[PRCo] Re: Pittsburgh, Knoxville and St Clair Railway

[Dwight Long]

Derrick

I got the part about it being a Daft system, which is usually thought of as a counterpart to the Van de Poele "troller" system with OLE and flexible wires connecting the OLE contactor ("troller") and the powered vehicle.  However, it is also claimed that Leo Daft invented the third rail system.  

What I find curious is the slot between the rails in the foreground.  On the trestle there seems also to be provision for some sort of apparatus between the rails.  Could this have been Daft's third rail, a sort of conduit, which was later replaced by his OLE system?  Or is it the remnant of an earlier cable system?

Take a closer look at the first fot.  Supports for the OLE are clearly visible on the trestle part of the line, but there does not appear to be any contact wire strung on them.  The slot appears continuous up to the place where the workers are congregated, where there is a gap in it on both tracks.  Now look at the "slot" on the actual trestle.  It could not be very deep or it would have cut the bridge ties and destroyed their structural integrity.  But it would have been deep enough to enclose a small contact rail?

Mysteries!

Dwight
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Derrick Brashear 
  To: pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org 
  Sent: Sunday, 01 August, 2010 09:44
  Subject: [PRCo] Re: Pittsburgh, Knoxville and St Clair Railway


  http://www.lifeinwesternpa.org/viewDetail.asp?SpecSub=Cars%2CStreetcars&title=Transportation+-%3E+Cars%2FStreetcars&ID=118#

  suggests the portion along Brosville (Birmingham, at the time) used
  trollers, anyway...

  On Sun, Aug 1, 2010 at 9:03 AM, Derrick Brashear <shadow at dementia.org> wrote:
  > It was a Daft operation, so that seemed conceivable, but there's no obvious sign of it between the sidewalk and the ramp.
  >
  > I dumped what I could find into a wikipedia article, and corrected another that claimed it was an. 1870s incline.
  >
  > Derrick
  >
  > On Aug 1, 2010, at 1:28 AM, Dwight Long <dwightlong at verizon.net> wrote:
  >
  >> Derrick
  >>
  >> From the photo,it looks more like a cable in a slot between the rails than a rack.
  >>
  >> Dwight
  >>
  >> ----- Original Message -----
  >> From: Derrick Brashear
  >> To: Pittsburgh Railways Group
  >> Sent: Saturday, 31 July, 2010 11:41
  >> Subject: [PRCo] Pittsburgh, Knoxville and St Clair Railway
  >>
  >>
  >> I could swear we talked about this, but I find no evidence...
  >>
  >> Apparently this came back what is now South 13th St in the South Side,
  >> then just before reaching the PV&C (PRR Mon Division) tracks, turned
  >> left between two houses, and went up a ramp, turning hard right *over*
  >> South 14th and jumping over the railroad, before heading up what is
  >> now Brosville. Was there in the 1890s, and was gone by 1901,
  >> presumably because the line over New Arlington Avenue was faster,
  >> lower maintenance, and served more people, and also this approximately
  >> paralleled the Knoxville Incline?
  >>
  >> Related:
  >> http://www.lifeinwesternpa.org/viewDetail.asp?SpecSub=Cars%2CStreetcars&title=Transportation+-%3E+Cars%2FStreetcars&ID=119
  >>
  >> This was the rack (geared) operation, presumably?
  >>
  >> --
  >> Derrick
  >>
  >>
  >>
  >
  >
  >



  -- 
  Derrick