[PRCo] Re: SLPS/SHRT/PTC/MUNI PCC Question

Fri Nov 19 17:29:14 EST 2010

these cars did not go to PTC. RICH

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Herb Brannon" <hrbran at cavtel.net>
To: <pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org>
Sent: Friday, November 19, 2010 12:48 PM
Subject: [PRCo] Re: SLPS/SHRT/PTC/MUNI PCC Question

> This device had nothing to do with any of the "second owners" (PTC, SHRT,
> MUNI) of these cars. It was removed before the cars left St. Louis for 
> their
> new owners.
> Interesting also is that in St. Louis only the 1600 and 1700 series PCCs
> have these devices. The first order of all-electrics for SLPS (the 1500s)
> did not have the device.
>
> Interesting also is that of the several books written about SLPS and PCCs 
> in
> general, I can find no mention of this appendage.
>
> On Fri, Nov 19, 2010 at 12:40, Edward H. Lybarger 
> <trams2 at comcast.net>wrote:
>
>> Photo didn't work for me.  But what I see in the SLPS photos (some of 
>> them)
>> in the book is a tube-like frame across the roof of the car, with an 
>> anchor
>> block in the center.  This is in front of the air vent.  The thought that
>> this is a stop for a front pole as applied in SF is interesting, except
>> that
>> some of the photos date from 1957.  I have no idea what we're really
>> looking
>> at.
>>
>> Ed
>>
>> -----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 19, 2010 12:36 PM
>> To: pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org
>>  Subject: [PRCo] Re: SLPS/SHRT/PTC/MUNI PCC Question
>>
>> Impossible. See the attached photo of a St Petersburg Tram model of St
>> Louis
>> Public Service PCC #1700. This is the best photo of this device I have
>> seen.
>> On Fri, Nov 19, 2010 at 12:16, Fred Schneider
>> <fwschneider at comcast.net>wrote:
>>
>> > Try an air-vent.   It remained behind the back-up pole that Muni added.
>> >
>> >
>> > On Nov 18, 2010, at 10:12 PM, Herb Brannon wrote:
>> >
>> > > The PRCo original "radio phone" did not use radio waves to transmit
>> > > the audio directly to the car. It was a telephone based device using
>> > > the
>> > trolley
>> > > wire to transmit. Hence the name "radio phone". That is the basic
>> > definition
>> > > of the PRCo system from former PRCo/PATransit Training Instructor
>> > > Angelo Nazzo. He always referred to it as the "trolley phone".
>> > > Angelo would
>> > always
>> > > tell us how superior the PATransit standard radio system was in
>> > comparison
>> > > to the "trolley phone". The main complaint with the trolley phone
>> > > was
>> > that
>> > > the voice clarity was very poor. PATransit kept insisting, for years
>> > after
>> > > radios had been installed in buses, that it would not be prudent to
>> > install
>> > > them in streetcars do to the poor quality experienced in the
>> > > original installation. PAT was forgetting that there was a vast
>> > > difference between the original PRCo radio installation of 1949 and
>> > > the radio system in use
>> > at
>> > > PATransit in 1971. By 1977 all streetcars, with the exception of a
>> > handful
>> > > of non-rehabilitated 1600s, had radios installed.
>> > > On Thu, Nov 18, 2010 at 21:24, Phillip Clark Campbell
>> > ><pcc_sr at yahoo.com
>> > >wrote:
>> > >
>> > >> Mr.Brannon;
>> > >> It has the appearance of an 'antenna' doesn't it.  Prc used radio
>> > >> phones on some of the interurbans but don't remember an antenna.
>> > >> Seems the radio signal was overlaid on existing wiring.
>> > >> The item you describe appears to be about 6' long and generally
>> > >> assumes the curvature of the roof.  Much smaller similar devices
>> > >> were used for antennas on cars decades later;  didn't Pat have a
>> > >> U-shaped antenna mounted near the roof light?
>> > >>
>> > >>
>> > >> Phil
>> > >> Without  a   'coast'   but  not  a   'cause.'
>> > >>
>> > >>
>> > >>
>> > >>
>> > >>
>> > >> ________________________________
>> > >> From: Herb Brannon <hrbran at cavtel.net>
>> > >> To: pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org
>> > >> Sent: Thu, November 18, 2010 8:58:50 PM
>> > >> Subject: [PRCo] SLPS/SHRT/PTC/MUNI PCC Question
>> > >>
>> > >> For those who have a copy of PCC-From Coast to Coast handy. Take a
>> > >> look
>> > at
>> > >> the section on St Louis Public Service Co.and the 1600s and 1700s
>> > >> in particular. The SLPS 1600-series and 1700-series PCCs have a
>> > >> small
>> > device
>> > >> mounted on the roof just back from the top of the destination sign.
>> > >> It appears to have a bracket in the center and is made from a tube
>> > >> shaped piece of metal, attached to the bracket and extending to
>> > >> both the right and
>> > left
>> > >> sides of the car roof. I can find no mention of this device in any
>> > >> of my books. When SLPS sold their cars to Shaker Heights Rapid
>> > >> Transit, Philadelphia Transportation Co and the San Francisco
>> > >> Municipal Railway
>> > the
>> > >> device was missing when the cars arrived in their new homes. Does
>> > >> anyone know the purpose of this device?
>> > >> --
>> > >> Herb Brannon
>> > >> In Cuyahoga Valley National Park
>> > >>
>> > >>
>> > >>
>> > >>
>> > >>
>> > >>
>> > >
>> > >
>> > > --
>> > > Herb Brannon
>> > > In Cuyahoga Valley National Park
>> > >
>> > >
>> > >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>>
>>
>> --
>> Herb Brannon
>> In Cuyahoga Valley National Park
>>
>>
>>
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>
>
> -- 
> Herb Brannon
> In Cuyahoga Valley National Park
>
>
> 