[PRCo] February 10, 1978

[Herb Brannon]

I have had a copy of the NTSB investigation into the collision of PATranst
PCC 1790 and bus 2413, on the morning of February 10, 1978, and would like
to share it.
I was working the 35-Library and was probably inbound somewhere between
Washington Jct and Castle Shannon Municipal Building when the accident
actually occurred. By the time I reached Frederick Street and all the way,
inbound, through the single track to Boggs it was slow going and waiting
for lots of red signals. Cars were barely moving either direction do to the
emergency activity at SHJct, involving Police, Fire, EMS, PATransit
responders and bystanders, effectively shutting down the junction. I did
not know this until later. My first notion that something "big" had
happened was when I saw 42 and 42/38 cars coming outbound on the 35/36/37
tracks. Slowdowns were an almost daily occurrence on the rail system back
then usually do to malfunctioning signals or crippled cars, however, this
had now consumed time well beyond the usual break down or malfunction.
Finally, while sitting near Boggs an outbound operator stopped and quickly
mentioned to me that there had been a serious accident but gave no details.
When I rounded the curve, above the 42/38 tracks and looking down on Palm
Garden, I saw an unreal sight. The "transitway" in the Palm Garden area and
all around it was filled with emergency vehicles and people. Later, after
returning from downtown, I found out the extent of the incident.

The attached report is a .pdf file to be opened with Adobe Reader. There
are some good diagrams included in the report. Hopefully, the List Server
will retain the .pdf file as a link. If it doesn't, email me and I can send
a copy to you through regular email.

-- 
Herb Brannon
In Cuyahoga Valley National Park