[PRCo] Re: Pittsburgh Photos

[Fred Schneider]

John once said to me that he wondered how he could go to Europe in the 1980s and 1990s every year but back in the 1960s he had no money.   Then he said it occurred to him how much money he was spending going to Pittsburgh every few weeks to take pictures of streetcars there.   He burnt up hundreds of rolls of fil-em in the 1960s on Pittsburgh Railways and those early years of PAT.  
Then, like a few of the others of us, he became enamored with German, Switzerland, Austria.   I couldn't even talk him into the eastern countries but eventually he and Margaret started going there too.   

Today I got a note from him with pictures he downloaded of the annual Illunimations (when the run all the fancy lighted trams) in Blackpool, England.   He laments the service levels in Blackpool, which I've copied:

"Christ, only 20 years since I was here last and the service has gone from 50-60 cars out at a time to 13-14 max, most of which never show up when they're supposed to, and when they do they pass you by because they're already full.  Allegedly they were to operate some 10 museum trams brought in for the weekend (last), 3 were canceled before they ever got there, and of the other 7only four ran.  No Manchester 765.  No Blackpool Open Bench 2.  No Blackpool 167.  No Oporto double deck Stephenson car.  No Blackpool OMO 8 in plum & custard. Liverpool 162 ran only on the Friday and only because it was chartered.  Same for Coronation 304.  Never saw Coronation 660 at all.  Only on Saturday night in freezing cold did they run open top 706 and the two operable boat cars (although one ran a charter on the Friday).  Saturday morning we went out to Fleetwood, only running to end of PRW at Ash St due rebuilding.  Car goes back full (you have to get off and reboard, pass or not, heaven forfend you be allowed to ride over the crossover) and we were too far back in the queue.  Service headway was 20 minutes there.  No cars for 63 minutes.  We wound up taking a taxi back.  Spotted first northbound car (after riding in the cab for 15 minutes) passing northbound at Bispham, which means the gap was about 100 minutes.  All this makes the TTC look good and that's really saying something.

"The town doesn't look bad in sunlight (at least we had a good lot of that following 40 days and nights of rain  - seriously) but some parts are really feeling the economic pinch.  There's a Bromley Hotel but wouldn't be caught dead in it.  The Imperial sufficed - best 2 star hotel I've seen that currently has 4 stars - and they had a good breakfast (far better than the place we stayed in visit one to London on Cromwell Road that served watery eggs with chicken and apricot sausages - yechhhh.  The hotel we are in for the last four nights provided a club room which has a private dining room away from the peasants, all quite civilized, don't ya know.  Local restaurant named Byron laid claim to the world's best hamburgers.  Doubtful, us, but in we went.  Claim proven, never had better, did I say never?  In Blackpool we thought about having traditional English fish & chips, so again, IN we went.  Fellow a few ahead of us at the counter took his order away, fish on the bottom, slathered in fat chips and on top of this was a HUGE pile of mushy creamed peas, looked like a dragon had thrown up. Yes, you've got it right - OUT we went, trying not to hork.  Went elsewhere, no offer of creamed mushy peas, so we tried it.  Cod sucks, we threw it out and went elsewhere.  At least in London they serve actual food.  Brunch at the Orangery at Kensington Palace was quite civilized, we've been three times."

I think the global recession has done a real number on the remaining industries in the English Midlands and North Midlands.   Blackpool was always a resort for the working man and if he isn't working ... well, then the resorts don't do well either.   Places like Conventry used to be the motor capital of England.   It's still like Detroit ... the industry packed up and moved to India and China.   Those were some of the people who rode the trams in the summer in Blackpool.

No, I will not post his pictures.   That's for him to do if he wishes.   I don't believe in spreading around someone else's intellectual property without their blessing.


On Sep 28, 2010, at 7:04 PM, Dwight Long wrote:

>   Fred   Thanks.   It was nice to see the Bear's fots of all those
> "locomotives!"   Dwight
> 
> Sep 28, 2010 10:14:55 PM, pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org[1] wrote:
>> Enjoy some of John Bromley's great Pittsburgh photographs on line....
>> 
>> class="parsedLink"
> target="_blank">http://www.railpictures.net/showphotos.php?offset=0&where=sea
> |Ö