I guess you could consider me a seasoned railfan. I have been to numerous locations around the U.S train watching. Most of which is along multiple track mains. But I do live and occasionally railfan near and along single track mains. I have also seen and experienced many train wrecks. Some involving just a train but most involving a train verses car. I do not understand why people could possibly want to drive infront of moving trains. But what I do know is I see this happen along single track mains more than I do multiple track mains. I tend to think this is because people who live around a multiple track main are used to the high density of rail traffic and the high speeds of the trains but the people around a single track main arent as observant to the train traffic or speed. Of course this is just what I think. I was just wondering if anyone else has observed this issue when they are railfanning?
In early June of '95 (First Saturday in June), I saw a pair of SP GP40-2 MK rebuilds (7132, 7117) running light cream a 1974 Impala at the Dobson Rd. grade crossing in Mesa. The car was being driven by a little old lady and she must’ve not been pressing hard enough on the brake pedal - the car crept right under the gate just as the locomotives were beginning to enter the crossing. The impact (locomotives were running light at about 60MPH or so) threw the car into the air, doing a complete 360 airborne before coming back down and doing another pair of 360s on the ground, winding up pointing in the same direction on the opposite outside curb. The whole front of the car was sheared, but interestingly the engine was largely unharmed and no glass on the car was even cracked. She was very lucky. She survived.
Recently I witnessed an older women pick up speed in an attempt to beat an oncoming train. It’s single track territory, but there was a passing siding at this location. No gates or lights were present at this grade, but it was protected by a stop sign. The conductor was up out of his seat trying to lean forward to see what was going to happen (lead unit was an SD40-2). The engineer was on the horn the whole time for at least 10 seconds as he could see this situation coming. By this point I could tell the car and train would meet exactly on the main line if she didn’t stop. I was reaching for my cell phone and had actually punched in 911 but not dialed it yet just as the women slammed on the brakes and her car stopped right on the passing siding as the lead unit just missed her front end. Even I was scared! So no one hit, no statistics about an accident, but still a very near miss and one shaken up crew. But I bet this happens all the time!
Mike
I have noticed that too. Single tracks are really deceptive, because the trains can still move just as fast. Trains going 80 mph look like they are crawling when you are looking at them head on. I am sure that some of these grade crossing accidents are mistakes, but I am also sure some are where people think they can make it.
There is a shortline which runs through my neighborhood, the Ellis & Eastern RR, and while their track speed is seldomly above 30 mph, I have seen several near misses at the grade crossing on 14th Street in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. I have watched motorists fly through the crossing with barely a car length between them and the locomotives. I think a lot of people just plain lack common sense and you have to wonder what is going on in their heads. Within the last month one of our school board members was involved in a collision with the Ellis & Eastern, of all people who should know better, a school board member!![banghead] At least he was not injured.
CANADIANPACIFIC2816
MIke,
Good to know that the lady survived. I’m sure her heart was doing triple-beats-per second. My thinking is that she may have had a hard time resisting the urge to instantly use the “bathroom” in her clothes.
But she learned a scary and valueable lesson. Hopefully she’ll have the wisdom to openly share it with others…especially young people.
The problem with young people (and this applies to the thread about the fatality in San Diego, too), is that they want to find out for themselves - you certainly can’t trust anything a grown-up tells you. If they touch a hot object, they get a little burn - or not, but now they have experience to go along with the warning.
On the other hand, “touching the hot object” doesn’t work out as well when it comes to sharing space with a moving train. but until they try it themselves, well…
10-4 on that Larry.
One particular danger associated our younger group today is that many of them now have car stereo systems with amplifiers far more powerful than what we had years back.
One thousand watt systems seem to be the “in thing” …and they show them off by blasting them loud enough so that if they’re not paying attention, not even the very loud Nathan K5LA horn on a locomotive could be heard. (not to mention that when they’re a little older, the permanent damage to their hearing will really be noticeable, then).
I don’t think any of us would do that[^]! However, assumptions are dangerous things.[B)] I recall a railfan running across the path of a speeding train to get to a better spot.[:(!] That drew the ire of the crew[V], understandably. I have even seen near misses (George Carlin calls 'em near hits) with excursion steam ( NKP 765, N&W 611,1218, which was so close that the engineer called the offending vehicle’s license plate in to the dispatcher! and CN 6060.)
If anyone is that dumb to try and beat a train, they deserve it. In 1991 I observed a grade crossing accident when a UP local shoving a cut of cars over a gate crosssing at 5 mph or so clipped the rear of an auto which drove around the gates right in front of a crew member in plain sight on the crossing. No one was hurt and about 45 minutes later, everything was cleared up and the train resumed whatever it was doing. I was a witness to the whole thing but kept my mouth shut as I did not want to get involved as to giving statements to either the police or the rr. Like I said, people that dumb…
I almost saw a friend killed when he ran in front a train he came within less then two feet of being killed
everyday I work I see near misses and the cars and people i have hit . It dont phase me anymore when i have a near miss, in fact i look forward to the next person i get. just doing my part in protecting the gene pool.