[PRCo] Re: Historic Chaos

[Bob Rathke]

I was on many PAT PCC's in the 70's that should have been displaying the Malfunction Jct. sign. 



I sent the attached photo to the list about 10 years ago.  Taken on the Drake line at Ft. Couch Road on 7/23/75.  I was riding the 1720 when it decided to create a branch line up to Bethel Church Road. I was fortunate to have my camera along, and   took a dozen photos of the trolley being re-rail ed. 



I should add that the derailment wasn't the fault of the trolley - earlier that afternnon a highway crew spread asphalt around the rails, and it was high enough to lift the wheels on the 1720. 



Bob 



----- Original Message -----


From: "Fred Schneider" <fwschneider at comcast.net> 
To: pittsburgh-railways at dementix.org 
Sent: Tuesday, December 6, 2011 10:34:46 AM 
Subject: [PRCo] Re: Historic Chaos 

MALFUNCTION JUNCTION should have reserved that one for SEPTA. Â  Remember back into the 1970s when they were getting something like 400 miles between road failures on their PCC fleet? Â  The Silverliners weren't a whole lot better except that running them MU helped to mask a lot of issues. Â  I remember coming into Harrisburg one morning assisting the engineer on a SEPTA Silverliner .... the air compressor was all but dead .... if he a brake reduction he was not going to be able to release it again so he held the controller to keep the dead man off and I brought the car to a stop with the hand brake on the other side of the cab. Â  

I asked him later how he explained bring it in to the Road Foreman of Engines and he said he admitted how it was done. Â  His secretary rode that train and she knew me. Â  I think it fell into one of those categories of "you do what you have to do." 

And Ed Tennyson ... You're not supposed to be listening. Â  

I wonder of Ed was on the night we had the Middletown fire department there because of an undercar fire on a Silverliner. Â  



On Dec 5, 2011, at 5:11 PM, Bob Rathke wrote: 

> 
> My favorite Pittsburgh fantrip sign in the 60's  was, "Malfunction Junction". 
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> Bob 
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> ----- Original Message ----- 
> 
> 
> From: "Fred Schneider" <fwschneider at comcast.net> 
> To: pittsburgh-railways at dementix.org 
> Sent: Monday, December 5, 2011 4:05:10 PM 
> Subject: [PRCo] Re: Historic Chaos 
> 
> I love your example Ken. Â  And wait until they get a picture of the car coming out of Sous Hills Tunnel with the sign GOTHAM CITY VIA BAT CAVE. Â  Â I have been told that sign was left in the car after the fantrip and that some motormen used it in lieu of rolling up CAR HOUSE. Â  
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> On Dec 5, 2011, at 2:43 PM, Ken and Tracie wrote: 
> 
>> I followed the debate over the apparently or possibly mislabeled photo dated 
>> 1906. The imagine could very well have been arbitrarily mislabeled. I 
>> suspect that it has. 
>> I possess a negative showing a Milwaukee Electric interurban on a 1948 
>> fantrip along the Milwaukee-Port Washington line, displaying a destination 
>> which was along a segment of another line. That stop had been eliminated 
>> some years before the photo was taken. The negative was labeled "Waukesha 
>> line, 1939." The shot was taken in Thiensville, Wisconsin. The white flags 
>> on the car should have been a hint. 
>> 
>> 
>> Now imagine the chaos this attached photo could cause in another one hundred 
>> years if it gets into the hands of a non-Pittsburgh fan. :-) 
>> 
>> K. 
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>> -- Attached file removed by Ecartis and put at URL below -- 
>> -- Type: image/jpeg 
>> -- Size: 98k (100971 bytes) 
>> -- URL : http://lists.dementix.org/files/pittsburgh-railways/pitt1705.jpg 
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-- Attached file removed by Ecartis and put at URL below --
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-- Size: 67k (69483 bytes)
-- URL : http://lists.dementix.org/files/pittsburgh-railways/PAT1720DerailedD072375.jpg