PTC #2743
Philadelphia Transportation Co., Philadelphia,
PA
During the 1930's, transit companies were
in competition with the private automobile.
People were using their own automobiles as
they were affordable. The electric railway
industry commissioned a Presidents' Conference
Committee to design a new standard trolley
to increase ridership. The PCC, named for
the Presidents' Conference Committee, saved
many transit companies from early abandonment.
The Museum's example of a PCC car comes from
Philadelphia, PA. Car 2743 was acquired by
the Museum in 1994. It was in regular service
in Philadelphia until the fall of the previous
year.
Car 2743 was built by the St. Louis
Car Co.
in 1947 using a 1945 design. It has
small
windows above the main passenger windows
which were called standee windows.
PCC trolleys
featured a smoother ride than the older
trolleys,
faster acceleration, a reduced noise
level
and comfortable seating. Most PCC cars
built
were single-ended, meaning that main controls were located
only at one end of the car, with shop
movement
controls (or no controls at all) in
the rear.
Turning loops were required at the
end of
all lines in order to have the car
traveling
in the correct direction. A total of
210
such cars were built in a 1947 order
for
the Philadelphia Transportation Co.
A major stumbling block to making 2743 operational
at our musuem was the track gauge, or rail
spacing, of the car. Philadelphia city trolley
lines use a broad gauge of 5 feet 2 1/4 inches, and our Museum is
built to 4 feet 8 1/2 inches, known as standard gauge. A suitable set of standard gauge trucks
were obtained from Cleveland to have the
needed parts to "regauge" this
car. Over the winter of 1997-8, volunteers
spent nearly 600 hours "regauging"
the car. In 1998 the car was placed in operation
on our line.
More information:
For more information on PCC trolleys
in Philadelphia
visit Streetcar Philadelphia
Text by Joel Salomon, (c) 2002
Regauging a PCC:
In April of 1998, we completed a major
project
to change the wheel spacing of Philadelphia
"PCC" trolley #2743.
Because Philly uses broad-gauge track, with the rails farther apart than
the standard-gauge we use, the car could not be run until this
project was completed.
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No wheels!
During the winter of 1997-8, the second truck
was removed for rebuilding to standard gauge,
and separated into its wheelsets and the
truck frame. |
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In this photo, the truck frame sits on a
small push car, cleaned up and ready for
painting. The axles fit between the vertical
posts at each corner. |
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With everything cleaned up and primed, the
new axles, torque arms, and track brake are
assembled. The wheels shown here are now
the front axle of PCC #2743. |
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Newly regauged 2743 nears Cummins Road crossing.
Photo by Joel Salomon (c) 1998 |
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