[PRCo] Re: Bent Pole

[Herb Brannon]

There were two cars made into so called double end PCCs in 1974. The reason
for doing this was the fact that there were so many breakdowns and
derailments. If a route became blocked by a "mishap" the double end cars
were to act as shuttle cars operating on one of the two double tracks in
order to maintain some sort of service from the "mishap" to the end of the
line. This, of course, would work only on 35 and 42/38 inasmuch as they were
the two routes completely double tracked. All operators were given training
on the reverse operation in hopes this would "fix" the undependable service
offered on the rail system in the mid 1970s. Were they in for a big
surprise. Local 85 of the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) objected, and
rightly so, to the use of the cars operating backward. Controllers were
obtained from, if I recall, San Francisco Muni Railway and placed under the
back seats. A few switches were added to control the rear headlight and one
set of doors and a horn. This was a very unsafe setup. The braking
controller did not respond well and the cars were prone to drift a lot in
addition to taking longer to stop than with the front brake pedal. The ATU
threatened to sue citing the possible injury or loss of life to passengers
and bystanders. PATransit finally gave up and the cars operated only in the
intended forward direction. The ATU even issued a written memo to all
SoHillsJct operators to refuse to operate these cars backwards if ordered to
do so by any supervisory personnel. In addition to the braking problem there
were also no windshield wipers (rear window wipers), no sander switch and if
operating on a track in the opposite of the normal direction of travel the
passengers would be let off into the center of the right of way or street.
Also, could you imagine operating outbound on the inbound track on either
Broadway in Dormont or Washington Road in Mt Lebanon ?  Not really a good
idea.
If you recall I just wrote a few days ago that I had a pole break into two
pieces after it dewired on the Castle Shannon side of the Saw Mill Run
Bridge ? This was perhaps the only redeeming feature of these cars in having
two trolley poles. When the normal rear pole broke I cut the trolley rope,
put the wheel-end of the pole inside the car, raised the front pole and back
polled to Castle Shannon Loop under restricted speed. Waited there for a
replacement and turned to car over to the mechanic when he arrived with my
change-out car.

I would have to check to be sure, I think one or maybe both of them were
returned to normal single end cars sometime later.

On Mon, Mar 30, 2009 at 3:02 PM, ROBERT R ROCKWELL <w3syt1 at msn.com> wrote:

> Here is one in the list files that shows the back of a 16-series Interurban
> converted to double ender by Pat;  this is the standard catcher:
>
> http://lists.dementia.org/files/pittsburgh-railways/1780-rear-OB_SmithfieldCarson_1974_JBHolland.jpg
> <
> http://lists.dementia.org/files/pittsburgh-railways/1780-rear-OB_SmithfieldCarson_1974_JBHolland.jpg
> >
> This thing (1780) ran in service like this ?
>
> Robert Rockwell
> w3syt1 at msn.com<mailto:w3syt1 at msn.com>
>  ----- Original Message -----
>  From: Phillip Clark Campbell<mailto:pcc_sr at yahoo.com>
>  To: pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org<mailto:
> pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org>
>
>


-- 
Herb Brannon
On America's North Coast