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Conduit for streetcar operation

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Posted by daveklepper on Saturday, August 8, 2020 5:22 PM

See the latest post on the Capitol Transit thread.

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Posted by daveklepper on Sunday, July 5, 2020 6:51 AM

Thanks.  Sure Jack May will want to visit just to ride it!

I would too if I were still living in New York or Boston (Cambridge).

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Posted by rcdrye on Saturday, July 4, 2020 7:31 AM

Rode DC 1304's last pre-service test run yesterday.  The plow hanger has been re-installed.  There's a plow on display on a bracket inside the car.  Other than a sticky gong, it ran quite nicely.  The web site www.trolleymuseum.org now shows the event.

Like many U.S. museums Seashore has had to adapt to strange circumstances this year.  Only Friday, July 3, did the Governor lift 14-day quarantine restrictions for residents of New England.  New Hampshire and Vermont were exempted earlier.  Other states get a long wait.

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Posted by daveklepper on Friday, July 3, 2020 8:13 AM

Glad to know it is preserved.  629 at Branford lost it when equipped with poles for  Bronx service, and the Third Avenue car at Seashore: 646-686 were alway pole cars. 

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Posted by rcdrye on Thursday, July 2, 2020 4:14 PM

The plow bracket is off for the moment to allow for motor access.  It's easy enough to remount it, and it will get it out of the shop.

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Posted by daveklepper on Thursday, July 2, 2020 11:50 AM

You probably answered this before:

Does the car at Seashore still have its attachment to take a cnduit plow?

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Posted by daveklepper on Thursday, July 2, 2020 11:45 AM

Well. whoever put it on Facebook could have put it on the website.

I avoid Facebook as much as possible.

And the lack of an equipment list with descriptions and photos is shameful.

If NSRA can do it, so can Seashore.    www.streetcar.org

At least the operating fleet.

Visit the Branford website, www.bera.org

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Posted by rcdrye on Thursday, July 2, 2020 10:23 AM

It usually gets there pretty quickly.  The decision to put the car in public service wasn't finalized until Wednesday.

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Posted by daveklepper on Thursday, July 2, 2020 10:11 AM

The Facebook material belongs on the Website, not just Facebook.

Big mistake on Seashore's part

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Posted by daveklepper on Thursday, July 2, 2020 10:07 AM

Info on State of Art Raid Transit cars but none n the cars you can ride!

What a contrast to Shore  Line Trolley and Narket Street Railway!

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Posted by rcdrye on Thursday, July 2, 2020 9:18 AM

It's posted on the Facebook page (Seashore Trolley Museum).

www.facebook.com/neerhs

It wasn't a slam dunk to get it ready.  Due to the car's history as a GE test bed it had some control system quirks.

 

Scroll down the page to see me at work there.

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Posted by daveklepper on Thursday, July 2, 2020 9:08 AM

How on their website can I read about the Capitol Transit PCC rollout?

I draw a blank when I try to find it!

I did sign up for the newsletter.

Perhaps I should go back and use their search for newletter instead of Capitol Transit or PCC or July 4th.

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Posted by Miningman on Wednesday, July 1, 2020 6:45 PM

Very nice, terrific actually. Best of luck with it all and have a great 4th of July. 

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Posted by rcdrye on Wednesday, July 1, 2020 5:51 PM

DC Transit PCC 1304 will be used for public rides Saturday July 4, 2020  by the Seashore Trolley Museum in Kennebunkport ME.  This will be its first public outing in 10 years.  I rode it on one of its test runs a couple of weeks ago.

www.trolleymuseum.org

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Posted by daveklepper on Wednesday, May 27, 2020 4:03 PM

Posting  Dot-Connector's provided photo of the installation of the plow carrier under a PCC car's truck in the Georgetown Carhouse.  The orange stripes are the rails supporting the plow that allow it to move side-to-side.

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Posted by daveklepper on Saturday, May 16, 2020 5:33 PM

I lived in Manhattan, but Jack May lived in The Bronx.  So, his memry of Marble Hill is better than miine, as proven by my own photos.  So a major correctioin has been made:

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Posted by daveklepper on Friday, May 15, 2020 4:43 AM

answering a questiono to my email box.   N-S street is Broadway

"C" to B'way & 263nd St.,  NY-Yonkers Line

"K" to 125th ST. and 3rd Ave., plus Bronx pull-ins and put-outs, Kingsbridge Carhouse at B'way 215th St., south end of this overhead wire.

Tracks on W. 225 used by "C" and Bronx pull-ins and put-outs

 

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Posted by Flintlock76 on Wednesday, May 13, 2020 6:46 PM

Whew!  

Thanks David!

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Posted by daveklepper on Wednesday, May 13, 2020 4:07 PM

Correct

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Posted by Flintlock76 on Wednesday, May 13, 2020 10:26 AM

MidlandMike

Why didn't they use a single conductor/wire like the trolleys?

 

I could be wrong on this, but they didn't want overhead trolley wires in Washington DC due to the "eyesore" factor.  

Anyone feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

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Posted by daveklepper on Wednesday, May 13, 2020 9:23 AM

The Third Avenue System, Manhattan, The Bronx, and Westchester County, had only two loops, at 129th Street and 3rd Avenue for pole cars from The Bronx, track in through summwe 1947, but service stopped around 1938 because of one-way traffic on 3rd Avenue bridge (The elevated's was at 2nd Avenue.) and Classon Point on Long Island Sound in the very-far-east mid-Bronx, whch was bussed in the 1st post-WWII Bronx conversion in March 1947.  All Third Avenue and New York Railways equipment was double-end, and single-and double-track terminals were used throughout the system.

The ends of all Washington, DC, lines excep the single-track, single-car Belltsville-Branchville shuttle, had loops, and all its PCCs were single-end, as were some of its older deck-roof cars.  Some short-turn (cut-back) points, including a few in conduit territory, has simple trailing crossovers, and this required the retention of some double-end cars.  Brooklyn was a mixture, but all its 100 PCCs were single end, and no conduit was used in Brooklyn after Third Avenue withdrew its Manhattan Bridge service around the time of WWI.

You can send me conduit-related photos, davekleppper@yahoo.com, and I'll gladly post them.

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Posted by rcdrye on Wednesday, May 13, 2020 6:13 AM

MidlandMike

Did conduit systems use reversing loops at the end of the line.  It seems they would have the same problem as a 2 rail model RR.

 

Just leave a gap to coast through.  Since polarity doesn't matter it's not a problem.  Same using a crossover for double ended cars.

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Posted by MidlandMike on Tuesday, May 12, 2020 8:25 PM

Did conduit systems use reversing loops at the end of the line.  It seems they would have the same problem as a 2 rail model RR.

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Posted by rcdrye on Tuesday, May 12, 2020 5:28 PM

According to Richey and Greenough's monumental "Electric Railway Handbook" (McGraw-Hill 1915):

"The distribution system is identical for positive and negative sides and is controlled at substations by double-pole double-throw switches, which make it possible to reverse the polarity if necessary on account of gounds on different sides of different circuits."

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Posted by rcdrye on Tuesday, May 12, 2020 6:58 AM

MidlandMike

Why didn't they use a single conductor/wire like the trolleys?

 

The "Electric Railway Handbook" doesn't say.  My working guess is that there was local opposition in both Washington and New York to using the rails as the negative return to avoid electrolytic action on pipes and and such - no small consideration when gas pipe is run in the same street.  Having a power rail on each side also kept the Plow centered. K controllers had variants used for non-rail return - also used in Cincinnati.  Where cars moved between conduit and non-conduit track the G lead was connected or disconnected from the frame as needed.

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Posted by MidlandMike on Monday, May 11, 2020 8:52 PM

Why didn't they use a single conductor/wire like the trolleys?

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Posted by rcdrye on Monday, May 11, 2020 6:41 PM

Both positive and negative conductors were in the slot - polarity does not matter with series wound motors. 

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Posted by rcdrye on Monday, May 11, 2020 6:24 AM

The hatches in the street allow access to the slot contactor supports.  The spacing - roughly 15 feet apart on straight track - is a remnant of Cable conduit construction.

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Posted by Dot-connector on Wednesday, May 6, 2020 4:15 PM

Thank you for the offer! Actually, I imagine Maryland will open about when Maine does, and I will again have access to #1101, which also still has its plow bracket. I have a picture of a plow installed under a similar PCC car, but can't quite make out what is bracket and what is truck. I have another image of a conduit plow in the museum's collection, which I added to this image for comparison. I wanted to show the folks here so I could ask intelligent questions. If I ever figure out how to submit pictures to this blog, I can post it. Apparently, a link to GoogleDrive does not work. I may have better luck with a Flickr link.

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