On and Off the Overpass to Oblivion!

There is a monster stalking across our nation. 

It's the Overpass to Oblivion! 

It can make driving an absolute nightmare! 

It is a huge public health issue!

All over North America, deaths from drivers, cyclist and pedestrians falling off the ends of overpasses are rising at an alarming rate. My scanty research has shown that this is not the case in the Scandinavian countries. They are so advanced, their standard of living is so much higher, their residents are so much more logical and their road designers apparently far too smart to have it happen to them.

But not here on the deadly side streets and Interstates of North America. I've gathered a few photos I found online of these very dangerous circumstances as they exist today. Please consider calling your local councillor, roads department, mayor, premier or model railway club president to complain. They can't fix what they don't know about. And they can't know about what they can't see. If what happens in the layout room stays in the layout room, we can never right this ship. Or Suburban, Subaru or scooter! Does anyone really believe there is this much traffic, this close together, on the average road overpass?

One minute, you're driving along in a car, an SUV, even a transport truck, and the next minute, you're gone. It's over. Your vehicle has no option but to plunge off the edge.

 

 

We must demand action be taken on this! Contact your local municipal and government officials about this scourge. Demand that overpasses get completely built, with suitable ramps on EITHER end. We just cannot start out driving from Backdrop to Fascia and not expect consequences. Most of the affected overpasses have multiple vehicles on them at one time. It's often numerous, close-together, heavy, multi-axle tractor-trailer big-rigs. Lots of big-rigs. Almost always at least one big-rig.

We encourage prototype modellers to model what they see. OK, clearly they have got the message and they're reproducing this scourge in HO and N scales because it's what they see in real life. It's HO and N scale carnage and we need to do better. When it comes to preventing this problem, Plexiglas is NOT going to cut it. Cars are just going to bounce off it and run into each other. Come on, people!

        This one's not even close...still dangerous and you're going to drop down onto the tracks at either end?

While I have yet to drive over one of these, my head will from now on be on a swivel while driving. These need to be marked with appropriate advisory safety signage. In some cases, two roads, not just one, lead to Oblivion:

Many will blame Rix Products for making and selling these overpasses. When contacted, company owner Rick Ridshair said, "We had no idea it would get to this point. Sure, we produced them, and they sold like hotcakes. But when we look at the scope of the problem that now exists, we just can't seem to bridge the gap between how it started and what it is now."

And yet, many retailers still promote these highways to Hell!

This thinking is not limited to the flat-earthed community, it's pervasive in the HO and N communities as well. But it's not just on the roads, it's happening on the tracks. We'll see who's first to fix this, this April. This operator is happily oblivious to what awaits the unwary crew on this wye

Running extra...

Speaking of going off the deep end, this past week I started another blog. You'll notice it in my right sidebar. You might think that every morning, as I'm mulling over the days, mulling my cider and my cereal, I start a blog. That would make me a cereal blog-starter. But no, this one is an off-shoot of my Kingston's Hanley Spur blog and is an attempt to capture another little-captured capsule history of Kingston beside industrial-waterfront history, this is get-on-the-bus-Gus history of Kingston. Seems fare to me!

Ripped from the morning paper's headlines and reported on social media about the 'White River Budds' here for my buds: 

• RDC-2 6219 has been retired and is a parts source for RDC-2 6217
• 6217 has mechanical issues
• 6217 and RDC-4 6250 have been operating in pair since October
• RDC-1 6105 has also been down and out for the last 4 months as it needs a new control stand 
• Only 6217 and 6250 now available for tourist season.

Just received word that modeller and railfan Peter Mumby has left us on March 20. I often met Peter at train shows down this way, particularly at the Picton train show because I believe he had family he visited in this area. He always had some neat stuff for sale, but what I appreciated most was his box of 4x6 photos. I would buy a few each show, amassing a pretty good collection. After several years, Peter would say he brought the box of photos just for me to look at because I was the only one, especially when others were embracing digital photo collections. Eventually, several years ago and pre-pandemic, he sold me the remainder at a great price. Peter was always a gentleman, I believe he was a teacher. He had the good teacher-like qualities of patience and listening, though at times he had a very realistic, very pointed sense of humour that could emerge. Photo above from the White River Division profile of Peter.