Snowmobiler dies after hitting railroad switch box
The Associated Press
ERIE, Pa. - A snowmobile crashed into a railroad switch box while riding on an illegal route, killing the rider, authorities said.
Richard J. Michaels III was wearing a helmet, but suffered blunt-force trauma to the body during the crash on CSX Railroad tracks in Millcreek Township, Erie County Coroner Lyell Cook said.
Vehicles are not permitted on the railroad property, but police said many snowmobilers go there anyway.
“It’s a pretty efficient east-west crossing. A lot of snowmobiles use it,” said Chris Hauber, a Millcreek patrolman.
Michaels III, 24, of Millcreek, was pronounced dead at a hospital around 12:40 a.m. Thursday, about an hour after the accident.
Once we put our trains away in the fall (and some snow falls), snowmobilers have the run of the right-of-way, and that’s how everybody wants it (it’s a “transportation corridor”). There are warning signs at the switches, though. You may not run into a switch box (stand maybe, but not a box), but you can get a ski caught in the points, etc, which would be just as uncomfortable.
As I understand it, though, you can find the wreckage of several snowmobiles further up the line, from the NYC/PC/Conrail days.
I have encountered snowmobilers while running on main lines. Never a good situation. Been fortunate not to have killed anyone yet. Even had a snowmobile club establish a “trail” for a meet of theirs on a secondary track that sees unit coal moves (11,000 tons) three times per week and a daily local of 40+ loads six days per week. They even posted signs on the track. Dumb luck nobody was killed there. The track traverses a 2.4% grade for 3 miles including the “trail” portion so no train would be making a safe stop there…
You COULD solve the problem the way a farmer around here did a number of years ago. Snowmobiles were continually cutting through his pasture scaring the daylights out of the cattle by his barn so he decided to put up a fence. Not a normal fence, mind you, but a single strand of barbed wire mounted roughly at neck height across their primary entrance point. A single decapitation solved his tresspassing problem.
Of course then there was the jail time and all that stuff, but I think he was confident that he had made his point. Limbo anyone???
Around the Oshkosh area a friend of mine’s father owned a farm near ex-CNW tracks. His property abutted the line and he had a couple of driveways that crossed the tracks. Many sleds used to run along the rails. He saw the danger of the snowmobiles on/near the tracks one day when someone ran into a pile of ties that he thought was a snow drift. He contacted the main snowmobile clubs in the area and offered to let them use his driveways as crossings and a swath of land, for a small fee, to the clubs for a safer path instead of using the ROW. Guess what…it worked. The clubs were glad to keep their members off the ROW, the sheriff was glad that there weren’t any more major incidents on the ROW and the RR worried slightly less about trespassers. I’ve always thought of this as pretty neat.
I know what you mean. And sometimes they do not hear you over the roar of the machines they are riding. Usually flashing the headlight gets their attention. If not…
On our main line between Proviso and Milwaukee, there is a stretch of straight (but for a tiny curve half way though) between Gurnee and Airport of former double-track that is now single-track. The area where the other main track was situated is a big draw for snowmobilers here. At least they usually stay off the active tracks, but if we come upon then without them realizing it, they sometimes panic and do something (else) dumb.
Found out at the RRs annual meeting that there is a move afoot to make the ROW snowmobile friendly wherever possible, such that trains could also run year-round. Along much of the line this is not a problem, but several river crossings and some wetlands complicate the issue.
Still, there would be those who consider it their life right to ride their machines pretty much wherever they danged well please.
The local snowmobile/ATV club here works very hard on setting up and maintaining a trail system. Part of it involves long-abandoned (and never to be re-used for RRs - the land has been sold off) ROWs.
CSX does have problems with trespassers along the line. At one spot where there had been a double track bridge they had to put up concrete barriers so the ATVs riding alongside the track wouldn’t plunge into the opening where that part of the bridge used to be…
Oh absolutely. I would never claim he had all the screws tightened up and ship-shape. It was one of those tales that you just smile and nod at…probably best not to know anymore.
ROCHESTER, N.Y. (AP) – Authorities say two snowmobile drivers were killed in separate crashes Sunday in western New York.
Richard Comstock of Henrietta was reportedly riding near railroad tracks in the Rochester suburb of Chili with a friend before 11 p-m when his sled hit a concrete signal post. Monroe County Sheriff’s deputies say the 41-year-old man was ejected and suffered head injuries. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
Sunday afternoon, 23-year-old Mark Lauster Junior of Lyons died when he apparently collided with a metal gate at the end of an old trolley bed in Galen, Wayne County. State police say passers-by saw an unattended snowmobile around 1pm, and then saw the victim on the ground.
Investigators say the gate, which was marked and painted yellow, was meant to keep cars off the trail, which is a popular spot for all-terrain vehicles and snowmobiles. Lauster apparently tried to drive under the gate, which is about 40 inches off the ground, and struck it with his head.
I’m a retired signal maintainer of Amtrak. Amtrak had an maintance road along the mainline between Davisville,mp168, and Kingston, mp158.Snowmobiles were a problem. The snow would be packed so hard from them it would become ice. Sometime they would slide onto the rails.The snow would be packed and icy that I had problem driving the road answering trouble calls.I saw a snowmobile hit a pipeline.The driver only had minor injury but it wrecked the snowmobile.I chained it to my truck and draged it two miles to get it off the property.Amtrak sited the operator for tresspass
The old UP Yellowstone Branch from Ashton ID to West Yellowston MT is now a snowmobile trail. I wish there were still rails on that line - but it is great place for snow machining.