Speed

[Vigrass, Bill]

Re: Pedestrians on the r-o-w.  When I was PMO on the Norristown High Speed
Line Modernization Program (1988-93) I noticed and photographed the right of
way after it snowed.  The gauge of the track was well trodden by pedestrians
using the r-o-w as a footpath.  Service was every 10 or 15 minutes, and as
you know, it was (and is) fast, typically 55-60 mph (no, they no longer went
80).  Everyone was very casual about it, except me.  I was uneasy, but
evidently accidents were rare.  The new N5 cars are smooth, quiet and fast,
running 55 or 70 (depending on cab signal code which in turn is based on
curvature) on almost the entire line, except for the 40 mph curve at
Villanova Junction (from the old "main line" to the Norristown "branch").
Yet insofar as I know, the practice persists.  Fencing is rare.   Some of
the line is adjacent to backyards.  It seems to work ok.    
 Bill Vigrass 

> ----------
> From: 	Jim Holland[SMTP:pghpcc at pacbell.net]
> Reply To: 	pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org
> Sent: 	Friday, October 15, 1999 9:16 PM
> To: 	pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org
> Subject: 	Re: Speed
> 
> Greetings!
> 
> Derrick J Brashear wrote:
> 
> > If you lived along a busy road, you wouldn't let your kid run around
> near
> > it, right? Why expect less of people who live along the rail tracks?
> 
> 	Yes, Derrick, I most heartily agree, but I think you might have
> missed 
> the point I was trying to make.  I grew up 1/2 block from the Raleigh 
> intersection of the 42 DORMONT line; I worked at Potomac pharmacy on the
> same 
> line on Potomac.  I walked the tracks back and forth as did  m-a-n-y
> people.  
> The streetcar line is literally in the back yards of many homes - very
> shallow 
> back yards (not deep, long yards like on Norristown).  The Hillsdale grade
> school 
> is just several blocks from the line.  I crossed the tracks to get to
> school 
> 4-times a day because we went home for lunch in those days.
> 	To reverse established habits is extremely difficult.  Don't know if
> PAT 
> fenced the prw or not and don't know what efforts PAT makes to keep people
> off 
> the prw.  The congestion is far too great and the crossings far too many
> for this 
> to be anything but a home town streetcar line.
> 	Autos have to slow for school zones - anything that goes thru school
> 
> zones has to slow.  There are many very young children on the streets who
> are  
> l-e-a-r-n-i-n-g  how to be responsible citizens (hopefully).  Yes - the
> children 
> must be instructed in railroad / streetcar safety, but as they are not yet
> 
> mature, the rest of us have to watch out for them  --  autos and
> streetcars!
> 	The 42 DORMONT line between Potomac and the Dormont wye or whatever
> does 
> not lend itself to speed.  Put the streetcar on an embankment in this area
> so one 
> must crawl up to it or put it well below grade level in a pit and this
> would 
> strongly discourage anyone from crossing the actual tracks.
> 	But the Dormont line is at grade where it is very easy for anyone -
> child 
> or adult - to cross at almost any point.  And the last I checked, anyone
> who is 
> driving does not have the  RIGHT  to hit anyone who walks in front of him 
> irresponsibly.  This is a congested urban area and we are not dealing with
> a main 
> line railroad.  Precautions need to be taken.
> 	Maybe we will go back to the PRCo days of running the 42/38 which 
> terminates in Mt. Lebanon; then these people might get a seat in the rush
> hour.  
> (My parents complained about this problem - Raleigh was the first inbound
> stop 
> for the 42 - now it is the middle of the line and they can't get seats.
> But they 
> moved away - that settled that problem!)  And run the Drake thru Overbrook
> to the 
> Village and the Library thru Overbrook.  Make a couple rush hour trips to
> Castle 
> Shannon from the 42/38.  It worked before; it can work again!
> 
> James B. Holland
> ------- -- ---------
>         Pittsburgh Railways Company (PRCo), June of 1949 -- June of 1953
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