John,
The RDC's it was definately a safety thing. Some of the cost of the
gyralight was bourne by Transport Canada or what ever it was called
in those days. I was told this be the foreman when I worked in the
E&N shops in Victoria.
Paul
At 08:09 PM 11/29/2010, you wrote:
I'll wade back in.Paul J. Crozier Smith
First of all, they did NOT equip the 34 FPs with gyralights, although they did equip them with the brackets and plug-ins so the gyralight could be installed at the shop when they were sset up to lead The Canadian. An authoritative source has assured me the gyralight was not normally used on the Dominion, even though it would often carry a Skyline dome. From time to time it appears the gyralight was not removed at the end of a run so occasionally an FP would show up on some other train with it still installed, but not necessarily operating. The use of the gyralight on the Toronto-Sudbury section of The Canadian definitely had nothing to do with icicles hanging from tunnels. Because their regular use was restricted to The Canadian, the only reasonable conclusion is that they were an advertising gimmick.
The case for the RDCs is rather different and may have had safety in mind. There could well have been an advertising component here too, drawing attention to the sleek new equipment. The removable lights for the RDCs would have made them more visible at grade crossings. It may have helped but drivers were probably as dumb then as they are now. I was told that during the brief period VIA used RDCs for the Montreal-Sudbury connection for the Canadian the grade crossing collision rate on the Chalk River and North Bay Subs more than doubled. Certainly one factor in cancelling the Calgary-Edmonton service was the number of grade crossing accidents. Even if people are looking, the 85 feet of a Dayliner may not register in their minds as an actual train. It may not be as long, but it's just as wide and often a lot faster than a freight.
John
--- In cpsig@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, "Doug Cummings" <DougCummings@...> wrote:
>
> The argument was the gyrolights were to make the train more visible. If that
> was the case then why did they not use the gyrolights on all trains. The
> fact remains they didn't, they only equipped the 34 FP's with this equipment
> so the only trains that had the gyrolights were those trains that had an FP
> leading. For the most part a significant number of the FP's were working
> the Canadian at any given time, and many of the others would be on the
> Dominion, leaving relatively few of them for assignments on other trains.
>
> The only additional lights that were ever applied system wide were the ditch
> lights. They had been adopted by CN earlier (it was CN who started using
> ditch lights back in the 1920's or thereabouts), and eventually they were
> also mandated in the U.S. as well. As Joe Smuin said earlier, ditch lights
> did make a huge difference.
>
> The icicle problem only existed in certain parts of the country, the
> mountains of B.C. being one of the better examples. But, and this point has
> been made several times before, they did not have dome cars until 1955 and
> they only ran on certain routes.
>
> These points have all been made before, so why is there a need to keep
> repeating them over and over again?
>
> Doug
>
>
> At 13:27 11/29/2010, you wrote:
> >...snipped..
> >It is your opinion that they are warning lights and a p.r. stunt. You
> >say this is likely correct as it is the simplest explanation. Is it?
> >That is not what I was told, and I was given that explanation by
> >railroaders, engine service employees of the CPR. And again I make the
> >case and ask the question that if they were warning light why were they not
> used on other trains?
> >
> >Doug
>
> The corollary argument is that if they were used for spotting icicles why
> where they not used on other trains? If it was a safety issue as you
> suggest then would it not be logical to apply them to all other units
> running through the Rockies west of Calgary?
>
> -
> Bruce Wilson
> Barrie, Ontario
> Life Member NMRA Member Gauge 0 Guild
> Member Scale 7 Group Member 7mm NGA
> Member Bird Studies Canada Member Ontario Field
> Ornithologists
> Member Ontario Bird Banding Association
>
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