[PRCo] Re: (No

Mon Feb 8 19:19:40 EST 2010

ahhh - yes, upstate New York.  The only storm that I remember the quantities was January 1966.  Was heading back to Syracuse Univ. from Pittsburgh in a carpool.  We abandoned the car in Erie at a relative of the driver and decided to take the train the rest of the way.  When I mentioned to the conductor that "The New England States" was only two hours late, he replied 'not quite - they were the train from the day before running 26 hours late'.  When I called back home, parents said that good thing had left when we did - Pittsburgh had 18 inches of snow.  I still remember replying that Syracuse had 54 inches with more on the way.  I don't like winters anymore.  But I still have the slides of the street outside my dorm with the 'humps' in the snow indicating where cars were parked.  

As for the next storm today, the consensus on the bus this morning was that the 12:30 bus will be crowded today.  Expecting about a foot in the Susquehanna Valley.

As for the SEPTA and PAT shutdowns, there are service plans for dealing with excessive snowfall.  City governments can't keep the streets clear, cars get stuck, then everything falls apart.  It's a huge expenditure of resources for very few travelers.

On the equipment side, look at Bob's pix of the M4 train coming out of 69th St. yard.  Today's traction motors are not designed to be snow plows.  

As for Metrorail - that's another issue.

Cheers

John  

> Date: Mon, 8 Feb 2010 19:19:46 -0500
> From: trams2 at comcast.net
> To: pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org
> CC: mjh007 at verizon.net
> Subject: [PRCo] Re: (No 
Date: Mon, 8 Feb 2010 19:19:40 -0500
> 
> We will not be traveling if there is a foot of snow and 40 mph winds in the
> east, regardless of the situation here. No one will come to work in
> Philadelphia to hear me, anyway. I've had this happen before...one Sunday
> about 1974 I drove from Pittsburgh to Rochester NY for a dinner meeting with
> someone. When I turned the corner at Buffalo I found a blizzard the rest of
> the way; the toll collector seemed somewhat surprised when I got off the
> Thruway, saying that the road was closed. The man I was to have met called
> and claimed to be unable to get out of his driveway. So now I do not go out
> of my way to do someone else's business...besides, I retired, and was doing
> this only because I had agreed to last September.
> 
> But I will miss the rest of the trip.
> 
> The oak tree hasn't moved. It's amazing the number of brainless motorists
> who refuse to believe the "ROAD CLOSED" sign and come up to stare at the
> blockade, then try to figure how to turn around. Doesn't make you feel good
> about the future of humanity.
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: pittsburgh-railways-bounce at lists.dementia.org
> [mailto:pittsburgh-railways-bounce at lists.dementia.org] On Behalf Of
> Schneider Fred
> Sent: Monday, February 08, 2010 6:59 PM
> To: pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org
> Cc: Hiser Tom; Bob Vogel; Hermesky Michael James
> Subject: [PRCo] 
> 
> In response to Dennis Cramer's comments about how bad you had it in 
> the snow ... yes I know Pitty-burg had 21 inches. My sister 
> complained she couldn't use her symphony tickets and the buses 
> weren't running Saturday night. PAT was standing PAT. In 
> Washington DC, Metro did its usual stunt ... it went into hiding for 
> the duration. Metrorail in Washington still was running the above 
> ground portions today evening though we were totally back normal in
> Lancaster with 19 inches.
> What did Fred do? He went to Washington on Friday for Alan 
> Schneider's retirement dinner from the Coast Guard. The snow started 
> at 11:30. I bailed out at 12:04. Every body else must have had 
> the same idea ... in DC if you see a flake of white even though the 
> roads or only wet, you are supposed to panic. It only took 1 hour 
> at 45 minutes to get from downtown to the outside of the beltway beyond
> College Park on roads that were only wet, and I was halfway to Baltimore
> before traffic was moving at 60 mph.
> 
> Alan said that two plows working his home parking lot put snow in front of
> and behind his car and it took 2 1/2 hours for him to 
> extricate it today. The pushed the snow over the top of it. But 
> he said he felt cheated because his part of northern Virginia only had 20
> inches and he heard that some areas of Maryland had 40 inches of white
> beauty.
> 
> We are supposed to get another foot tomorrow on top of it with 20 to 
> 40 mph breezes to whip things around. And Ed Lybarger wants to 
> drive east in it?
> 
> Ed ... did Peters Township pick up the oak tree across your street yet?
> 
> But just to keep Dennis happy, here are Bob Vogel's snaps of the storm in
> Philadelphia just before everything collapsed on Saturday.
> 
> 
> Forwarded by Fred Schneider
> 
> Here are more of Bob Vogel's snow pictures in Philadelphia.....
> 
> I missed this one: Market-Frankford El at 69th Street; railfan photographer
> on the platform to the left.
> http://chuchubob.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=1934298
> 
> Solari board at 30th Street
> http://chuchubob.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=1933986
> 
> Collingswood
> http://chuchubob.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=1933988
> 
> platform at Lindenwold
> http://chuchubob.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=1934051
> http://chuchubob.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=1934052
> 
> eastbound train approaching the platform
> http://chuchubob.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=1934053
> 
> IV departing 30th Street Station prior to cancellation of service
> http://chuchubob.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=1934284
> 
> eastbound Market-Frankford El coming into 63rd Street Station
> http://chuchubob.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=1934285
> http://chuchubob.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=1934286
> 
> El train coming out of the yard with snow-covered third rail shoes
> http://chuchubob.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=1934288
> http://chuchubob.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=1934289
> http://chuchubob.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=1934291
> 
> Idle Norristown High Speed Line cars at 69th Street Terminal
> http://chuchubob.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=1934292
> http://chuchubob.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=1934295
> http://chuchubob.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=1934297
> 
> westbound Market-Frankford El trains
> http://chuchubob.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=1934299
> http://chuchubob.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=1934300
> 
> outbound Route 13 trolley on Woodland
> http://chuchubob.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=1934322
> 
> inbound Route 36 at 40th Street Portal
> http://chuchubob.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=1934301
> 
> Route 11 trolley entering the subway
> http://chuchubob.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=1934304
> 
> At 1:40 PM I heard an announcement that trolley service would terminate at 2
> PM, so I took the next car back to 30th Street.
> 
> Bob
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 

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