I heard through the grapevine that the Engineer probably blew the signals and bailed off the train while leaving the conductor there (he said he was sleeping and couldn’t wake him up). Anyone know the specifics on this?
I do not know the specifics, but there is probably a lot of truth in the grapevine. The one thing that makes me doubt what the engineer supposedly said is that they never say anything that may hurt a fellow employee. If the conductor survived the accident, and the engineer testifies in an investigation that the conductor was sleeping, that conductors railroading days are over. If the conductor did not survive, this may be a way for the engineer to save his job.