[PRCo] Re: Pittsburgh MU Car Operation

[Schneider Fred]

Might have some'sing t'do with how developed Knoxville was at that  
time and how undeveloped the outer end of Carrick was.

Remember that the Liberty Tubes are what opened the whole South Hills  
to development and they were not opened to traffic until 1924.

On Sep 22, 2009, at 3:30 PM, Edward H. Lybarger wrote:

> 30 cars on Knoxville?  It was only a 3.3 mile-long line!  And 15  
> trains
> would provide 4-minute headways.
>
> Yet only 26 cars on Carrick, which was twice as long?
>
> Something does not compute.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: pittsburgh-railways-bounce at lists.dementia.org
> [mailto:pittsburgh-railways-bounce at lists.dementia.org] On Behalf Of
> Schneider Fred
> Sent: Tuesday, September 22, 2009 2:11 PM
> To: pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org
> Cc: Siebert Chick; Bromley John; Holland B. James
> Subject: [PRCo] Pittsburgh MU Car Operation
>
> I have previously stated on this list that the Pittsburgh Railways  
> route
> cards showed multiple unit car operation only for a few months  
> after the
> 5000s were delivered and that the operation ended on route
> 88 FRANKSTOWN before the 5100s arrived.
>
> Chick Siebert told me that he had ridden on an MU train on route 82  
> LINCOLN
> but the route cards did not show any such train operation.
>
> The only known picture of an MU train signed for route 82 was a  
> publicity
> photo taken not on that route but on the route 63, 64, 66,
> 67 trunk at the east end of Frick Park.   That picture was published
> in a PRMA booklet.
>
> One of the problems with the above information is that there was  
> also a
> photograph floating around that shows a 5100 in train service on
> route 88 in East Liberty.   But according to the route cards, the
> service ended long before those cars were delivered.   And we know
> that the "Scribe de Jour"  (That's a fabulous Lybarger term) wasn't
> always perfect when recording the facts for the "Railways Company."
> So I didn't want to totally dismiss it.   When I typed the route
> cards into the computer, I typed what they said but my mind was still
> saying, "Not everything here is correc-e-mundo."
>
> Well, guys, new facts.   If you have a copy of A. E. R. A. PROGRESS
> IN CARS, subtitled "Report on Committee on Essential Deatures on  
> Modern
> Cars, 1926, published by the American Electric Railway Association,  
> 292
> Madison Avenue, New York City, then turn to page
> 63 ....  and we have a contemporary published document that shows  
> that PRC
> was running 160 multiple unit electric cars (5000-5099 and
> 5100-5159) and that they were running a base service of every 6  
> minutes in
> trains on Frankstown using 34 cars, and a rush hour
> headway of 3 minutes using 64 cars.   Lincoln was using 30 cars in
> the AM and PM rush hours to provide a 6 1/2 minute headway with
> trains but single cars in the base.   And get this ... Carrick was
> using 26 cars to provide a 6 minute headway with trains in the rush
> hour and single cars in the base.   MU trains on Carrick?   First
> time that was ever documented.   Another first:  The remaining 30
> cars were assigned to KNOXVILLE for a 6 1/2 minute rush hour only  
> headway in
> train operation.
>
> But that adds to 26 + 64 + 30 + 30  = 160 cars out of the 160 car  
> fleet at
> that time.
>
> Now find me a pitchur of a train of 5000s or 5100s wending its way  
> up South
> 18th Street!!!!!!!!!!!!
>
> Separate copy to Bromley since he is off list for vacation ...  
> maybe it will
> catch up to him in some hotel in die Schweiz.
>
>
>
>
>