[PRCo] Re: One-man cars in Pittsburgh

[Schneider Fred]

Correct again ... 1938 PUC order ... not edit.

On Jan 23, 2009, at 10:01 AM, Schneider Fred wrote:

> Let me correct something I wrote here ... the 1938 PUC edit was
> deadman control on one-man cars by 1938.   If you had an unconverted
> car in Pennsylvania with Jones control and you simply put the handles
> on the pipes that came up through the seat frames ... sorry guys ...
> you were going to run it with one man after 1938.   That does not say
> you could not use the car.   You simply had to put a conductor on
> it.   But Pittsburgh could not use it on their schedules.
>
> Did they remember the regulation of Rege Cordic chartered a tow-car
> in the 1950s?   I have no clue.
>
> How about if the railfans chartered a snow plow in the 1960s?  PAT
> didn't have to pay attention to the PUC.   They were not a private
> company.
>
> On Jan 23, 2009, at 9:55 AM, Schneider Fred wrote:
>
>> Deadman control was not required by PUC edict until 1938.   I think
>> the 5400s and 5500s at least came with it.   The 4200s through 4700s
>> did not.   The design technology was there by 1916.   Self lapping
>> brakes were probably one of those things which could have been built
>> at any time but were not because no one said we wanted them until e
>> started to put air brakes on buses and trucks ... the first air brake
>> valves on the Brill trolley coaches were the same as on Birney cars
>> and were mounted to work with the left hand.   When someone decided
>> it might work easier if you used a foot, then the self-lapping valve
>> came into being.   PRC put them on the low-floor cars when they wee
>> converted to high speed cars and only then.   The reason that 3756
>> and 4398 have them is that both were rebuilt as high speed cars.
>> The cars running in Washington PA and Donora in 1953 were all low-
>> speed double end cars and had manually lapped valves.
>>
>> The route cards show schedule hours but not hours per day per man.
>> Cannot answer that question.   Someone needs to look at union
>> contracts and federal and state legislation.   I think you just
>> volunteered.
>>
>>
>> On Jan 23, 2009, at 7:17 AM, Dennis Fred Cramer wrote:
>>
>>> So the move to one man cars was well underway before the economy
>>> hit the
>>> tank.
>>>
>>> How does the data reflect the changes in technology?  ie:  money vs.
>>> tokens, deadman controllers, self-lapping brakes, shorter work
>>> hours for
>>> operators, & eventually PCC's?
>>>
>>>
>>> Dennis F. Cramer
>>>       Trombone
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>
>