[PRCo] Re: A Great Brussels Museum Video

[Edward H. Lybarger]

I've never seen anything as clean as Singapore.
City...transit...countryside...airport...you name it.

On the other hand, there are the birds that share the food buffets...so
clean may not always equal sanitary.

-----Original Message-----
From: pittsburgh-railways-bounce at lists.dementia.org
[mailto:pittsburgh-railways-bounce at lists.dementia.org] On Behalf Of Dwight
Long
Sent: Monday, October 04, 2010 12:27 PM
To: pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org
Subject: [PRCo] Re: A Great Brussels Museum Video

Fred

That's an excellent, professionally-done, video.  Thanks for sharing!

I was struck by the superb condition of the open track.  Eat your hear out,
Pittsburgh Railways Co!

Also noticed was the fact that not all cars bore the dreaded Faively
"pantographs."  Real pantographs, bow collectors, and--gasp--actual trolley
poles still in use--wow!

Wattman--one who regulates the consumption of watts?

Now as to cleanth, would you venture a comparison with Singapore?  I would
think that it is the measuring stick these days.

Dwight
  ----- Original Message -----
  From: Fred Schneider
  Sent: Sunday, 03 October, 2010 20:18
  Subject: [PRCo] A Great Brussels Museum Video


  Thanks to Jack May who alerted me to this item ...
  No it isn't Pittsburgh.   So what.   

  It is one rather interesting video of a Traction Extravaganza in Brussels
using museum equipment.   Their local trolley museum has a feature that who
do us all proud.   The museum carbarn sits right on a major STIB line on the
Rue de Turvueren.   STIB operators who are museum members run the museum
fleet on the outer end of city route 39 and 42 on Saturdays and Sundays.

  Their museum fleet is almost entirely former STIB equipment from Brussels.
I think they might have one Vicinal car in the museum.   But the video of
the extravaganza shows all sorts of wonderous other stuff ... a red car from
Wien (Vienna) (thats 4038 with the Schottentor destination sign), a gold and
brown car from Rotterdam, a cream and green PCC from the Hague, a Milan
Peter Witt clad in yellow, and that fantastic Liege car in two-tone green.
They brought stuff in from all over.   

  For people who like running strange cars, the Liege car has a series -
series/parallel - parallel drum controller, i.e. three running points:  (4
motors in series; 2 series pairs connected in parallel; then all motors in
parallel)  It goes like hell.   I rode it over that same track about ten
years ago before it was sent to Liege for static display.  He left ahead of
one schedule car and before long had caught up its leader.   

  The interiors of Brussels cars are easy to pick out.   You will see some
pictures views of a narrow PCC with do not talk to the motorman signs in two
languages:  Ne pas parler au Wattman (French) on the left ... and Niet
........ sparken on the right (Flemish).   The old rules used to be that if
you wanted a job driving a bus or a streetcar in Brussels, you had to
bilingual or you simply were not qualified.   Can you imagine Dallas or New
York or San Diego or Los Angeles telling bus drivers they need to speak
Spanish and English if they want to drive bus?   Or the bus drivers serving
Alhambra (CA) need Korean, Vietnamese, Spanish and English?   

  The final thing I want to draw your attention to ... look for the clutter
and trash on the ground.   How much do you see?  Brussels is the capital of
Belgium, so why not compare the litter to our capital.   How does it compare
to Washington DC?      Now compared to most German cities, Brussels will be
dirtier.   Compared to Switzerland, Brussels will be a lot dirtier.   I've
seen Swiss people walk a block out of their way just to throw a candy
wrapper in a trash can.  

  Enjoy. 

  http://www.digitaletramfoto.nl/video/2010/201009/20100919-01.htm

  http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Brussels_Tramway_Museum