Evening star., 1933-09-18

Condemnation for railroads which
have not completely eliminated wooden
passenger coaches from their equip
ment is voiced. in view of the fatal
accident on the Erie Railroad at Blng-
hamton. Fourteen persons who dled
and others who were injured In the
collision between a milk train and the
Chicago-New York express are held to
have been victims of an inexcusable
failure to obtain modern equipment.
After many years of operation, dur
ing which wooden coaches have been
proved death traps in case of wreck y
says the Roanoke World-News, 1T
does seem that railroads should have
discarded them before now That
paper adds that "steel cars offer the
only safeguard in an accident of this
sort" The Lincoln State Journal con-
tends that good operating practice
has not permitted hauling such coaches
between heavy steel cars" The Es-
canada (Mich) Daily Press suggests
that 'the advantages of modern safety
construction were never better illus
trated than in this wreck" and con-
cludes that "the wooden passenger car
obviously is out of date"
Pointing out that the wrecked car
was telescoped by steel Pullman. the
Newark Evening News, while recogniz-
ing that American railroading in re-
cent years has a splendid safety rec
ord" makes the comment: THE haZ-
ard of the wooden car in a steel pas
senger train was supposed to have been
largely eliminated by modern railroad
policy, and the official statement that
the wooden car had a steel under
frame does not revise the results of its
demolition for the hapless people who
were killed"
Reports Of the wreck seem surprising
to the Chicago Daily News. in the fact
that ''the wooden passenger car still
fingers upon the scene and still claims
its victims The Daily News con-
tinues: 1T is apparent that use of the
wooden car in this day of steel cars
was responsible for much, if not all, the
physical harm done to the hapless
passengers. Occasional errors by train
men and other causes of accidents are
bound to persist. Consequently wooden
passenge. cars which may be smashed
with cc-..parative ease ought to be
scrapped. They have outlasted their
primitive day. Progressive railroad
managements should retire the surviv-
ing relics of an old, crude and perilous
age of railroad travel"
Like a battering ram, the steel
coaches were jammed against the
wooden Car and crushed it to splinterS, y
records the Asbury Park Evening Press,
with the conclusion: Thus is pre-
sented further evidence that wooden
cars are death traps in railroad acci-
dents, while steel coaches are compara-
lively safe. Dozens of previous wrecks
have told the same story Yet the Erie
Railroad, on which the wreck occurred,
like many other roads, operates some
100 wooden cars. They belong to the
era of the one-horse shay. The safety
of the travelling public demanded that
they be abandoned long ago. Yet
thousands Of unsuspecting passengers
ride in them yearly. Wooden railroad
cars should be tolerated no longer than
it requires to replace them with steel.
Now that the Government is pouring
millions into relief reconstruction, the
opportunity prevails to condemn the
wooden cars and put men to work
building safe steel cars. There is no
longer any place for railroad cars that
belong to the early days of railroad
transportation"
The Youngstown Vindicator is i'm
pressed by the thought that "the acci-
dent broke the astonishing record
which the railroads of the country have
been establishing for safety in opera
ton. During 1882" continues the
Vindicator, "only one railway passen-
ger in this country lost his life in a
train accident, and during 1891 only
four such fatalities occurred. The num-
Der of passengers carried for each pas
senger fatality was 1900, 900 in 1882
as compared with 100000 in 1881,
IA, ,000, 900 in 1880 and 100000 in 1929.
One of the greatest railroad achieve
ments during the last decade has been
the steady decrease in the number of
casualties. resulting from railway acci-
dents. Last years record was the best
In history