The fact that the "Watch Car Turn" lettering has
been added to the rear of the car (it was not there originally, as
illustrated in Union Switch & Signal's photo C-26772 of car 3802 when the
Washington signals were new) clearly implies that it was in service, as do
the Depression-era institutional advertising signs showing in the windows.
 
So clearly the car was in service for at least five years and four months.
What happened after that is the $64 question.
 
Ed



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