[PRCo] Re: Bowser PRCo/PATransit PCC cars.

[John Swindler]

  Hi Dwight Perhaps it is more of a miracle that the PG managed to survive despite my being one of their carriers.   My stint in a steel mill was summer of 1966 at Homestead Works.  Was a grinder/laborer, which meant that job was to grind out imperfections in steel plate which would then be welded.  Then grind smooth the weld.  First night shift, two of us worked for about an hour before an 'old timer' came over and said:  "you boys need to take it easy for the rest of the night.  You're going to go back to school in the fall.  If you keep this up, you'll ruin the incentive pay for this job."   That was a very strong lesson on one of the contributions towards the demise of what became the rust belt.  Workers aren't stupid.  If given the opportunity, too many will figure out how to milk the system. A question I've often pondered is why I went for a college degree in accounting instead of following my father into a mill job.  It ended up as a self financed struggle.  There was nothing in my youth to even suggest attending college.  Perhaps it was another instance of the "Baxter" effect - John worked in PRC/PAT office, he wasn't an operator. Retirement seems to bring out these sorts of recollections.  (not missing the daily commute in the least)  It was a different world. CheersJohn 
 > From: dwightlong at verizon.net
> To: pittsburgh-railways at dementix.org
> Subject: [PRCo] Re: Bowser PRCo/PATransit PCC cars.
> Date: Sun, 19 Aug 2012 22:24:37 -0400
> 
> John
> 
> Well, perhaps you are wrong about no one else being interested.  I am, but probably because my youthful work pattern was similar to yours, except that I carried the Press rather than the 
> PG.  (maybe that is why the latter survived whilst the former did not)
> 
> Steel contracts were on a three year cycle.  My summer job in 1959 was cut off in mid July by the monster of all steel strikes.  By 1965 I was working for USS and all the mills in the Valley, even the most obsolete, were going full tilt to build inventory against a possible strike.  I rode the special train in from Lumber Street yard to Gary with provisions for management types who might be locked in for the duration.  This was the last day of the strike.  It was settled at the last hour—I don’t know what happened to the provisions!  
> 
> Must really be getting old as I enjoy reminisces of this type.
> 
> Dwight
> 
> From: John Swindler 
> Sent: Friday, 17 August, 2012 18:13
> To: Pittsburgh Railways 
> Subject: [PRCo] Re: Bowser PRCo/PATransit PCC cars.
> 
> That's why I suggested your father's pay scale would be a better comparison for number of hours needed to buy a PennLine PCC car back in the dark ages.  'Us' kids were paid peanuts - minimum wage didn't apply. Your right about today's generation.  The wife cuts the grass next door - neither son nor husband seem interested.  Barky (the wonder dog) and I have observed several other wives cutting the grass on our walks.  Understandable if husband has heart condition, but often these are young households.   As you know, Fred, my dad was a steel worker, and there seemed to be strikes every two years.  Somewhere early on got the idea that if I wanted some spending money, delivering the Post Gazette would help.  Started in 4th grade, and not long after started taking first 620 pix of PERC fantrips.  Connection??  I haven't a clue.  Suspect just happened.  Then graduated to setting pins in bowling alley in ninth grade.  Pay increased from $3 per week to $3 per night when leagues in !
> session.    Enough of this "when I was your age....." talk.  Others not interested. Trust all is wellJohn   > From: fwschneider at comcast.net
> > Subject: [PRCo] Re: Bowser PRCo/PATransit PCC cars.
> > Date: Fri, 17 Aug 2012 15:54:27 -0400
> > To: pittsburgh-railways at dementix.org
> > 
> > I vas doink it for my father and he vas cheap.  He only pait me 25 cents an hour for labor around da house.   Da turd year I gut a raise ta 30 cents.   
> > Dad was remodling an old farm house that he bought in the winter of 1949-1950 on an as you go basis.   Ed would appreciate this because, as I pointed out before, both fathers went through Carnegie Tech in the depression and had similar philosophies.   Dad traded in a smaller house in Penn Hills, Allegheny County for a much larger house on two acres which he redid as he went along with a lot of sweat equity … he was his own electrician, plumber, yada yada yada.   It was four or five years before all the drywall in the bedrooms was taped and painted but the point that we need to make was he ended up with a house redone out of his paychecks with no mortgage.   I remember digging about 18 inches of clay out of the basement so he could concrete it when I was 15 … that was about 300 cubic feet of hard, compacted yellow clay that you had to dig loose with a digging bar or pick and shovel, then carry over to the outside cellar door and load it into a two wheel cart, then use a!
>   six!
>   h!
> >  orse tractor and a block and tackle to pull it up the incline out of the cellar, then hitch the tractor to the cart and haul it up in the back field and dump it and spread it.  That was probably the most miserable of all the tasks he assigned to me.   But it did pay for a couple of Penn Scale models and a lot of film and printing paper and chemicals.   
> > 
> > Do I regret it?   Truthfully?   I think a lot of our kids would be a lot better off today if parents demanded more than they do so that they grew up understanding that you have to work for what you get; that you are not privileged and entitled.   I think of the 16 and 15 year old kids next door who cannot even bring the empty garbage cans in when they get home from school … dad has to do it.   They cannot cut the grass … mom and dad have to do that.   If I wanted to eat, I cut the grass.   You learn a lot by being told by parents that this is your task.   The lesson learned was the you get something for working and there was nothing wrong with menial work.  I spent many years working in management.   I also spent quite a few selling for Sears, for a local camera store, peddling ice cream door to door off the back of a truck, and working as a janitor in a department store … it wasn't all shoveling coal on the Strasburg.   You learn a lot from those other jobs.  My fat!
>  her ha!
> d !
> >  a great philosophy and it carried through to his kids …. doesn't matter what you do for a living as long as you do it well.   We need good janitors and good bus drivers just as much as we need good surgeons.   
> > 
> > End of sermon.   
> > 
> > 
> > On Aug 17, 2012, at 3:06 PM, John Swindler wrote:
> > 
> > > 
> > > Hi Fred Since money is just a medium of exchange, how many hours would you have had to work 50 years ago to buy a Penn Scale Models PCC compared with how many hours would you have had to work in 2012 for white metal kit today??  Probably your dad's wage scale would be more appropriate, and your 2012 state pay would be about 2.5 hours, considering taxes. As a warning, this is posed by someone who has been browsing thru old MR from 1990s and RMC/MR from 1950s/60s.  I was surprised.  Brass trolley imports were going from $19.95 to $24.95, early issues, increasing to prices in $30 range by late 1960s. The November 1961 issue of RMC has the Galbreath article on PRC M-1.  That issue got pulled for PTM. CheersJohn    
> > >> 
> > >> On Aug 15, 2012, at 6:01 PM, Herb Brannon wrote:
> > >> 
> > >>> Back in 19-ought-6 they were that price. Today you can get the white metal
> > >>> Bowser cars for 87.17. You can also buy a PRCo/PAT 1700-series boday from
> > >>> IHP for 55.00 then the Bowser PCC drive unit w/ floor for 72.00 and have a
> > >>> well detailed, good running Pittsburgh car for 127.00. IHP makes HO and N
> > >>> scale PCC, Rapid Transit, Commuter Rail and LRV bodies (and complete RTR
> > >>> units also) from various systems across the US.  The IHP craftmanship is
> > >>> excellent and Mike Bartel, the owner, stands behind his products. The
> > >>> selection changes throughout the year. Many items are also sold on eBay.
> > >>> The IHP website is:::::Imperial Hobby
> > >>> Productions<http://ihphobby.tripod.com/update.html>
> > >>> .
> > >>> On Wed, Aug 15, 2012 at 2:44 PM, Fred Schneider <fwschneider at comcast.net>wrote:
> > >>> 
> > >>>> 
> > >>>> Aren't they supposed to cost $16.95 from Pennsylvania Scale Models in
> > >>>> Pottsville?   :<)   That's what I paid for mine.   I think I was 13 years
> > >>>> old then.
> > >>>> 
> > >>>> 
> > >>>> On Aug 15, 2012, at 1:08 PM, Herb Brannon wrote:
> > >>>> 
> > >>>>> In case anyone wanted a Bowser PRCo H.O. scale PCC and missed it, they
> > >>>> may
> > >>>>> be re-ordered.  I received the attached list of PCC cars which may now be
> > >>>>> ordered for upcoming second production runs. The due date is shown. PRCo
> > >>>>> and other available transit company names are also shown:
> > >>>>> *Bowser Items  8-14-12*
> > >>>>> *
> > >>>>> Available for Backorder
> > >>>>> Executive Line Diesel Locos
> > >>>>> (not in stock but more may be backordered)
> > >>>>> 
> > >>>>> *
> > >>>>> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> > >>>>> *
> > >>>> 
> > >>> 
> > >>> -- 
> > >>> Herb Brannon
> > >>> In Cuyahoga Valley National Park
> > >>> 
> > >>> 
> > >>> 
> > >> 
> > >> 
> > >> 
> > >      
> > > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
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