[PRCo] PRC 1400 Series PCC in Museum

Fred Schneider fwschneider at comcast.net
Fri Jul 19 16:38:24 EDT 2013 

Maybe we should have written that it was much easier to produce gauge variations for sale rather than perhaps saying changing change.    I am not sure I wrote it then.

With the B2 truck, the basic axle housing was designed for a 56 inch gauge truck.   If you were buying a car for Baltimore, Toronto, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, then all that was needed was to weld a collar on each end of the axle housing in order to move the bearing outward about 3 to 4 more inches, insert a longer axle into the housing, and, assuming it was an air car, use a longer brake beam.   

Now if you wanted to convert it with worn parts for a second-hand use, it became a little more difficult.   Lengthening it became the same process.   When Toronto bought used cars from Cleveland, they had to weld steel collars onto the axle housings in order to move the bearings farther out (about an inch on each end).    But when INEPTA bought used cars from Toronto after the Woodland Car House fire, they failed to do it right … they simply put longer axles into the old housings, which meant you had a one inch axle unsupported for about two inches between the wheel and the bearings.   And guess what happened … they started fracturing axles.

So yes, it was easier for Clark to make a variant.   It was also easier for to alter them after the fact than it would be to alter an outside framed design which would have required a new bolster as well as other truck parts.   



On Jul 19, 2013, at 12:52 PM, Dwight Long wrote:

> 
> John
> 
> OK, I know grasp the difference.  It was a subtlety that was lost on me the first time around.  I was using a much broader definition of re-gauge and I shall try to remember (probably without success) the distinction.
> 
> Thanks
> Dwight
> 
> From: John Swindler 
> Sent: Friday, 19 July, 2013 09:37
> 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 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>>> From: fwschneider at comcast.net
>>> Date: Thu, 18 Jul 2013 19:49:27 -0400
>>> To: pittsburgh-railways at mailman.dementix.org
>>> Subject: Re: [PRCo] PRC 1400 Series PCC in Museum
>>> 
>>> Here is a link to 1440 on Seashore's web site.
>>> 
>>> http://www.trolleymuseum.org/collection/browse.php?id=01440SPA
>>> 
>>> I have no idea what shape it is in today.  Remember when Alan Pegler's Royal Scot  (4472) was running in the U. S. A?    I think it is called the Flying Scotsman today and there is a joke on line about renaming it after the prime minister by simply removing the F from the name.  
>>> 
>>> Well, I think that might have been about 1969.   I went up on the Night Clunker from Philly to Providence and met Bill Middleton (the Navy had him in Newport, RI then) and we spent the weekend chasing a British steam engine and riding trolleys at Seashore.   That was the only time I saw 1440 and it looked pretty good them.    I have been up that way one or two times since but I didn't see it out.
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> On Jul 18, 2013, at 4:39 PM, Edward H. Lybarger wrote:
>>> 
>>>> It was operable at that time.  I presume it still is...can't find a photo of it -- or most other cars -- on their website.
>>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
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