[PRCo] Re: Jim Holland's Memories

[Greg King]

Greetings,

Yes, as a long time Motorman, I've operated cars in almost very type of
whether except Snow and Ice, the worst time of all is autumn (Fall) and the
leaves ARE the worst and if it just starts to rain, the mixture is leathal,
I came over a hill in a "W" once and there had been a "car ahead" accident
the next block (one tram ran into the back of the other) and I started to
brake, this was beside a city park in fall and I was going slow to start
with, the leaves had turned to grease and with sand and full brakes, the car
just gained speed with the sand being pushed into the grease, I pulled the
key in reverse and had cut up to series before she started to bite and dig
in, I stopped about 6 feet from the rear of the offending car (the Motorman
had broken ankles, it was a nasty one) I gave evidence at his inquiry and as
I was an Instructor, they believed me and he got off with a short suspension
(a week) and returned to work after his injuries healed.

You are right about rain too, when it's been pouring for a while, the track
is fine, whilst the autos are "aqua planing" we can just cruise along but,
it always seems that, as soon as it rains, the loonies go into overdrive!!!

Cheers
Greg

> Sleet, yes that could be dangerous. Rain, however, was not bad especially
a
> heavy or a long period of rain. After the rain got all the oil washed off
the
> rail it was not that slippery. Only at the beginning of a rain when the
rain
> water and oil mixed was it bad. Leaves were actually worse than rain.
Leaves
> were also a problem with the signal circuits on 35/36/37.
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> HrB
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