[PRCo] Re: PRCo Electric Shovel
richard allman
allmanr at verizon.net
Mon Nov 8 23:25:36 EST 2010
Whenever I have been on a charter in recent years, I've kinda taken it upon
myself to get everyone together for the group photo, but sadly, it is not a
regularly scheduled part of the event!
----- Original Message -----
From: "Dwight Long" <dwightlong at verizon.net>
To: <pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org>
Sent: Monday, November 08, 2010 10:26 AM
Subject: [PRCo] Re: PRCo Electric Shovel
> Rich
>
> Don't know if you are familiar with IntraExpress or not, but one of their
> hallmarks is that they always have a group photo, a copy of which is sent
> to all participants after the trip.
>
> Dwight
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: richard allman
> To: pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org
> Sent: Sunday, 07 November, 2010 15:29
> Subject: [PRCo] Re: PRCo Electric Shovel
>
>
> Fred-Sounds like the snake bite prevention worked-Jim was not bitten and
> even if he was, he managed to live another 72 years after the event!
> Old fantrip photos always shw the guys very dressed up and they always
> had a
> group photo-seems like at least w/ the group photo, we've lost something
> from an earlier time-I'm starting to sound like a geezer!!!!
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Fred Schneider" <fwschneider at comcast.net>
> To: <pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org>
> Sent: Sunday, November 07, 2010 3:20 PM
> Subject: [PRCo] Re: PRCo Electric Shovel
>
>
> > And there was the June 1940 trip on Hershey transit and a 1938 trip on
> the
> > same company. Let us not forget the Oct. 20. 1940 trip on the Indiana
> > Railroad from Indianpolis to Peru to Fort Wayne to Spring Valley New
> > Castle and back to Anderson and then return to Fort Wayne .
> >
> > The May 1938 Gary trip may have been the first but there was apparently
> a
> > CERA Indiana trip shortly after that. I have a whole series of
> pictures
> > of IRR 58 taken on August 20, 1938 by both Jim Shuman and John Bowman
> of
> > Lancaster. In one of them we see the back sides of Harry Zillmer and
> > Brney stone, the profile of Bill Janssen, and George Krambles waving to
> > get aboard.
> >
> > There was an Oct. 20, 1938 trip on Reading St. Ry. using 206 and 307.
> >
> > There was also that legendary 1938 trip on the Southern New York
> Railway
> > at Hartwick NY. It was organized by Bob Gurley, who later became the
> > son-in-law of Dick Steinmetz. Today Bob and Dick are dead and very
> > recently Bob son, who was active at Railways to Yesterday, passed away
> at
> > a very young age.
> > Legendary? Well, I'm sure Rich Allman heard this story. Bob Lewis,
> Al
> > Pittman and Jim Shuman drove up to New York together for the fantrip
> ... I
> > think the camped out to save money. If you don't know the principal
> > terrorists ... Bob is still living and rapidly approaching the century
> > mark ... he was the publisher of Railway Age for many years. Al
> Pittman
> > was the founder of Pittman model motors in Sellsville. Jim Shuman
> worked
> > for the Pennsy as a freight agent and loss and damage supervisor; he
> died
> > this year at age 96. The story goes that one or both of the others
> told
> > Jim that you had to protect yourself from things that slithered on the
> > ground and that it worked bests if you took the medication before you
> were
> > bitten. Allegedly that was their excuse to get Jim boozed. So much
> for
> > legends. You want to read about the fantrip itself, Jim wrote about
> it
> > and it was published in ERA Headlights about 20 years ago.
> >
> > Those were the days when a fantrip cost 50 cents. I suspect the
> Indiana
> > cost a few dollars.
> >
> >
> > On Nov 7, 2010, at 2:11 PM, richard allman wrote:
> >
> >> INTERESTING subject to reflect upon, Fred-and Dwight!!!!
> >>
> >> Some mini-sleuthing on my part has unearthed the following on systems
> >> where
> >> I have a particular interest:
> >>
> >> LVT-Lehigh Valley NRHS had a fantrip in September, 1941 when car 1030
> was
> >> introduced to Liberty Bell Limited service. Not sure of any earlier
> ones
> >> during the rollout of the modernization cars in early 1939. I know
> that
> >> chapter maintains an archive of all its fantrips. Will inquire of Joel
> >> Salomon.
> >>
> >> Philadelphia Suburban-I think it was Philadelphia Chapter that ran a
> trip
> >> in
> >> August, 1941 that coincided w/ the introduction of the Brilliners.
> They
> >> ran
> >> the Brilliner to Ardmore(and had a photo stop inbound at Ardmore Jct.
> >> when
> >> then-young Ed Miller and Jim Shuman-strangers to each other @ that
> >> time-scrambled up to the P&W station to catch great shots of the
> >> northbound
> >> LVT 1000 car.) Later that day, they ran one of the 40 series Jewett
> >> cars-as
> >> classic and beautiful a car as ever there was- to West Chester.
> >>
> >> Philadelphia Transportation Co.-a Birney trip to Chester in the Summer
> of
> >> 1941-Phila. Chapter-by that time had to be via Route 37-the only
> >> remaining
> >> link to Chester. Phila. Chapter has had a ton of trips over its
> history.
> >> I
> >> have not been a member-always a tad miffed that I was publicly
> >> reprimanded
> >> at one of their meetings in the 1970's for not wearinga tie to the
> >> meeting
> >> at the Philadelphia Engineers' Club on Spruce St., though around 15
> years
> >> or
> >> so ago, I helped them secure the Faculty Club at Jefferson Medical
> >> College
> >> for their monthly meetings after they lost the Downtown Club in the
> old
> >> Curtis Publishing Building on Independence Mall (thanks for letting me
> >> vent!!!!).
> >>
> >> Boston Elevated Railway-a trip over wide stretches of the system,
> >> including
> >> East Boston, Sommerville, Cambridge lines-any that had loops on that
> >> largely
> >> double-ended system-w/ PCC 3001-the Queen Mary-Boston El's only St.
> Louis
> >> car on 6/19/38-more than 5 years before I was born. Probably one of
> the
> >> first fantrips in Boston.
> >>
> >> There was that famous trip on Wilkes Barre Railway-probably in the
> early
> >> 40's-pre-war when the guys-dressed is suits and ties and dress hats
> and
> >> as
> >> was the standard garb for fantrips-pushed the dead car through a
> section
> >> of
> >> the Edwardsville line. Probably an Antracite Division ERA trip And,
> some
> >> group also ran a WBRwy trip in 1939 that my friend and mentor Dave
> Cope
> >> attended.
> >>
> >> See what else I can dredge up!
> >>
> >> RICH
> >>
> >>
> >> ----- Original Message -----
> >> From: "Fred Schneider" <fwschneider at comcast.net>
> >> To: <pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org>
> >> Sent: Sunday, November 07, 2010 12:24 PM
> >> Subject: [PRCo] Re: PRCo Electric Shovel
> >>
> >>
> >>> There was a charter over Conestoga Transportation in the fall of 1937
> to
> >>> commemorate the Lititz and Columbia lines which were to abandoned the
> >>> following February.
> >>>
> >>> The earliest railfan charter that I can document was one sponsored by
> a
> >>> group of young men organized under the name of the Baltimore Society
> of
> >>> Model Engineers. I believe the group still exists. They chartered
> a
> >>> Maryland and Pennsylvania Railroad gondola with benches, two open
> >>> platform
> >>> coaches and a 4-4-0 steam locomotive for a round trip from Baltimore
> to
> >>> York, PA on November 10, 1935.
> >>>
> >>> I have been told that this trip caused "The Big Red Subway" to take
> >>> notice. About a year later the Pennsy sponsored their first Off the
> >>> Beaten Track excursion for the fans from Philadelphia to Harrisburg
> >>> using
> >>> the Downingtown and Lancaster Branch. Ultimately the D&L was worked
> >>> from
> >>> both ends and the middle was torn up in 1956; today only the west end
> >>> from
> >>> New Holland to Lancaster remains.
> >>>
> >>> Of course charters were not unheard of before that. It was simply
> that
> >>> charters for us crazies were never run. One of my favorite pictures
> >>> shows seven Conestoga Traction double-truck open cars lined up on
> North
> >>> Queen Street in front of the Keppel Candy factory. They chartered
> for
> >>> the candy company's annual employees' picnic. That year ... it was
> in
> >>> the early 1920s ... the picnic was being held at Carsonia Park, an
> >>> amusement venue, east of Reading PA and this involved an interline
> >>> operation between Conestoga Traction and Reading Street Railway.
> >>> Chartered cars for church picnics were very common between 1890 and
> >>> 1925.
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> On Nov 7, 2010, at 11:24 AM, Dwight Long wrote:
> >>>
> >>>> Fred
> >>>>
> >>>> What you say is true, but the very first CERA enthusiast charter was
> >>>> over
> >>>> Gary Railways' interurban line to Valparaiso, Ind., (my home town
> from
> >>>> 1971-76) on 1 May 1938.
> >>>>
> >>>> Dwight
> >>>>
> >>>> ----- Original Message -----
> >>>> From: Fred Schneider
> >>>> To: pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org
> >>>> Sent: Saturday, 06 November, 2010 17:10
> >>>> Subject: [PRCo] Re: PRCo Electric Shovel
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>> Probably scarce for several reasons ....
> >>>>
> >>>> (1) because the plant gestapo attempted to scare off photographers
> >>>>
> >>>> (2) Pityburg was one of those places where railfan photos were
> scarce
> >>>> in
> >>>> the early years of the hobby because railfans who lived there
> escaped
> >>>> on
> >>>> vacations and no sane person took a vacation in hell.
> >>>>
> >>>> There are places where they are very common early. The NRHS was
> >>>> formed
> >>>> by merger of two groups in 75 years ago this past summer. One was
> the
> >>>> Lancaster Railway and Locomotive Historical Society. The other was
> the
> >>>> Interstate Trolley Club, a group of young men in northern New Jersey
> >>>> and
> >>>> New York City. It follows that we had loads of pictures from those
> >>>> areas. Chicago had the CERA very early or at least its roots.
> >>>> Those
> >>>> guys were running fantrips on the Indiana Railroad back in 1938.
> >>>>
> >>>> But Pittsburgh? There was a small NRHS group just before the war,
> >>>> which fell apart when the army drafted all or most of its members.
> >>>> It's
> >>>> club room was a PRC low-floor trailer body out it Penn Township,
> which
> >>>> probably then disappeared in a WW2 scrap drive. Many of those guys
> >>>> organized the Pittsburgh Electric Railway Club after the war. But
> if
> >>>> you consider it as a percent of population, it was probably less
> than
> >>>> 5%
> >>>> of what we had here in Lancaster a few years earlier.
> >>>>
> >>>> And what happened over time?
> >>>>
> >>>> Today I had to pull out the Lancaster Birney in Manheim for a 75th
> >>>> anniversary celebration of the founding of the NRHS. There were men
> >>>> from
> >>>> all over the east. The youngest might have been in his late 60s.
> The
> >>>> average was older than me. The oldest was probably 90. What does
> >>>> that
> >>>> say for the hobby? I suspect it is getting smaller but I also
> suspect
> >>>> a
> >>>> lot of people are communicating the way we are now instead of
> meeting
> >>>> in
> >>>> clubs.
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>> On Nov 6, 2010, at 4:25 PM, Derrick Brashear wrote:
> >>>>
> >>>>> If you happen to run across anything on East Carson above 10th
> that's
> >>>>> interesting, I'd love to see it, notably at the railroad crossing
> at
> >>>>> 21st, and outside J&L. Photos have been scarce, I guess because the
> 50
> >>>>> just... ended
> >>>>>
> >>>>>
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> On Fri, Nov 5, 2010 at 16:24, Russell Cashdollar
> >>>>>> <cashdollarr at earthlink.net>wrote:
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>>> Search criteria....!!!
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> Normal search criteria works only so far...
> >>>>>>> To turn up all the hidden goodies...
> >>>>>>> one has to look at everything...
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> I began with 1928 PRCo Trolly guide that lists all streets every
> >>>>>>> route
> >>>>>>> operated over.
> >>>>>>> I wrote all the street names on a PRMA produced PRCo system map,
> and
> >>>>>>> I
> >>>>>>> included
> >>>>>>> the names of all the neighborhoods in Pgh. which were also listed
> in
> >>>>>>> the
> >>>>>>> 1928 guide.
> >>>>>>> I made a list of key words to
> >>>>>>> search....Repair,construction,bridge,track,
> >>>>>>> repave, etc. (it is a long list)
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> THEN... I started by searching through one street, or avenue, or
> >>>>>>> district,
> >>>>>>> or neighborhood, or key word at a time.
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> I am about 1/2 of the way through the list. I checked out and
> >>>>>>> checked
> >>>>>>> off
> >>>>>>> my favorite
> >>>>>>> and most promising search words first... and have therefore
> reached
> >>>>>>> the
> >>>>>>> point of
> >>>>>>> diminishing returns and thus I now have less incentive trudge
> >>>>>>> through.
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> But having faith that there are still prizes to be found, keeps
> me
> >>>>>>> searching... but not as often.
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> ... And that is the only way I know to find the hidden jems.
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> The Electric Shovel turned up under a search of Steuben as is the
> >>>>>>> street
> >>>>>>> name.
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> Russell
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> -----Original Message-----
> >>>>>>>> From: BobDietrich <bob.dietrich1 at verizon.net>
> >>>>>>>> Sent: Nov 5, 2010 3:40 PM
> >>>>>>>> To: pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org
> >>>>>>>> Subject: [PRCo] Re: PRCo Electric Shovel
> >>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>> I asked the question before and found it was not on the roster.
> >>>>>>>> I've
> >>>>>>>> included another photo of it working in Homestead. Note the
> >>>>>>>> contraption
> >>>>>>>> that it is riding on, who needs rails in the street? I've
> started
> >>>>>>>> collecting parts to make a model of this critter so all the
> photos
> >>>>>>>> I
> >>>>>>>> can
> >>>>>>>> find will help.
> >>>>>>>> Russ, what search criteria did you use to find this?
> >>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>> Bob
> >>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>> -----Original Message-----
> >>>>>>>> From: pittsburgh-railways-bounce at lists.dementia.org
> >>>>>>>> [mailto:pittsburgh-railways-bounce at lists.dementia.org] On Behalf
> Of
> >>>>>>>> Herb
> >>>>>>>> Brannon
> >>>>>>>> Sent: Friday, November 05, 2010 2:24 PM
> >>>>>>>> To: pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org
> >>>>>>>> Subject: [PRCo] Re: PRCo Electric Shovel
> >>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>> Interesting pics, Russ. Possibly Ed L or FWS would know if it is
> on
> >>>>>>>> the
> >>>>>>> PRCo
> >>>>>>>> roster.
> >>>>>>>> On Fri, Nov 5, 2010 at 11:28, Russell Cashdollar
> >>>>>>>> <cashdollarr at earthlink.net>wrote:
> >>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>>> Steuben Street August 26 1924
> >>>>>>>>> Pittsburgh City Photographer
> >>>>>>>>> Ed and Fred,
> >>>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>>> Is this PRCo critter the "electric shovel" that is on The PRCo
> >>>>>>>>> work
> >>>>>>>>> car
> >>>>>>>>> roster?
> >>>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>>> Russell
> >>>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>>> -- Attached file removed by Ecartis and put at URL below --
> >>>>>>>>> -- Type: image/jpeg
> >>>>>>>>> -- Size: 119k (122483 bytes)
> >>>>>>>>> -- URL :
> >>>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>
> http://lists.dementia.org/files/pittsburgh-railways/Steuben%20Street%20Augus
> >>>>>>>> t%2026%201924.a.jpg
> >>>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>>> -- Attached file removed by Ecartis and put at URL below --
> >>>>>>>>> -- Type: image/jpeg
> >>>>>>>>> -- Size: 156k (160210 bytes)
> >>>>>>>>> -- URL :
> >>>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>
> http://lists.dementia.org/files/pittsburgh-railways/Steuben%20Street%20Augus
> >>>>>>>> t%2026%201924.b.jpg
> >>>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>> --
> >>>>>>>> Herb Brannon
> >>>>>>>> In Cuyahoga Valley National Park
> >>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>> -- Attached file removed by Ecartis and put at URL below --
> >>>>>>>> -- Type: image/jpeg
> >>>>>>>> -- Size: 80k (82838 bytes)
> >>>>>>>> -- URL :
> >>>>>>> http://lists.dementia.org/files/pittsburgh-railways/02-shovel.jpg
> >>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>
> >>>>>
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>
> >>
> >
> >
> >
>
>
>
>
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