A ghastly sort of tragic story emerging this morning from a collision some 50 miles east of Los Angeles. Apparently near midnight last night (Thursday, September 9th) a westbound UP locomotive rear-ended a slow-moving freight train loaded with I-beams. Amidst the wreckage after derailment, said beam(s) pierced the locomotive, trapping the engineer and requiring a surgical team to be summoned, which team subsequently amputated the arm to free the engineer, now hospitalized with another.
Some photos of the site and a brief mention of this collision are also on the current Page 71 of K.P. Harrier’s thread on the “Sunset Route Two-Tracking Updates”, at -
Mr. North: The Harrier thread “brief mention” wreck on page 71 occurred in 2008. The incident to which I refer happened just last night, with surgery early this morning, per my attached URL.
The included photo shows graphically the result of the impact. The engineer’s arm was amputated on site, to free him from the wreckage…
(NOTE: IIRC) This accident occured in an area that K.P. Harrier has been photographing and documenting in his fine Thread on the ‘Double tracking of the Sunset Route’ { the article indicates it was on a line parallel to I-10 and West of Cherry Ave. in Fontana}
[#oops] Sorry! I guess while you guys were sorting it out, got in the middle…
I thought I was helping, my error[:S]
(EDIT/NOTE)Found this link which changed information from the earlier reports of the Engineer being the individual (now reported as the train’s Conductor)whose arm waas amputated by an emergency surgical team to free him from entrapment in the
Nope. See the last paragraph of his post of 09-10-2010 - my computer shows it as having been posted at 9:45 AM, though I believe that varies according to the time zone of the viewer - that is captioned as “Mystery Solved”, which is presently the 2nd post from the bottom on that page, and which mentioned the Cherry Ave. overpass. See also his middle photo of his 09-08-2010 post re: “OUT OF THIS WORLD. . .” in
The URL that you used within your post this morning referred to page 71, which was the very first posts on this Harrier thead. Apparently, you copied the URL into your post without having first logged-on yourself, which thereby reverses the order of posts. What was page 71 (your URL) becomes page 1 when one is logged on.
To check the above, after you have logged on, please click on the URL in your original post, and you’ll get the first page of Harrier thread posts (2008) not the most recent (today). However, if you click on the URL in your original post while logged off you will get the most recent posts.
K.P. was by the Fontana wreck site Saturday morning (September 11, 2010), and everything appeared to have been speedily cleaned up, with no real visible signs that a wreck had occurred.
The two now famous televised units were found alongside the maintenance shops of West Colton Yard. What is believed to be the trailing unit (UP 8375) was visible from Riverside Ave. in Rialto.
The more heavily damaged lead unit (UP 8315) was behind it.
They were part of a four-unit dead line, all mangled and busted up SD70ACes. The other two units were UP 8485 and UP 8491, which are the ones that were involved in the very well-known Metrolink head-on at Chatsworth, CA a few years ago.
Word is that the railroad is very sensitive to photographing the units, so would-be photographers of the damaged units should be forewarned to stay on very public property.
In the above Kaiser Yard (left) photo, the distant overpass is Cherry Ave. The wreck occurred this side of that overpass, and just THIS SIDE of the interlocking signals just west of the overpass. The train that was rear ended was backing up obviously without lights, hence, going away from the camera.
Even IF the mainline westbound train (coming toward the camera) encountered a false green signal in the darkness of near midnight, because of their own very bright headlight that would light up the entire right-of-way ahead, they should have easily been able to see the other backin
The situation is a bit more complicated than what you have posted. The crew of MWCJY was running on a approach (yellow) indication. The signal just beyond the bridge was indicating clear for the local crew LOH45 Kaiser Local, the nearer signal was dark as it was approach lit. Unlike most track circuits the beginning of the circuit to light the approach-lit signal was not at the previous signal, but rather at a point very near where the photographer must be standing. It is not known whether the crew thought that the second signal visible in the photograph applied to them but when the nearer signal suddenly lit with a Stop indication, the radio tapes have the crew warning the local crew of the impending collision. Further facts will have to await the completion of the investigation. It is my opinion that the use of a short approach lighting circuit on an absolute signal was an accident waiting to happen, and the wait is now over and a man has lost his arm as a result.
Identifying which train was which and where they were at is difficult for someone outside the facts and investigation. But, the collision location being a few hundred feet west of the key CP tell me that where a signal lit is not a real factor. (The line, I believe, is 60 M.P.H. territory.)
The way I see it, there was a false indication (which I don’t believe was the case), someone(s) fell asleep, or someone was going too fast. What the investigation uncovers may or may not surprise us.
K. P. you are correct that I misinterpreted your photo captions. However details of some facts relating to the accident are already known to some UP employees. The UP Kaiser local (LOH45) had DS authorization to back out of Kaiser Yard down the mainline and into South Fontana siding. South Fontana siding is on the left just beyond the second signal in your photograph. The other train MWCJY, a J-Yard hauler had an Approach indication at the east switch of South Fontana which is a 6,250 ft siding. Speed Limit is 60 for freight, but on an Approach signal they should be running much slower expecting a Stop indication at the west switch South Fontana(closest end to the photographer). The track circuit to light the signal begins 3,125 feet before the Control Signal at west switch South Fontana, and it will not light until you are within that distance from the signal. The collision happened between the switch to Kaiser Yard and the west switch of South Fontana siding. As to the “False Clear”, I have not heard any such report, rather what I have heard is that the first Intermediate signal west of the control signal at WSS South Fontana was indicating Clear once the short Kaiser local was on the mainline and east of it. Based on the Engineer’s interview it is believed that he mistook the Intermediate signal for the control signal.
Getting the conductor’s story would be most interesting! Did he too just happen to misinterpret what the distant green signal was all about?
The press seems to have lost interest, and has moved on to the next gory thrill for the Roman Gladiator types … And that is probably what everyone involved was hoping for.
