Jones1945
By the way, I didn't know that not all 1000 P70 was built by Pennsy shop:
Groups of P70s were also built by Standard Steel Car and American Car & Foundry, too. Pressed Steel had a plant in McKees Rocks so PRR probably favored their on-line (or close to) builders.
There are some excellent construction photos of several PRR cars at ACF in the Barriger Library:
9312 001 by John W. Barriger III National Railroad Library, on Flickr
Lot 3204 Neg 104825-A 001 by John W. Barriger III National Railroad Library, on Flickr
You can see the Raymond Lowey influence in the interior appointments:
Lot 3204 Neg 104825-G 007 by John W. Barriger III National Railroad Library, on Flickr
Lot 3204 Neg 104825-K 010 by John W. Barriger III National Railroad Library, on Flickr
Here is an excellent, seldom-seen view of the emergency escape hatch. Is there any record of these actually being used to extricate people? Are they a PRR "thing" besides the two that are on the Ferdinand Magellan?
Lot 3204 Neg 104825-BB 027 by John W. Barriger III National Railroad Library, on Flickr
Unfortunately, I have found no easy method of searching or indexing these photos in the huge ACF album.
One more question, if I may. PRR passenger designations, P70 for instance, are based on the interior length of the passenger compartment. So why are there P85 cars when, clearly, 85 is the outside length? Curious PRR fans want to know.
Cheers, Ed