West Penn "Orange"

[Fred W. Schneider III]

If we learned anything about accidents, I think we know that it is impossible to
keep motorists from leaping at trolley cars like lemmings throwing themselves
onto beaches.  Lehigh Valley Transit experimented with all sorts of wondrous
crossing signals on the Liberty Bell Route, and changed their paint from dark
green, to red, then to cream with scarlet fronts.  Didn't work.  Cincinnati and
Lake Erie tried yellow fronts on some of the Red Devils, but it is hard to keep
motorists from getting hit when your interurban comes out of the corn stalks and
over a blind crossing at 80 miles per hour.  Pittsburgh Railways thought that
orange was easier to see than tuscan red.  Now we put daylight running lights on
automobiles (the ICC required it on locomotives in 1955).  But it remains an
American right to drive at high speeds even after we've proven that fatalities
increase.  Wars are a travesty.  Auto accidents are acceptable because we choose
to kill randomly.

Seems like it is statistically difficult to prove that orange paint reduces
accidents from the previous level with green cars at a time when automobile
registrations are also increasing dramatically.   I doubt that they could ever
prove it worked but they never did go back to green.  And they used the same
orange paint on West Penn Power Company trucks until the very recent merger of
all the related properties (including Potomac Edison and Monongahela Power) into
Allegheny Power Company.  Regardless, orange was probably a much better color in
all seasons than either Muni's old gray cars or the Market Street Railway white
front cars in one of those legendary San Francisco foggy mornings.

John Swindler wrote:

> Don't know.  Don't have any paint chips from Cincinnati Car Co. to check if
> there was any 'red tint'!
>
> Yes, I saw the headline, but text mentions orange.  So I'd say that your h-o
> model is as good as it will ever get.
>
> John
>
> >From: "Dietrich, Robert J." <bob.dietrich at unisys.com>
> >Reply-To: pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org
> >To: "'pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org'"
> ><pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org>
> >Subject: RE: West Penn "Orange"
> >Date: Tue, 26 Sep 2000 14:35:52 -0400
> >
> >YELLOW CARS WITH A VIEW TO SAFETY???
> >
> >So "Yellow Cars" came from West Penn, eh.
> >
> >Bob
> >
> >
> >
> >CONNELLSVILLE COURIER, December 17, 1918
> >
> >YELLOW CARS WITH A VIEW TO SAFETY
> >
> >Believed to New Color Will Be Observable for Longer Distance then the Green
> >Ones
> >
> >The West Penn Railway company has added four new cars to its rolling stock
> >here, one of which is already in operation.  The other three will be put
> >into operation one each week.  The new cars are of the "700" type, the
> >exclusive West Penn model.  They were built by the Cincinnati Car Company
> >and arrived here only a short time ago.  All the other "700" cars now in
> >use
> >
> >on the lines were built at the shops on the West Side.
> >The new cars are the exact type of the others being used by the west Penn
> >with the exception that they are painted an orange color.  This color is
> >being used with a view to determining whether some of the car accidents can
> >be eliminated, it being thought that perhaps the color will make the
> >approaching trolley more conspicuous to the automobile driver or
> >pedestrian.
> >The four new cars were bought to take the place of two cars which were
> >burned last year and to increase the number on hand.  No more additions are
> >likely to be made in the near future.  The "700" type is considered the
> >best
> >
> >for the kind of service necessary in this region.  They are light, have a
> >good carrying capacity, and the automatic doors, closed except when the car
> >is not in motion, eliminate unloading accidents.
> >
> >
>
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