PCC streetcar

The PCC car has a developed in the 1930s in the U.S. tramcar. The acronym stands for PCC President Conference Committee - is a vehicle whose construction characteristics were defined in the Presidential Conference of the U.S. transport companies.

Formation

In the U.S., found towards the end of the first third of the 20th century, the head of the American street railway companies with the aim of developing a standard car. The case resulting PCC car should significantly improve the quality and effectiveness of transport tram, as the competition from buses and private transport had become ever greater.

The car ends of the PCC cars were rounded and the two-piece windshield was slanted. Not only the appearance, even the good acceleration made ​​the popular vehicles. Overall, this type of car was bought up in the 1950s. For the North American market almost 5,000 cars were built.

Manufacturer

The St. Louis Car Company and Pullman Standard were among the first manufacturers. Clark Equipment built a prototype in lightweight aluminum. For the Canadian market, the vehicles from the St. Louis Car Company and Canadian Car and Foundry were manufactured in Montreal. In Europe, FIAT Madrid and La Brugeoise et Nivelles (BN ) built in Belgium, among others for French and Belgian companies such as Saint Etienne, Marseille, Ghent, The Hague, Brussels, Antwerp and Ostend numerous vehicles.

CKD Tatra in Czechoslovakia also acquired a license and built several thousand vehicles. The types T1 and T2 could not deny their origin from the U.S. vehicle. The Tatra T3 as a further development was delivered in almost all Eastern Bloc countries. It is built with more than 10,000 copies of the most-built tram car in the world. Tatra vehicles driving today in many companies in Central and Eastern Europe, from the 1990s, numerous cars were delivered from East German factories to Poland, Romania, Russia and other Eastern European countries as well as North Korea.

The Polish waggon Konstal also used the PCC technique, although it had no license for it. Konstal vehicles are to this day still to be found in every Polish operation.

In Germany, numerous variants Duewag - articulated cars as well as individual Duewag - Großraumwagen in mold ( front ) were inspired by the American PCC type, but without taking over their technology, which came in many German and Austrian cities, as well as Switzerland and the Netherlands used.

Toronto, Canada was the largest PCC operation in North America with 745 car. As many cities after the Second World War abandoned their streetcars, Toronto bought up surplus cars and had them until the mid-1990s in use. In Boston modernized PCC cars are on the Mattapan line still go. In San Francisco PCC drive on the operated with historic streetcar line F.

Technology

The original PCC car is a four-axle vehicle with two symmetrically assembled bogies. All axles are driven. Some European developments, however, were designed as a six-axle articulated cars.

The early vehicles had even pneumatic means for opening and closing the doors, the brakes were operated by compressed air. In later series electric door drives and regenerative brakes were installed ( so-called all- electric cars ).