[PRCo] Re: Returning Home

[Herb Brannon]

Once RTA's current CEO finds a new transit authority to ruin, that
plan will probably be valid again. The RTA "Transit 2012" plan
indicates three alternatives for heritage trolley service. Two routes
are along the lakefront and one includes the Detroit-Superior Bridge
lower level streetcar tracks. The plan does not indicate what heritage
cars would operate on it, however.

Where was that car stored? I don't recall it being under the Terminal
Tower with many (mostly C.A. & E.) of the Trolleyville cars. There are
8 or 9 C.A.&E. cars under there along with a couple PCCs and some old
Cleveland cars plus RTA's old equipment.

On Fri, May 8, 2009 at 8:42 AM, Edward H. Lybarger <trams2 at comcast.net> wrote:
> Wednesday and Thursday were busy days for PTM volunteers, as they worked to
> bring Pittsburgh Railways 4145 to the museum from its most recent home at
> the Lake Shore Electric facility in Cleveland.
>
> For the unfamiliar, 4145 is a 1911 high-floor car built in McKees Rocks.  It
> remained in service into the late 1930s and was then converted for snow
> scraper service.  Acquired by Magee Transportation Museum in Bloomsburg in
> 1968, 4145 was extensively rebuilt by the late Ed Blossom and ran on that
> museum's line until it was destroyed by Hurricane Agnes in 1972.  The
> following year, the car was purchased by Trolleyville USA just south of
> Cleveland, and following the sale of that property was stored, along with
> the bulk of their collection in hopes of establishing a new historic trolley
> operation in the city.  As that now appears to be unfeasible, the car was
> made available to PTM.  Costs were covered by a small number of generous
> individuals who made possible the acquisition and move.
>
> As good as the car is, it falls short of current restoration standards (not
> a big deal), and a number of items were never completed.  They will need to
> be dealt with, along with the re-re-gauging, which will require new wheels
> and axles (perhaps in stock) and replacement (definitely in stock) or major
> repair of one traction motor, along with less invasive work on the other
> three.  It would be nice to have 4145 running by its 100th birthday, but
> there are no guarantees, since the costs are yet undetermined and staff time
> is limited.  Adequate funding means that much of the work can be outsourced.
> Stay tuned.
>
> The move was covered in Wednesday's Tribune-Review, yesterday's and today's
> Post-Gazette, and today's Observer-Reporter, if anyone would like to view
> the articles and photos.
>
> Ed
>
>
>



-- 
Herb Brannon
On America's North Coast