Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 147, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 June 1915 — TO DO AWAY WITH COLLISIONS [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

TO DO AWAY WITH COLLISIONS

An Illinois man has invented a portable derailer for cars, the idea being that, if a train is blocked, a rear signal can be set, and, if not heeded, a rear train is thrown off the track. The chief objection to the device is that it does not lessen loss of life, but merely places the blame where it belongs and kills the right man. Perhaps a better arrangement would be to have a portable obstruction, which, placed beside the track, would not derail a train, but engage a lever

on the locomotive as it passes and operate the pneumatic brakes, bringing the train to a standstill. Such a device would be entirely automatic, so that if the engineer failed to see the signal set against him the train would stop Just the same and no one would be injured. An arrangement such as this could be easily constructed, would be effective and would solve the old problem of “eliminating the personal equation,” but the arrangement has yet to be evolved.