[PRCo] Re: Car house - yard policies

[Herb Brannon]

On Wed, Jan 21, 2009 at 4:21 PM, Phillip Clark Campbell <pcc_sr at yahoo.com>wrote:
> Did PRC have a general policy for 'parking' trolleys
> at the end of the day?  Did this vary from barn to barn?
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1970s South Hills Jct Car House Pull-Ins (PATransit)

Cars returning from downtown via tunnel (after AM rush) took switch onto
42/38 outbound track. A 'Car Shifter' would be standing there waiting and
would direct the operator to the required track. Normally, in the case of a
1600-series car still painted in PRCo colors, you would be directed onto the
former 40 outbound track. You would pull to the end of the track (or to the
leading (parked) car) and make your car safe. Sometimes you would be
directed to park on a southbound storage track, sometimes you were directed
to go to Palm Garden Loop, turn around then park on a northbound storage
track, and sometimes you ran your car into the car house if the car needed
service. At times one of the 'hostlers' would do the parking for the
operator. AM cars returning via Warrington Ave pulled across the 35/36/37
tracks and received instructions on where to park.

Cars returning from the outer ends of any routes (except 49) in the PM ran
back (inbound) with SOUTH HILLS JCT on the destination signs and made their
last stop in front of the SHJct administration building. You then proceeded
around the administration building, stopping at the 49 car stop. Here the
till in the farebox was 'pulled' are replaced with an empty till. You then
proceeded across the 35/36/37 tracks and were told where to park the car. PM
pull-ins required more than just parking the car. They had to be cleaned
inside and out and placed ready for the next AM. Hostlers moved the cars
through the cleaning area and onto their final parking track. The operator
only placed his/her car on a close by storage track (directed by the
'shifter') so the 'hostlers' could take care of everything else  Route 49
cars had their farebox 'pulled' at their last car stop (south side of admn
building) and were directed where to park from that point. Interesting is
when I used the designation "his/her" (two sentences ago) the "her" referred
only to Hattie Bartosik and Daria Washington. Today, the "her" would refer
to half the station.

Noteworthy is the fact that the former 40 tracks were utilized by parking
cars (normally the 1600s still in PRCo paint and by the late 1970s also
rebuilt 1600s) pointing their respective direction on the outbound and
inbound tracks. This meant the cars parked on the inbound track had to be
backed in. This was always done by a 'shifter' (I guess they thought they
were the quickest at doing this) who had to take the car to Palm Garden
Loop, turn around and come up the 42/38 tracks then pull into the middle of
the 35/36/37 tracks and back onto the inbound former 40 track. The 'car
shifter' always assisted in the backup move. There was always a lot of gong
ringing when this was taking place along with a lot of shouting. It was
interesting to watch.

And that's basically how we did it between 1972 and 1980.


Herb Brannon
On America's North Coast