[PRCo] Re: Pgh Railways Street Car Operators Wanted Ad

[Schneider Fred]

Why does the post office or the police department have weight and  
height standards?

I suspect it would be difficult to run a streetcar if you were not  
around 68 inches tall.  It isn't just standing behind the controller  
and the brake valve and making change.  Remember, you have to reach  
up to attack the destination sign crank up on the canopy of a yellow  
car.   The canopy switch (600 volt main switch) is above the  
windshield on many older cars.  It is called a canopy switch because  
on many older cars it was mounted on the roof canopy.    On a 4300,  
the transfer switches used to change ends are in a case above the  
front left side window ... you have to be tall enough to reach it.

Philadelphia lowered the destination sign boxes during the war so  
that women could reach them.   As I've aged I'm shrunk from 70 inches  
down to 69 inches.   Even at full height, without the collapsed  
vertibrae in my back, I could not reach the heater switches on a  
Philly double-end car (like 5326 at Arden) without having a stool on  
which to stand.

Eventually, and I don't know what year, Pittsburgh Railways painted a  
1400 as an advertising car asking for women to apply for motorman's  
jobs.   It was sometime during the war.    When you can't get men,  
you take women.   Even the military does that today.   And guys ...  
no I am not a guy who rejects women ... just a realist.  Frankly I  
think its great that Bob Dietrich's daughter is enjoying working as a  
bridge inspector.

Did I answer the question with sufficient clarity?

On Oct 23, 2009, at 1:35 AM, Mark McGuire wrote:

>  Makes perfect sense...in that era. Could you imagine posting an ad  
> like that these days?
>
> ---------- Original Message ----------
> From: robert netzlof <wb3iqe at rocketmail.com>
> To: pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org
> Subject: [PRCo] Re: Pgh Railways Street Car Operators Wanted Ad
> Date: Thu, 22 Oct 2009 18:20:50 -0700 (PDT)
>
> --- On Thu, 10/22/09, Mark McGuire <macmarka at netzero.net> wrote:
>
>>  Interesting that if indeed a woman,
>> you'd have to be fairly tall by womens' standards. I'm
>> wondering why you had to be 5'8" or taller.
>
> So as to avoid hiring women without coming right out and saying so?
>
> Bob Netzlof a/k/a Sweet Old Bob
>
>
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