Train smashes semi, Illinois Geneva sub, near Frainklin Grove

Trains Magazine General Discussion
1

The following is a newspaper report of a semi truck - UP Train collision.
it happened abound 1pm Saturday, Luckly no one was seriously injured.

I don’t understand how people can cross RR tracks without even looking.
I posted the 2 photos from the article I hope they show.

Train smashes semi
BY JIM BUTTS
SVN NEWS REPORTER
Published: Sunday, November 6, 2005
FRANKLIN GROVE — If AFC Raider fans strained their eyes and looked to the east shortly before kickoff at Saturday’s football playoff game, they probably could make out siren lights and a stalled train in the distance.
Franklin Grove Fire Chief Pat Hilliker and local firefighters rushed from the game to the scene of a brutal train-truck collision.
At 12:45 p.m. Saturday a westbound freight train smashed into a semi truck about a mile east of Franklin Grove, ripping the semi from its trailer and spilling the truck’s cargo of corn.
Both the train conductor and the driver of the truck were not seriously injured in the crash on Track Road half a mile east of Willow Road, Hilliker said. The truck’s driver, Dewey L. Eckberg, 48, of Princeton, was taken to KSB Hospital where he was treated and released, the Lee County Sheriff’s Department said in a news release. Charges are pending in the crash, according to the sheriff’s department.
It was the second accident on the rural train crossing in the last several years, Hilliker said. The chief said a few years ago a train hit the wagon of a farmer also carrying grain. No one was injured in that accident, either.
“Same type of accident, same crossing,” Hilliker said.
On Saturday Eckberg was hauling grain from Harmon when he came to the gravel road intersection just off state Route 38 at about 12:45 p.m., Hilliker said. He later told emergency workers he had not seen the train c

2

I saw that this morning in the Sauk Valley Sunday. He got that truck pretty well. I was planning on going to that exact crossing yesterday afternoon around noon with lunch, but then it started raining, so I cancelled the plans. Oh well. Not much to see there, I guess. Did you notice how it said, “The conductor of the Union Pacific train, Elize Washington, 26, of Melrose Park, didn’t have a chance to slow down as the train struck the front of the grain trailer…” Of course the conductor woudn’t have stopped the train, she was on the left side of the cab! Unless the engineer jumped…

3

That is horrible! Is it a well-used grade crossing? Worth-while eough to add some lights?

Matthew

4

It’s on an old gravel road, but it is on the original route of the Lincoln Higway, one of the first transcon higways in the U.S. Personally I’d like them to make it a paved road, so the weekly trip down there wouldn’t be so messy on my car. Driving over fifty mph on that road can turn into a one-man offroad rally (trust me, ive learned my lesson). It should be even more fun during winter. Of course, it always takes an accident for saftey to get bumped up. At least everyone made it out all right. They don’t always.

5

yeah, it looks really bad. at least it wasn’t an accident that was caused by a moron.
Matthew