[PRCo] How effective were fenders?

[Fred Schneider]

I have always pointed out that people who worked in railroad jobs (or  
electric railway jobs) will run over and kill someone in their  
lifetimes if they work long enough.   It isn't a case of will they  
but what is the average interval or miles between a death.   If you  
work in suburban railroad commuter territory, it is almost a given  
that you will not get through a decade without spilling blood.  The  
worst scenario I've ever heard of was a PRR man working out of Paoli  
who became a basket case after getting three separate people in three  
isolated accidents in one week.

Maybe it was less likely for streetcar motormen because the speeds  
were lower.   In the example below, the maximum speed the car could  
run was about 25 miles per hour and perhaps it was only doing 20.

But here is an entry that actually made the route cards.  It shows  
where the first single-end low-floor cars were running and it also  
shows that those rope fenders on the front of the cars really didn't  
save lives.

"October 21, 1921:  Car 4715, route 503, outbound 7:59 a.m., in  
charge of motorman G. B. Quinn and Conductor E. S. Bernhart, near  
Kellars Brick Yard, struck school girl.   She was taken to Braddock  
Hospital where she died."   [Route 503 is equivalent to destination  
64 East Pittsburgh via Wilkinsburg and Forbes Avenue - Editor.]

Phillip:   Note that they could use these single-end low-floor cars  
here because they didn't have to install any loops.  The track around  
the block in Wilkinsburg, East Pittburgh and downtown was already there.