Signalling -- SHJ

[Fred W. Schneider III]

All one needs to do is read the old Pittsburgh Railways rulebooks (or
any other company for that matter) to understand that trainmen were
required to use their heads for something more than a hat rack.  

Can you imagine giving an interurban motorman a tool box today and
telling him that, if he bent the pole around a spanwire, it was his job
to climb up on the roof and replace the pole?  Even worse, imagine
trying to get rid of the goon who refuses?  Of course, we couldn't
expect it today because of the damage claims after the employee tried to
hold the trolley pole and the trolley wire at the same time.  

Kenneth Josephson wrote:
> 
> Jim Holland wrote:
> 
> >         With the modern computer controlled systems of today that preset
> > turnouts and control blocks etc., SHJ would be a nightmare of delays
> > with the track layout from old PRCo days - nothing would get through!
> > But it all worked so smoothly under PRCo with only a bare minimum of
> > delay.
> 
> Don't forget, in PRCo days, an operator with no common sense was given the
> heave-ho. I would assume the operators had to be able to read, adhere to rules,
> follow directives, use common sense and be responsible.
> 
> Today we have an era when transit agencies are forced to hire drivers/operators
> who may be legally blind, suffering from severe mental illness, without basic
> academic skills, sociopathic, rebellious and unable to hold down a job in the
> private sector. Today's transit agencies are so dependent on federal funds, they
> are at the mercy of the EEOC and other federal agencies, all run by bureaucrats
> who probably don't use mass transit.
> 
> I seem to remember hearing in the narration on one of the Pittsburgh videos that
> opposing cars used to pass at the sidings on the Overbrook line in perfect sync
> without stopping. There are some transit systems today where I'd be worried about
> having more than one car on the line, even if it was double track the entire
> length! :-)  Ken  J.