[PRCo] Re: McKeesport_--_WP_-&-_PRCo

[Bill Robb]

Maybe it was one person per week killed by trolleys.  Remember most people have never encountered heavy machinery in their daily life before the trolley came along.  By the turn of the century streetcars were getting larger and heavier.  When researched the Toronto Star archives a couple of years ago I was appalled by the number of people getting maimed and killed by streetcars in Toronto even into the 1950s.  People running for streetcars and either getting hit by a car or worse falling under the streetcar-- when there was almost always a streetcar in sight. These types of accidents aren't directly chargable to the streetcar system, but happen because people were not safety conscious in the streetcar's operating environment.   Probably the worse accident I came across was the track walker cleaning out switches who was crushed between two steel cars rear bumpers on a non-clearance curve at Bloor and Yonge.
Even with TTC having very good equipment and track there were many accidents with open switches and rear end collisons.  Numerous newspaper photos of PCCs and articles these accidents atest to the number of accidents.  Many times it was a young or inexperienced operator at the controls. 

The attached photo in the old Frederick Street shops shows the type of casual attitude to heavy machinery.  A steel car hoisted up on a wooden barrels, cobblestones and wooden blocks for truck repairs.  This was standard operating practice at the Toronto Railway Company until 1921.  By 1924 the TTC had built a modern repair shop.  But not every city could or did rebuild their system at mid-life.

Bill Robb

>May I be the first to observe that this is an Absurdly High Death Rate
>--  Even for All PRCo!!!!
>
>
>Jim Holland wrote:
>.
>
> > From pg.140 of Beal's *McKeesport__Trolleys::*
> > .
> > .......(unlike PRCo carmen who seemed to defy speed limits, load
> > limits and all other authority, and whose irresponsible actions were
> > blamed for one death per week in McKeesport.) Meanwhile, the WEST PENN
> > carmen gained a reputation for care and courtesy.
> > .
> > .
> > .
> > Jim___Holland
>


 
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