[PRCo] ANOTHER ACCIDENT

[Fred Schneider]

I know a chap from Brooklyn, now leaving up in Queens, who would be  
in his early 70s.   He was a big help to me when I was working on the  
PCC book because he had squirred away a lot of official records from  
Brooklyn and Queens Transit.   He isn't here to refute my errors so  
I'm not going to toss out the name.   Let's just say he is one very  
likable man...

Well, he had a dream in the younger days of going into the  
priesthood.   He never accomplished it and I never asked why and that  
doesn't matter.   But while he was working toward that goal he spent  
one summer working as a motorman for Atlantic City Transportation  
Company.  You need a little explanation up front.   ACTC was  
essentially a summer operation just like the Pennsylvania - Reading  
Seashore Lines trains going to the shore.   Trains magazine wrote an  
article a half century ago on the PRSL which they titled, "Three  
Months Feast - Nine Months Famine".   I think that also summarized  
ACTC operations.   On winter days they might have gotten away with a  
10 cars and on on the the 4th of July they might have had 35 or 40  
cars in service.   My friend was typical of the summer motormen ...  
like the restaurant employees he was young and many of his colleagues  
were also college kids.

He was telling me about his training ... he had apparently a very  
brief indoctrination into how to run a Brilliner and when they got  
back to the barn he was told to put it on Track such and such and  
then report back to the dispatcher.   When he got to the dispatcher  
he was told to report to Ray Stark's office.   Stark was the Numero  
Uno of the corporation.   Then the dialog began something like, "Your  
application says you never worked for a transit company before but my  
instructor tells me you taught him a few tricks about running a  
car.   When did you last run a car before coming here?   (Answer...  
last night)   "Where?"  (Brooklyn).   "You work for them?"  (No, just  
a railfan.)

They would never let him run a Hog Island and Stark kept waving it in  
front of him as the carrot saying they wanted him back the next  
summer.   If he came back, they would qualify him.

He did admit to more accidents than a few but he also claimed he  
smiled at all his customers, thanked all his customers for their  
fares, thanked them for riding, and when he did have an accident, he  
said he always came in with a fist full of signed witness cards.   He  
said he felt that was what made them want to keep him.

The worst accident?   Well he told me about one down in Margate or  
Ventor where a traffic light went green and he and a huge black Caddy  
on his right both took off simultaneously.   If you folks don't know  
the area, the trolley was on center-of-the-road private right-of-way  
ballasted with sand.   Several blocks down the street the driver of  
the Caddy apparently forgot about the Brilliner that had been on his  
left, and he made a left turn  ... and found a Brilliner in his front  
seat.    I asked Don if he got away with it and Don said he had a  
witness card from everyone on the car all stating that the Cadillac  
turned in front of the trolley without stopping.

Pays to be nice to your passengers.