[PRCo] Re: New Orleans trackwork symmetry

[Edward H. Lybarger]

Alligators came off the endangered species list when it was discovered that
there were millions of them running about the south and that they weren't
endangered at all. 

-----Original Message-----
From: pittsburgh-railways-bounce at lists.dementia.org
[mailto:pittsburgh-railways-bounce at lists.dementia.org] On Behalf Of
bobrathke at comcast.net
Sent: Monday, February 07, 2011 5:14 PM
To: pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org
Subject: [PRCo] Re: New Orleans trackwork symmetry


I remember PRC operators carrying fold-up seat cushions to their PCC runs in
summer months. 

These were the same 1" thick seat cushions (coiled spring wires inside mesh
seat and back panels) that people used in their automoribes in the days of
vinyl seat covers and no air conditioning. 



I had some exotic food in New Orleans in 2009, but no alligator.  However,
I dined on alligator at the Rosen Plaza Hotel in Orlando in 2010. Y ou know
what they say - it tastes just like chicken. 



Bob 






----- Original Message -----
From: "Fred Schneider" <fwschneider at comcast.net>
To: pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org
Sent: Monday, February 7, 2011 3:11:49 PM
Subject: [PRCo] Re: New Orleans trackwork symmetry 

The late Dick Lloyd, who was the operating manager at the Baltimore
Streetcar Museum when I joined about 25 years ago, used to regale us with
stories about Baltimore Transit. Â  He used to prefer running Peter Witt
cars in the summer to PCC cars. Â Why? Â  The Witts had a wooden seat on a
post which he felt was much more comfortable on a scorching summer day south
of the Mason Dixon line. Â  He claimed operating a streamliner, with a
leather motorman's seat, gave the motorman a case of "PCC Seat" which was
analogous to an adult form of diaper rash. Â  

A lot of southern streetcars had wooden sets with air spaces in them. Â 
They may have been hard as rocks but they were a lot more comfortable on a
sticky 95 degree day than having your posterior superglued to a leather
seat. Â  

The first time I witnessed an air-conditioned transit vehicle was in a city
that really needed one in the summer. Â  Would you believe Big D - little a
- double l - a- s. Â  That was back in 1959. Â  Today we take them for
granted. Â  

Ah yes, Bob, there was a big difference between a summer day in Nawlins or
Mobile or Dallas or Houston and a day in June in Chicago with a 50 knot wind
off the lake. Â  I spent several days in the Chicago area in 1959. Â  The
first allowed me to make a round trip to Milwaukee on the North Shore. Â  By
the time I had lunch at Zion the mercury in that little glass tube had
climbed to 100 degrees. Â  The next morning I went into a movie house in the
Loop for a couple of hours in order to warm up ... the wind off the lake was
biting ... must have been around 55 degrees and I was in a sport shirt. Â  

New Orleans in the summer? Â  I never saw anything but hot and sticky. Â The
reason for cayenne peppers in your Cajun food is to make you perspire and
the sweat evaporates and cools the skin. Â  

I can get even farther off track. Â  Some of you may have seen the cooking
shows on PBS television years ago by Paul Prudhomme ... the rather stocky
chap from New Orleans. Â  His nephew runs a cajun restaurant in Columbia,
Pennsylvania (12 miles west of Lancaster) called Prudhommes Lost Cajun
Kitchen. Â  Great food. Â  Blackened cat fish, alligator, shrimp, jambalaya,
rice and beans, and so forth. Â  All the good stuff. Â  They also sell neat
t-shirts with pictures of alligators ... "Come to Prudhommes for a piece of
tail!" Â  The catered my granddaughter's wedding and did a great jo 



On Feb 7, 2011, at 1:16 PM, Herb Brannon wrote: 

> What do you think of the seats in the cars ? 
> On Mon, Feb 7, 2011 at 12:51, <bobrathke at comcast.net> wrote: 
> 
>> 
>> Attached are three photos I took at the end of the St. Charles line 
>> in November, 2009.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> I like the symmetry of the cross-over trackwork. Â It's broad gauge, 
>> so I'm on PRC topic. Â :-)
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> Bob
>> 
>> 
>> -- Attached file removed by Ecartis and put at URL below --
>> -- Type: image/jpeg
>> -- Size: 76k (78735 bytes)
>> -- URL : 
>> http://lists.dementia.org/files/pittsburgh-railways/tn_IMG_6444.JPG
>> 
>> 
>> -- Attached file removed by Ecartis and put at URL below -- 
>> -- Type: image/jpeg 
>> -- Size: 134k (137315 bytes) 
>> -- URL : 
>> http://lists.dementia.org/files/pittsburgh-railways/tn_IMG_6446.JPG 
>> 
>> 
>> -- Attached file removed by Ecartis and put at URL below -- 
>> -- Type: image/jpeg 
>> -- Size: 139k (142797 bytes) 
>> -- URL : 
>> http://lists.dementia.org/files/pittsburgh-railways/tn_IMG_6447.JPG 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> Herb Brannon 
> In Cuyahoga Valley National Park 
> 
> 
>