The interurban that had a name for a while something like Cour d'Alan in it and was a Mlwukee or GN subsidiary?
Which one had an AC electrification?
Dave and All:
I find a Coer d' Alene and Pend d' O Reille Railway that was part of the Spokane International. If my memory serves me correctly, the SI was part of the UP system.
Coer d' Alene (core de lane). Pend d' O Reilly (pond oh ray).
Ed Burns
Dave has the right idea. The Spokane and Inland Ry (often referred to as the Spokane and Inland Empire) had several AC boxcabs for its 6600VAC electrification. After GN acquired the S&I and a related line, the railroad was operated as the Spokane, Couer D'Alene and Palouse, with GN emblems on the sides of the locomotives. Two of the boxcabs were set up so they could also be operated on GN's 11KV Cascade Tunnel electrification. Electric operation ended in 1940.
I JUST RETURNED FROM GOOGLING SPOKANE INTERURBANS AND GOT THE ABOVE INFORMATION. THE AC OPERATION DID NOT START UNTIL A DAM WAS BUILT FOR POWER GENERATION, WITH POWER DISTRIBUTED AS WELL AS POWERING THE INTERURBAN EXTENSION OF WHAT STARTED AS A REGULAR 550-600VDC ELECTRIFIED STREETCAR LINE.
SHOULD I ASK THE NEXT QUESTION?
daveklepperSHOULD I ASK THE NEXT QUESTION?
Go right ahead.
Of all systems that had PCC car fleets, real PCC's excluding Red Arrow whcih had PCC bodies with drop-equalizer trucks with hoh-resilient wheels and cam electrical control for 10 postwar cars, whiich had the fewest, cpmpany, route applies, unusual features for a PPC car, and number of cars used.
daveklepper Of all systems that had PCC car fleets, real PCC's excluding Red Arrow whcih had PCC bodies with drop-equalizer trucks with hoh-resilient wheels and cam electrical control for 10 postwar cars, whiich had the fewest, cpmpany, route applies, unusual features for a PPC car, and number of cars used.
The IGN
daveklepperOf all systems that had PCC car fleets, real PCC's excluding Red Arrow whcih had PCC bodies with drop-equalizer trucks with hoh-resilient wheels and cam electrical control for 10 postwar cars, whiich had the fewest, cpmpany, route applies, unusual features for a PPC car, and number of cars used.
Are these separate questions? An example would be Johnstown PA's 17 cars used on about six routes with 5' 2 1/2" gauge trucks. But other than that they were pretty standard...
Boston ended up with over 350 PCCs, and Johnstown was the smallest citiy with PCC's but did not have the smallest FLEET, a fleet being anything ove two. The system with the smallest fleet is not thought of ordinarily as a PCC system, and most of its equipment was radically different and used differently and was varied.
A vary large system geographically, bit the PCC's were used on one rather short line.
The only other thing I can think of is BMT's BlueBirds based on PCC patents. BMT planned a fleet of these. However when the BMT was taken over by the city they became a two set fleet.
Perhaps the Pacific Electric Lines with 30 double ended PCC's used on the Glendale Line?
Narig came up with an answer that I had not thought of, the New York subway system, with a total of six St. Louis Bluebird compartment rapid transit cars, one isolated prototype and five that were the completed portion of the massive order that the City nixed with the June 1940 takeover of the BMT. But it doesn't count. Because they also had 100 streetcar PCC's for a total fleet of 106 PCCs, six rapid transit, 99 St. Louis streetcar, and one Clark aluminium streetcar. The number of PE cars was greater than both Johnstown and the system I am looking for. But, in a way, mentioning PE is a step in the right direction. Like NY and like PE, the system did more than run streetcars (or streetcars and buses). When you first think of PE, you think of a different sort of vehicle long before you think of PCCs. Ditto this system.
Another system also served the main city with its own larger PCC fleet. Not Cleveland.
Illinois Terminal had 8 double-ended PCCs serving its Granite City line. Unlike the P&WC units, these cars had real PCC motors in their drop-equalized trucks. Several survive in Museums.
In addition to being double-ended, they had one other non-typical feature shared with the PE cars and one other non-typical (for PCCs) feature shared with the P&WC and Dallas-Boston cars. Please name those two features and ask the next question. The control and braking systems were also pure PCC, unlike the P&WC`(Red Arow) St. Louis-built cars.
Incidentally, the Granite City suburban line was the very last IT passenger operation. Conventional PCC's on St. Louis Public Service Lines outlasted them.
In addition to being double-ended, they had one other non-typical feature shared with the PE cars and one other non-typical (for PCCs) feature shared with the P&WC and Dallas-Boston cars. Please name those two features and ask the next question. The control and braking systems were also pure PCC, unlike the P&WC`(Red Arrow) St. Louis-built cars.
P&WC and Dallas-Boston cars had couplers for MU operation. Only thing obvious to me that the PE cars shared with the IT cars is the non-PCC style trolley catcher. PE's cars did have center doors, which IT cars lacked.
the Dallas cars were equipped with Tomlinsons (from scrapped cars, not new) so they could couple in an emergency with other Boston PCCs, but they were never mu. They did not have the Tomlinisons in Dallas. Both the IT and PE cars were mu and double-ended, and so were the non-PCC Red Arrows. The Dallas-Boston cars were double-ended, and like the Illinois Terminal cars and like the Red Arrow cars with PCC-like bodies, had all four doors at ends, with no middle doors. PE cars were double-end center-exit cars or double-end Peter Witts if you prefer that name. The Chicago post-war Green Hornets. sacrificed for the Spam Cans, had three doors per side, with the rear extra-large as the entrance with two-man operation. Questions: What were the door arrangments on the prewar Chicago PCCs, and were any of Chicago PCCs converted to one-man and if so how?
rc--- by all means ask the next question.
IT's double enders just had the right side doors on the front. OK for suburban service, but must have been slow loading.
Chicago's prewar cars were delivered as front entrance, with three sets of blinker doors in front, two in the middle, and one in the back. 4051 was modified with the postwar arrangement as a test, then reconverted to something close to the original arrangement. With the wide front doors, one-man conversion involved changing the stanchion arrangement and installing a farebox.
Chicago's postwar cars were all arranged as two-man, rear-entrance cars with a 2-1-3 door arrangement. They were also equipped with hand controls, which may have been unique in the industry. CTA tried various patterns for one man operation, with some cars set up for optional one-man/two-man operation. Western Avenue was two man on weekdays, one man for owl and weekends before becoming one man full time. The major change for one-man cars seems to have been installing standard PCC pedals and a farebox, along with some changes to the operator's door controls. The double door pair in the front was adequate for an entrance/exit path. On some lines - notably Wentworth Ave. the last one in Chicago - PCCs remained two-man until the end of streetcar service. Chicago streetcar service ended June 21, 1958, the same day IT's Granite City cars quit.
New question: This railroad dieselized its steam operations with 65 large units - and one small one - without buying a single EMD or Alco unit.
That's easy enough, the road in question is Virginian, which dieselized with 25 H24-66's, 40 (2 were wreck replacements) H16-44's, and a GE 44-tonner.
The electric zone was upgraded with 4 two-unit EL-2b's and 12 EL-C's, all built by GE.
Correct! Not an EMD or an Alco in the lot. The 44-tonner (#6) was bought used from the New Haven.
I'll stick with Virginian. One of the Train Masters was equipped with a special feature that was unique to it. What was the special feature and why was this Train Master equipped with it?
Just a guess: Equipped to mu with the new electrics? Still have to figiure out why. Alternately, equipped to mate with a slug for hump or transfer service? Slug made from a retired electric?
More likely,rotating couplers for operation at the port coal dumper
One of them had an early "block heater" that could be plugged in, allowing it to be shut down at night. I'm not sure if that was aVGN or an N&W mod.
rcdrye One of them had an early "block heater" that could be plugged in, allowing it to be shut down at night. I'm not sure if that was aVGN or an N&W mod.
You have the right answer. It was a VGN modification to help comply with an early version of noise control.
I'll stick with diesel mods. Some of this railroad's second-generation EMD units were delvered with hand-me-down Alco-GE trucks from cab units, and all of its Alco-GE road switchers were retrucked with hand-me-down Baldwin-Westinghouse trucks.
Sounds like something the PRR might do!
It wasn't the PRR. Actually I overlooked one model that wasn't retrucked by this carrier, so I'll modify the question by saying that all Alco road-switchers except RS1's were retrucked with B-W trucks. Like PRR and some others, this road had at least some power from EMD, Alco-GE, Baldwin-Westinghouse and Fairbanks Morse.
CofNJ
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