West Penn "Orange"

[Kenneth Josephson]

"Fred W. Schneider III" wrote:

> 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.

LA has lowered speed the speed of trains on the Blue Line, installed gates and even
cameras to record license plates. Yet people continue to challenge the trains. And
lose.

George Campbell has recorded a number of wrecks on the North Shore Line, a system
that used crossing gates and flashers at the busiest crossings, but to no avail.

> Now we put daylight running lights on
> automobiles (the ICC required it on locomotives in 1955).

Now motorcyclists are even harder to see. Should that be "murdercycles"?

>

>  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.

And don't forget the jogger struck by the Drake car a couple of years ago.

>
>
> 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.

Th North Shore Line went back to green during the 1930s, but with the all the
developement and increasing auto traffic throughout it territory, there wasn't
likely any fair comparison, even if such statistics exist.

What was PAT's rationale for going to white with black and gold stripes? Are there
statistics on mainline railroads and the "safety stripes"  some of them used on the
front of their locomotives? Ken J.