If you know the BNSF (ex Santa Fe) mainline in East Galesburg Illinois (and you should - the railfanning is great in all of Galesburg but that particular spot is really neat) you know the tracks are no more than the usual distance apart, the trains are long and fast, and in general you are well advised to stand back and enjoy fast mainline running (although they soon slow down to run through Galesburg itself). This is the line from Streator and Chillicothe west. East Galesburg is on some timetables as “yost” and is right where the famous old Purington Brick factory was located. It is also near rail artist Ron Hatch’s Knox bed and breakfast that has been a railfan favorite for years.
Anyway this week two teens decided to stand BETWEEN the east and west mains as trains met there in both directions at track speed. They survived (explain THAT Mr. Darwin) – somehow! – but are badly injured. Knuckleheads.
Dave Nelson
I’ve had that happen to me a few time when I was running suburban trains. I would imagine it is quite a rush for those that survive.
Another thrill the morons would go for is to place themselves inside the structure of a plate girder bridge and sit about track level. The train would zip by at 70mph, giving them I’m sure quite a rush, as well as a face full of dirt and debris.
Luck of the draw maybe?Or the Darwin wing of heaven is full right now(Come on you cant expect them to be put in general population after getting a pair of wings!!! It would be pandolerium!)I have been down that neck of the woods alot and can only say wow.Lucky lucky them.
There is a reason they teach you at trainman’s class to avoid walking between two moving trains as there is a vertigo effect. We were even told that if this happened in a yard and we felt disoriented to lie down in the clear between tracks. I have never tried that but I have been between moving cuts many times in yards…
Just read the news wire article, and boy were they ever stupid! (as has been stated) I would never try something like this and I’m younger than them, shows you how much some people know nowdays.
I don’t work for the railroad, but this has happened to me. After getting a cabride, my father and I were dropped off before the yard where it is three tracks wide. Well, we had the train we just got off of and another of the third track over doing about 40mph. The train we just got off of was gaining speed quickly and was doing about 20mph. We were stuck in the middle track and that was enough right there. I knew there was room to spare but I didn’ t even want to breathe. It is a tight spot and something I don’t want to happen to me again…unless of course I’m working for the railroad, but at least I’ll know what to expect and know what to do in that type of situation.
Probably 45 years ago or so, an ESPEE brakeman was telling me a little about railroading, including that it was dangerous, dirty work. Then he made a special point of telling me that if I even got too close to a moving train to flatten myself on the ground. I suspect that was one of the earliest training things that they did with the new hires and (I guess because he knew kids were too stupid to keep out of harm’s way always) he made sure to pass it on to me.
Several years ago, a cop here in Southern California got too close to a freight moving at mainline speeds while trying to spot a suspect and got pulled into the train and killed by the natural suction (can you say Bernoulli) that is associated with a solid body moving quickly through air. Reading that news story and this latest story reminded me of that brakeman from many decades ago. Fortunately, I have never gotten in a position where I had to bear-hug the ground and I don’t really plan to.