Not sure if it is very prevalent anymore, but you used to see it quite a bit...like on the Green and White Burlington trains...the front of the locomotive would have Diagonal Stripes on it. It was somewhat common with a lot of Railroads.
How did that come into being exactly.?
Thank You
At one point in time the diagonal stripes were thought to be a safety enhancement.
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
Oh...OK.
I wonder What/How they thought that made something "safer".?
The idea was something that loud (for lack of a better term) would catch people's attention more readily than a plain front.
Maybe it worked for some people, but it didn't work for everyone. To get some people's attention you have to smack them with the proverbial 2X4. Witness all those Smart-Phone zombies running around loose.
Just look at the rear end of an OTR trailer outlined with red and white reflective tape even polished stainless steel doors or tank ends with multiple brake lights and we still get rear ended by cars and other trucks. What is next rear firing airbags to reduce collision forces as long as they would not go off with a dock impact I think the industry might go for it.
This whole scenario is comical....."I would have been run right over by that locomotive, had it not been for the Three Diagohal Stripes on the fornt of the engine."
If you cannot See/Hear a train coming, what on Earth would a couple of stripes do.?
Not to mention, you cannot see the stripes anyway.....no Locomotive has been washe in the last 50 years.
There is a basic psychophysical principle here (schlimm can probably give a more informed account of the current neuroscientific explanation) that was recognized as early as the '20s. The human visual system, especially in regions of peripheral vision, is very sensitive to relative motion, and 'set up' to be sensitive to edge detection. Angled stripes with high contrast produce very pronounced recognition, with a normal reflex then being to 'look' toward what is producing so strong a combined motion and visual 'stimulus'.
There was some argument about the addition of strong color to this. One thing I thought was interesting is that no one, to my knowledge, used zebra stripes in that peculiarly yellow-green color to which average human perception is most sensitive. It is certain that NYC, which used yellow-orange zebra striping extensively on its self-propelled cars, did not go unnoticed!
The principle was used overseas as well: here's an example from Australia:
RME...that peculiarly yellow-green color to which average human perception is most sensitive.
I don't think that chartreuse has been used on locommotives or rolling stock, but it does turn up a lot on safety vests and work shirts worn by those working around moving equipment and vehicles.
Narrow zebra stripes, like those on NKP and PHL locomotives, seem to be better attention-getters than broad stripes.
CSSHEGEWISCHI don't think that chartreuse has been used on locommotives or rolling stock, but it does turn up a lot on safety vests and work shirts worn by those working around moving equipment and vehicles. Narrow zebra stripes, like those on NKP and PHL locomotives, seem to be better attention-getters than broad stripes.
Chartreuse is also showing up on various Fire Department vehicle - I have seen both the red and green varieties being used.
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