|
|
| Re: Tuscarora Almanac for March 28 (1541961) | |||
 |
|||
| Home > SubChat | |||
|
[ Read Responses | Post a New Response | Return to the Index ] |
|
||
|
Re: Tuscarora Almanac for March 28 |
|
|
Posted by randyo on Sun Mar 29 17:32:08 2020, in response to Re: Tuscarora Almanac for March 28, posted by Express Rider on Sun Mar 29 03:28:31 2020. Flivvers, Steinways and standard Lo-Vs were identical in appearance with the exception of the 50 World’s Fair Steinways which had a more modern roof design and set back end doors. To the average railfan, the difference between a standard Lo-V and Steinway was only discernible after the Steinways were transferred to the Mainline when horizontal red lines were painted under the numbers to avoid them being inadvertently coupled together. Flivvers, on the other hand would be easily identifiable if you could see into the M/M’s cab where the large brass Hi-V style controller handle which the other Lo-Vs lacked. For those mechanically knowledgeable, you could tell the flivvers apart from the other Lo-Vs by the sound of their brakes when applying and releasing. The Steinways and standard Lo-Vs with their AMUE braking emitted a small puff of air when being applied like all the BMT and IND prewar equipment. The Flivvers like the Hi-Vs with the different AMRE braking did not emit the puff of air during applications so if you listened carefully, you could tell the difference. There was a small group of both flivver and Hi-V trailers that were converted to Steinway motors in the late 1920s to early 1930s to answer a slight car shortage on the IRT Queens lines and as characteristic of the IRT were outfitted with similar but later model controls that were installed on the last of the standard body Steinways, the 5600 series. In chronological terms, the first Lo-Vs on the IRT were the first 12 Steinways known as the boilers. There were 6 Ge and 6 WH equipped cars. The GE cars had a small master controller identical to the ones on the old H&M cars that locked in the off position and needed a small drum key inserted in the controller handle to un lock it. Similarly to the BMT el cars which used the same handle for both directions depending on which way it moved, the boilers’ controller handle was moved to the left for forward and to the right for reverse. At some point, probably in the 1930s, those controllers were replaced by more standard GE controller as used on the rest of the GE equipped Lo-Vas and Steinways. The WH controllers were not like the rest of the IRT Lo-V controllers which had the operating positions offset by 45 degrees, but were identical to the controllers on the BMT steels which came straight out from parallel to the front of the car to a right angle to the car front. The flivvers were the first Mainline Lo-Vs and according to an old time IRT M/M I knew, got the name from the C/Rs’ door handles. The first Lo-Vs while having pneumatic door controls, did not haver MUDC but had 2 crank like handles one for the end doors of the car and the other for the center doors, similar to the center door handles on the manual door Hi-Vs. Since the door handles resembled the starting cranks of the old Ford autos of the day, the crews gave them the name “flivvers.” For some reason, the name didn’t get applied to the standard Lo-Vs probably because by the time they arrived, the novelty wore off. |
|
(There are no responses to this message.)
|
|