I'm just catching up on this thread. Regarding some earlier posts about personal recollections of double-ended PCCs, I have two:
1. I rode the Pacific Electric PCCs on the Glendale-Burbank line from 1947 to around 1953 (that's when I went into the Army, and I can't remember whether they were still running then or not -- they were certainly gone when I came back). I believe they were the only double-ended PCCs in the US with center doors; that is, they had two front doors and two center doors on the right side in the direction of movement, so that from either end almost to the center they looked like a single-ended car. Originally the conductor stood at the center door and collected fares as the passengers entered; the front was for exit only. Later they were changed to one-man operation, and exit treadles were installed in the center stepwells. The seats were very comfortable, being one-piece two-seaters with fairly deep upholstery (no danger of slashing in the 1950s -- and the windows were ordinary glass in those innocent days). They swiveled in place; the conductor walked the length of the car turning the seats at the end of the run. There was no pedal to depress, as on long-distance railroad coaches -- the conductor just stood in the aisle with one hand on the handrail at the back of each seat, and gave a vigorous yank. The seats spun around 180 degrees and latched in position facing in the opposite direction (this happened at each end of the run, something like once an hour on the Glendale-Burbank line, all day, every day -- hardware was built to last in those days). Imagine facing in the direction of movement! The 600-series (Hollywood) cars had the same seating, as did the blimps on the Southern District. The PCCs rode pretty comfortably, although there was a tendency for any irregularity in the track to be amplified by the cars' suspension. They operated as two-car trains more often than not; in a typical off-peak maneuver, a single car would operate from Burbank and would find a single car waiting on the main at Arden Jct., having come down from North Glendale. The car from Burbank would move up and couple on, much to my chagrin, since it shut off my forward view the rest of the way. I have a recollection of at least one 3-car train in rush hours but have learned not to trust my recollections. It seems that if such existed, somebody would have photographed it, probably on the Fletcher Drive trestle, but I haven't run across any photos of a 3-car train.
2. I was told by an old-line Red Arrow expert that for a number of years they ran two St. Louis cars as a slip-coach operation (the only one I ever heard of in the US); to save using two time slots out of 69th St. in rush hour, the first car ran express to Woodland Ave., local to Media, and the second ran express to Scenic Road, local to Woodland Ave. Approaching Scenic Road, the operator of the second car uncoupled at speed, using a pushbutton or something on the console, and brought the car to a stop at Scenic Road while the first car barreled through Scenic Road without stopping, to make his first scheduled stop at Woodland Ave. Meanwhile, the second car continued as a local to Woodland Ave. and returned to 69th St. from there. Would have liked to ride that if I had known about it.
)