[PRCo] Re: Pittsburgh car trucks

Tue Jul 14 12:43:11 EDT 2009

Probably the gross scale weight of the flat car used to ship it minus  
the net weight of the car stenciled on the side of car.

On Jul 14, 2009, at 9:08 AM, John Swindler wrote:

>
>
>
> So where did Pittsburgh Railways have a scale to measure car weights?
>
>
>
> And if PRC did not weigh the cars, then who did?  If it was the  
> manufacturer, were scale calibration tests done to insure  
> compatibility?  And did all manufacturers include similar  
> components before weighing a car?  Such as seats?
>
>
>
> Don't the railroads weigh freight cars?  Could the weights  
> represent a loaded flatcar minus the weight of the flatcar when the  
> cars were delivered?
>
>
>
> Could the weights represent a variety of calculation methods over  
> many years?  Did the clerk remember the process he used to  
> calculate the rate five years previously?
>
>
>
> Maybe the weights are nothing more than 'ball park guesstimates'.
>
>
>
> And why do you need car weights?  Bridges come to mind.  And didn't  
> Homewood have overhead cranes?  Beyond that, what degree of  
> accuracy is needed.
>
>
>
> John
>
>
>
>
>> From: trams2 at comcast.net
>> To: pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org
>> Subject: [PRCo] Re: Pittsburgh car trucks
>> Date: Tue, 14 Jul 2009 08:24:46 -0400
>>
>> By themselves, I doubt that they accounted for 2-1/2 tons. But I  
>> dunno.
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: pittsburgh-railways-bounce at lists.dementia.org
>> [mailto:pittsburgh-railways-bounce at lists.dementia.org] On Behalf  
>> Of Mark
>> McGuire
>> Sent: Monday, July 13, 2009 11:45 PM
>> To: pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org
>> Subject: [PRCo] Re: Pittsburgh car trucks
>>
>> Wouldn't the high back seats be considerably heavier than the  
>> standard
>> rataan(sp) seats?
>> ---------- Original Message ----------
>> From: Schneider Fred <fwschneider at comcast.net>
>> To: pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org
>> Subject: [PRCo] Re: Pittsburgh car trucks
>> Date: Mon, 13 Jul 2009 09:17:35 -0400
>>
>> I looked at that too and questioned it. I wondered if the toilet
>> and the extra partitions weighed more than the seats they replaced?
>> The larger pinion gears and smaller bull gears would probably be
>> offsetting so that probably doesn't matter.. We've also added field
>> weakening coils and contactors but I too have trouble believing  
>> that all the
>> minor modifications added up up 4500 pounds.
>>
>> My suspicion is that the discrepancy isn't really 4500 but closer  
>> to 1800.
>>
>> Notice, Ed, that the weights of the 5000s, the 5100s and the 5200s  
>> are
>> inconsistent and all four groups of cars (including the 3750s)  
>> were multiple
>> unit cars with the identical control package and couplers.
>>
>> The 5400s and 5500s came with K control and should have weighed about
>> the same. The 4800-4939 group were designed to tow trailers and had
>> K-43 control and the couplers were different. The 4700s were
>> single door cars with Jones control. I suspect that even though the
>> list was updated to 1937, the cars were never put on a scale after  
>> the 4700s
>> and 4800s had new front doors added.
>>
>> On Jul 13, 2009, at 8:50 AM, Edward H. Lybarger wrote:
>>
>>> What no one has been able to successfully explain to me is why the
>>> 3750s are listed as being 5000 pounds heavier as essentially  
>>> identical
>>> low floor cars in other series. We encountered this discrepancy when
>>> we were looking at things for 4398 a few years ago.
>>>
>>> I do not believe that there was that much difference in the weights.
>>>
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: pittsburgh-railways-bounce at lists.dementia.org
>>> [mailto:pittsburgh-railways-bounce at lists.dementia.org] On Behalf Of
>>> Schneider Fred
>>> Sent: Sunday, July 12, 2009 10:16 PM
>>> To: pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org
>>> Subject: [PRCo] Pittsburgh car trucks
>>>
>>> Do not know if I ever put this on line before ... might be useful to
>>> some of you.
>>> Comes from a Pittsburgh Railways drawing created in 1926 and revised
>>> in 1935.
>>>
>>> Shows car series numbers, trucks, and car weights:
>>>
>>> Purfesseur Fred
>>>
>>> SERIES TRUCK CAR WEIGHT
>>>
>>> 3100 Bemis 48,000
>>>
>>> 3400 Bemis 50,000
>>>
>>> 3500 St. Louis 58,000
>>>
>>> 3600 Baldwin 71,900
>>>
>>> 3700 M-26 27" dia. 49,000
>>>
>>> 3750 M-25 45,000
>>>
>>> 3800 M-27 49,500
>>>
>>> 4000 Brill 49-E-2 48,000
>>>
>>> 4100 Standard CP-50 48,000
>>>
>>> 4200 M-25 40,000
>>>
>>> 4250 M-25 40,000
>>>
>>> 4300 M-25 40,000
>>>
>>> 4350 M-25 41,000
>>>
>>> 4400 M-25 40,000
>>>
>>> 4700 M-25 38,000
>>>
>>> 48-4900 M-25 39,000
>>>
>>> 5000 M-25 43,200
>>>
>>> 5100 M-25 40,500
>>>
>>> 5200 M-25 40,500
>>>
>>> 5400 M-25 40,000
>>>
>>> 5500 M-25 40,000
>>>
>>> B200 M-25 28,000
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
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>>
>
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