[PRCo] Fwd: Pittsburgh MU Car Operation

[Schneider Fred]

He's back.....
> From: John Bromley <johnfbromley at rogers.com>
> Date: September 24, 2009 8:47:13 PM EDT
> To: Fred Schneider <fwschneider at comcast.net>
> Subject: Re: Pittsburgh MU Car Operation
>
> And it did, but had no time to respond.  Now I'm back, dead pretty  
> much as
> it may only be 8.42 in Toronto but my day started at 5.30 AM ZURICH  
> time
> (11.30 PM yesterday over 'ere).
>
> Just because 160 of 160 were assigned to routes doesn't necessarily  
> mean all
> 160 were in service at any given moment.  They were ASSIGNED to  
> routes (or,
> strictly speaking, to CARHOUSES for those routes) but actual  
> scheduled cars
> in route service may have been, and probably was, slightly less.   
> TTC did
> the same sort of thing, but actual in-service numbers were a bit  
> lower.
>
>
>> From: Fred Schneider <fwschneider at comcast.net>
>> Date: Tue, 22 Sep 2009 14:11:02 -0400
>> To: Pittsburgh Railways Group <pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org>
>> Cc: Siebert Chick <csiebert at paonline.com>, John Bromley
>> <johnfbromley at rogers.com>, "Holland B. James" <PRCoModels at P-R-Co.com>
>> Subject: 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.
>>
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