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- Coal and Gravel Delivery
- RE: Two ears, etc.
- A little quieter these days
- 1100 2nd Street SW
- Shedshrinkflation
- The Long Shed ...
- Trestle
- Pass to the right
- Who's on Second?
- 2nd story story
- Did they get to eat it?
- Two ears, etc.
- I Miss The Smell
- What is that?
- Sauced
- Whose?
- Mrs. Landis
- The location today
- Not the marrying kind
- No kisses in Lititz
- That plate at the near end of the table --
- Poor kid
- Freedom from Want
- Did Mrs. Landis
- Wait. a. minute. here --
- Mrs. Landis
- Shades of Belushi
- Cranberry ... the condiment and the color
- The old man
- Plumbing?
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PCC Trolley: 1943
April 1943. "Baltimore, Maryland. Repairing the motor of a PCC (Presidents' Conference Committee) trolley -- the most recent streetcar model, designed in 1936 by a group of manufacturers and transit companies in an effort to standardize, simplify, and bring down the price; at the damage shop, maintenance terminal of the Baltimore Transit Company." Acetate negative by Marjory Collins for the Office of War Information. View full size.
A Valiant Effort
The Streetcar President's Conference Commission recognized their rail members were being increasingly challenged by automobiles and commissioned a study of the best available designs. The many novel features of the PCC car included:
Hypoid Drive Gears -- as used by automobiles. These are far quieter than the standard spur gears common in streetcars. You can see the gearcase on the axle closest to the camera to the right of center with its traction motor to the rear being touched by the man in the center. The traction motor for that axle is located to the left of the gearcase in the foreground.
Not seen in this image are the resilient wheels that included a rubber center to cut noise and vibration, a sophisticated control system, coupled with magnetic track brakes that allowed the car to smoothly accelerate and brake and keep up with traffic.
The cars received wide acceptance and were designed so the carbody would be adjusted (longer / shorter, wider / narrower, single or double-ended) to accommodate the needs of different operations. Some were sold (or built by license) overseas and, in Chicago, parts of some PCC cars were reused in the manufacturing of El cars. Compared to today's practice, where individual transit agencies purchase specific custom designs, the PCC seemed to have made a lot of sense.
For those interested in these issues, I recommend the book "PCC: The Car That Fought Back." A quick search from the internet shows them selling from the mid $20's and up.
Philly still uses them
The PCCs are still in use in Philadelphia, and they were recently renovated (Septa PCC III).
Anatomy class
Caution should be exercised and warning placed as:
"Some may find this image disturbing"
[??? - Dave]
Mack Trackless Trolley
On the far left there is an electric trolley bus, number 2011. This is a 1938 Mack and is likely in the same shop for electrical work. There is a website with more photos of Baltimore's trolley buses and PCC streetcars. When the trolleybus system closed in 1959, some of the vehicles were sold to Calgary, Alberta and Bogota, Colombia. The streetcar system soldiered on until November 1963.
Undercarriage
I never saw the inner workings of a streetcar before! I'd love to know more about how they worked.
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