Sad news from the TRAINS Newswire: BNSF collision claims conductor's life Thursday, Feb. 13, 2003 A Burlington Northern Santa Fe conductor who jumped from his train seconds before it collided with a yard switcher early Thursday afternoon in Scottsbluff, Neb., and was buried under more than 2,000 tons of coal has died. The body of Steven D. Thomas, 38, of Alliance, was recovered two hours after the derailment. The Federal Railroad Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board will investigate the incident. Thomas' train was traveling from the Powder River Basin in Wyoming to New Mexico. The derailment put two locomotives and about two dozen coal hoppers on the ground. Numerous cars were lying on their side. The engineer of the switcher also was buried in coal when his locomotive was knocked off the rails. He was pulled free and transported to a hospital. Two other crew members in that engine were not injured. Thomas, who had eight years experience with BNSF, is survived by a wife and two small children, BNSF spokesperson Steve Forsberg told the Omaha Herald. The derailment also took out power lines that had to be de-energized before heavy-duty cranes could start working. Scottsbluff is in the western part of the state.
My condolences to the family nobody expects to go to work and lose their life. As a rail worker myself their is always a risk standing within a few feet of a high speed train as it passes. I sometimes thnik how would I survive if a train derailed as it was passing.
