[PRCo] PRC 1400 Series PCC in Museum

Fri Jul 19 15:58:41 EDT 2013

It looked gorgeous in 1969 but that was then and this is now.   Salt air in that part of the country is harmful even if the cars are under a roof.

On Jul 19, 2013, at 2:49 PM, Boris Cefer wrote:

> I am under an impression that the trucks which are under 1440 came from D. 
> C. This impression may be wrong but Boston or D. C. is correct answer.
> I am told that 1440 is theoretically operable. Perhaps it is mut its 
> condition is not very good.
> 
> Boris
> 
> --------------------------------------------------
> From: "Dwight Long" <dwightlong at verizon.net>
> Sent: Friday, July 19, 2013 8:41 PM
> To: "Western PA Trolley discussion" 
> <pittsburgh-railways at mailman.dementix.org>
> Subject: Re: [PRCo] PRC 1400 Series PCC in Museum
> 
>> 
>> John
>> 
>> But nothing has yet been said about when Seashore regauged or retrucked 
>> the car. It is not necessarily true that because the acquired the car in 
>> the 60s that they did the conversion right away.  AIR it took Branford a 
>> decade or more to retruck their PSTC car.  I don’t know the answer to 
>> that.  But is it not true that by the 1970s the first replacement of CTA 
>> PCC rapid cars was in progress?  I seem to recall that Leonard Brothers 
>> bought several sets from them as spares for their subway operation—it 
>> could have been in the 80s though.  But so could Seashore’s conversion. 
>> Unless we ask someone from there when it was done, and how, we are just 
>> speculating.
>> 
>> But that is something we are good at!
>> 
>> Dwight
>> 
>> From: John Swindler
>> Sent: Friday, 19 July, 2013 13:30
>> To: Western PA Trolley discussion
>> Subject: Re: [PRCo] PRC 1400 Series PCC in Museum
>> 
>> 
>> Except CTA was not scrapping PCC rapid transit cars in 1960s, and Boston 
>> (figuratively) was just around the corner.
>> 
>> This is somewhat of a sequel to previous thread about B&O overnight 
>> trains.  If CTA gives a system pass to a railfan employee, he'll spend his 
>> time-off riding and photographing 4000s on the northside 'el'.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>>> From: dwightlong at verizon.net
>>> To: pittsburgh-railways at mailman.dementix.org
>>> Date: Fri, 19 Jul 2013 13:07:54 -0400
>>> Subject: Re: [PRCo] PRC 1400 Series PCC in Museum
>>> 
>>> 
>>> Fred
>>> 
>>> But who’s to say they did not buy a set or sets of trucks in advance? 
>>> Also, could not Chicago PCC rapid car trucks be used—of course air brakes 
>>> would have to be fitted.
>>> 
>>> Dwight
>>> 
>>> 
>>> From: Fred Schneider
>>> Sent: Friday, 19 July, 2013 11:57
>>> To: Western PA Trolley discussion
>>> Subject: Re: [PRCo] PRC 1400 Series PCC in Museum
>>> You would have had to cut the extension rings off the axle housings. 
>>> Put bearings in the end of the shorter axle housings if they had a place 
>>> to put them.   Install shorter axles.   Then, since this is an air car, 
>>> you would need to fabricate new, shorter brake beams.   It would be a lot 
>>> easier than a outside framed truck ….
>>> 
>>> BUT IT MIGHT HAVE BEEN A WHOLE LOT EASIER TO FIND A PAIR OF TRUCKS OF THE 
>>> RIGHT GAUGE IN THE SCRAP HEAP SOMEWHERE ELSE.    That car would have come 
>>> to Seashore in the mid to late 1960s.   The Montreal cars were gone in 
>>> 1959.   Washington's cars were gone by 1962.   But Boston may have had 
>>> standard gauge air cards then and one of the Seashore members worked for 
>>> MTA / MBTA in the shops.
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> On Jul 19, 2013, at 11:03 AM, Lattner, Raymond wrote:
>>> 
>>>> I thought the book, PCC the Car That Fought Back, indicated it was 
>>>> relatively easy to change the gauge of the trucks?
>>>> 
>>>> -----Original Message-----
>>>> From: pittsburgh-railways-bounces at mailman.dementix.org 
>>>> [mailto:pittsburgh-railways-bounces at mailman.dementix.org] On Behalf Of 
>>>> John Swindler
>>>> Sent: Friday, July 19, 2013 9:38 AM
>>>> To: Western PA Trolley discussion
>>>> Subject: Re: [PRCo] PRC 1400 Series PCC in Museum
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> We tend to use the term 're-gauge', which implies modifying the 
>>>> original trucks.  But suspect it would be a lot cheaper to swap for 
>>>> trucks that are already standard gauge.  In the end, same difference - 
>>>> 1440 is operable on Seashore track, only quicker and cheaper.
>>>> 
>>>> PTM has the opposite problem - finding broad gauge trucks to fit under 
>>>> standard gauge equipment without going to expense of re-gauging.  I 
>>>> suspect the Boston dump car is an example.  However, the open car did 
>>>> not lend itself to an easy expedient.
>>>> 
>>>> Never paid much attention to re-gauging issues until the Trolley Fare 
>>>> accounts on work that had to be done for several recent PTM 
>>>> acquisitions.
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>>> From: dwightlong at verizon.net
>>>>> To: pittsburgh-railways at mailman.dementix.org
>>>>> Date: Fri, 19 Jul 2013 03:20:42 -0400
>>>>> Subject: Re: [PRCo] PRC 1400 Series PCC in Museum
>>>>> 
>>>>> 
>>>>> John
>>>>> 
>>>>> Perhaps so they could operate it on their standard gauge track?  What 
>>>>> am I missing in this question?
>>>>> 
>>>>> Dwight
>>>>> 
>>>>> From: John Swindler
>>>>> Sent: Thursday, 18 July, 2013 21:51
>>>>> To: Western PA Trolley discussion
>>>>> Subject: Re: [PRCo] PRC 1400 Series PCC in Museum
>>>>> 
>>>>> 
>>>>> huh, Fred???
>>>>> 
>>>>> Alan Pegler never had a Royal Scot.  Those were 
>>>>> London-Midland-Scottish 4-6-0 types used on the West Coast main line. 
>>>>> The first one - #6100 Royal Scot  has been preserved.
>>>>> 
>>>>> The "Flying Scotsman" is an  A-3 class London and Northeastern 
>>>>> 'pacific' type loco used on the East Coast main line.
>>>>> 
>>>>> The only similarity is that both made trips to US, but neither you nor 
>>>>> I ever saw the Royal Scot in this country - it's US visit was during 
>>>>> 1930s.
>>>>> 
>>>>> As for PRC 1440, finding this link falls into the category of just 
>>>>> dumb luck.  Any reason Seashore would re-gauge the PRC trucks rather 
>>>>> than use an extra set of Boston PCC trucks????
>>>>> 
>>>>> http://www.trolleymuseum.org/collection/browse.php?id=01440SPA
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
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