PCC's of North America (1985 Colin J. Strayer for Empire Pictures)
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- Опубликовано: 31 июл 2021
- "Comprised of priceless footage shot between 1938 and 1949, this film takes you to twenty-five of the thirty-one North American systems that operated PCC's. What is truly amazing about this material is that it was shot on 16mm Kodachrome at a time when only a handful of Hollywood features existed in colour.
Photographed in the cars' prime operating years and in storage until now, this footage remains in immaculate condition. Chronogically organized, this film revelas a unique look at a more youthful America, an America we can only try to remember. Narration and PCC sounds have been painstakingly added giving the viewer both a background into the history of the car, and a realistic sense of what they sounded like. Both entertaining and informative. An example of what you can expect...
1939 - Baltimore, Toronto, Philadelphia, Washington D.C.
1940 - Brooklyn, Chicago, Cincinnati, St. Louis, Pittsburg
1941 - San Diego, San Francisco, Vancouver, Boston, Los Angeles
1942 - Los Angeles suburbs, Kansas city, 1944 - Montreal
1946 - Atlantic City (Brilliners)
1947 - Johnstown Pa., Washington D.C.
1948 - Chicago, Cleveland, Minneapolis-St. Paul
1949 - Philadelphia suburbs, Cleveland suburbs-Shaker Heights
Also includes a montage of Toronto, 1984 at the beginning and end. Written, produced and narrated by Colin J. Strayer for Empire Pictures Video."
All rights go to Colin J. Strayer (1985) and Empire Pictures (1986 release). This short film is from the "PCC Streetcars: The Way They Were" VHS.
If there are any issues with Copywrite and uploading of this program, please let me know and I will act accordingly. 
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I particularly enjoyed the video with the sound of steel wheels on steel rails , music to my ears .
As someone who was born and grew up in the south Parkdale area of Toronto from 1951 I hardly ever had cause to ride a bus and those I did were almost all Trolley Busses . I did learn one thing from this film , the Cars I remember running on Bloor St. as a kid ( before the subway line ) came from Cleveland . I remember them running as MU's (multiple-units) and later on Queen St.
I miss those wonderful old PCC' s . The streetcars we have now run a a snails pace in comparison
My earliest memories of streetcars in St Louis were The old Peter Witt cars. Compared to them, The PCC fleet was smooth, fast, quiet, and modern. I loved them. Hated to see them go.
Thank you for sharing this video! Quite enjoyable.
I had the pleasure of riding Pittsburgh's PCCs in the early 1970s from Mt. Lebanon (south hills). I was just a kid (born '62) but I loved them.
I find this interesting, aside from being depressing. I was a student in Newark, NJ at the turn of the century. Newark's "subway", which now uses lightrail, was trolley cars underground. After seeing this, I realized they were the remaining PCC's
In addition, poetry was lost. In New Orleans, the streetcar named Desire is now a bus named Desire.
I have wonderful memories of riding Outremont (Montreal) PCCs extensively, as a kid of 14 and 15; then later on the Toronto PCCs while stationed in Downsview with the RCAF. While in Toronto, I saw the changeover to the newer rolling stock, but they rode like a boxcar, compared to the PCCs.
Thanks a million for sharing.
Ya think you better rethink that one.. While the PCC's were certainly more iconic and possibly more durable, they certainly did NOT ride better or were more comfortable than the CLR'Vs that replaced them. The CLRV's were light years better in terms of the ride and comfort, no jolting/banging over switches and cross overs, they did not hunt on higher speed sections (why the first place they replaced the PCC was on the long branch route) they did not jerk into sharp corners and were far warmer in winter and were far far quieter inside.
So, let’s go into air suspension and computer electronics.
The point: No comparison brtween PCCs and ALRVs.
I’ve been riding in streetcars in Montreal, and then Toronto (including the ALRVs); since 1945 at age 10. now 86, I still love anything under a wire.
I won’t dispute your claim that newer streetcars ride smoother, but for their time, PCCs were the top ride for me.
@@MrMASSEYJONES The PCC's were a step up from the Witts but not anywhere near the improvement the CLRV's were over the PCC's and they stayed in service basically as long as the PPC's did.
you are so lucky to have seen the most beautiful tram system in the world in its glory days
one question: have you ever seen the w63 grinder? If yes what was like?
Thanks for sharing. My copy has been lost for over ten years.
Beautiful!
OMG a video showing montreal tramways in action, i wish there were more
So depressing 😞
Thanks for a great video. You sure have done some much-appreciated research! ("The Car that Fought Back" is on my shelf.)
I've written this before in other PCC-related videos: One has to be a real geek to watch and enjoy old movies about old trolleys. Well, I am, and I do! :)
Having grown up riding Boston's subways, I've always been a fan of the PCC. Several reside on my model railroad layout.
Awesome, Thanks for sharing /// check out some of the PCC footage we have on
No St. Louis native ever called their city “St. Louie.” Aargh!
Yes, and the ubiquitous mispronounciation of short-lived as the verb and not the adjective (with the long i as in twice).
Good one. Used to ride the PCCs in revenue service until they pulled them in 1995. Miss them . The CLRVs and ALRVs were good. And the new(er) Bombardiers look nice. We just have a problem in 2023 with junkies attacking people on them. I hope they can rectify this strategic municipal boo-boo.
Exactly who is the "Presidents' Conference Committee"?
The "Presidents' Conference Committee" (PCC) was a project of 1929-1936 as an "improved" Streetcar for use by American transit companies.
Please note PCC also stands for "Presidents' Conference Car" for the PCC came out of the Conference of various presidents of various transit organizations to design a better streetcar. They did a very good job in designing the PCCs (and since it was a conference of many presidents not the President the proper first name is Presidents' for we are NOT talking about a president but many presidents).
The PCC was a very good design, even today PCC design "trucks" are the best undercarriage you can get for a streetcar that does not operate on very straight and perfect tracks. For example in Pittsburgh, when new Light Rail Vehicles (LRVs) replaced the old PCCs, the LRVs were known to for excessive noise on curves and wearing out wheels and tracks. This was due to the LRVs "Trucks" being designed for high speed staight tracks not the many curves or badly maintained tracks. On the other hand the old PCCs were designed for curves and badly maintained tracks.
For more see: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PCC_streetcar
@@paulmentzer7658 Paul thanks for the excellent commentary. PE in LA ordered 30 PCC;s for their Venice Short Line, but the cars couldnt handle the bad track. The cars were transferred to the Burbank line after new track and ballast was put down. In LA at least, the PCC;s were known for being finicky on anything but perfect track.
@@davidmoser3535 That is strange. In Pittsburgh the last PCC routes was called the "Valley line". That line started out as a narrow Guage steam coal rail road in 1869. It started in an abandoned coal mine under Mount Washington that used a gravity Incline plane to get its coal to the low area next to the Monongehela River. On the other side of the tunnel a series of bridges carried the railroad to Castle Shannon.
In 1905 the Pittsburgh Railway Company, which operated the Streetcars in Pittsburgh, took over that route. They built a new tunnel that connected the old railroad right of way with Carson Street (which is the main street on the South side of the Mongohelia river) bypassing the inclines. The Narrow gauge tracks were maintained but Tracks for Streetcars were installed. Thus you ended up with two sets of tracks, a three foot gauge and a five foot, two inch track used by the Pittsburgh Railway company for its Streetcars.
By the 1970s these Tracks were in poor shape, as were the bridges. I would take the Streetcar on the weekend with my sisters and skip all of the empty seats in front of the Streetcar to sit in the rear seat to get the full effect of the rough ride. We called it better then Kennywood, the local amusement park known for its roller coasters.
I bring those trips up for the PCC undercarriage was designed to operate on bad tracks. Electric undercarriage do a better job on bad tracks then Steam locomotives (and was one on the reasons Diesels replaced steam, Diesels are actually Diesel electric, the Diesel is a generator that produces electric power for the electric motors on the wheels of the diesel locomotive). The PCC undercarriage was known to work with bad tracks (and many PCC undercarriage Streetcars still run in the former USSR on very bad tracks for this reason).
Just a comment that given the design of the PCC undercarriage I suspect that it did not work on that line appears to be an excuse not the reason. It was often easier to say " the new cars can not handle those tracks" then to say "we preferred to run the new cars on these other tracks for the riders on the other tracks perfer to new cars". Often this had a class distinction, lower class areas were stuck with older cars, while more upscale regions were given the then brand new PCCs. Blaming the tracks and Streetcars was a common tactic starting in the 1920s when the real reason was increase automotive traffic or just part of a plan to abandon Streetcar service in that area rather then upgrade the tracks.