http://dailypicksandflicks.com/2014/05/26/train-hits-semi-truck-in-california-video/ An article with video of a semi stuck on the tracks in the way of a UP movement of military vehicles bound for Ft Irwin, CA. Luck all the way around as no reported injuries and the train continued on a few hours later.
That Stryker unit on rails sure has gotten a lot of publicity. I didn't realize it was that train that hit the truck. Saw it on TV last night.
We had a similar high-centered truck incident years ago, but no damage. The driver reacted quickly and called the police who contacted CSX. The next train easily stopped about 100 feet from the truck and waited for over an hour while the shipment of electronic equipment racks was unloaded and the truck dislodged. I'd like to believe that most rig drivers would react in the same way, and that only a small handful would try to stop a train all by themselves like the driver in the video.
I wonder how much time elapsed between becoming stuck and the train approaching? Maybe there wasn't time?
That truck was not high centered you can see right under it and the bottom is way off the tracks. Moving vans or lowboy flatbeds are the ones that get stuck that way. This truck was just broke down or something.
If that was the case the driver must not have retracted them very well. They should be close enough to the rear truck tires to clear most anything if they are properly stowed. That crossing does not look that steep. Although you can see one of these signs there at the crossing.
Actually landing gear is closer to the tandems on the tractor, even if the trailer axles have been moved forward. It doesn't fold, the framing is fixed in place. It cranks vertically, but has a limit to travel. The drop off on the far side of those tracks is enough, and the landing gear probably caught the far side rail. That jammed, lifted the tractor via fifth wheel and,.... no traction.
Strange, I see trucks go over this crossing all the time with no problem with their landing gear. It is one of the steepest in the neighborhood. It is the low slung moving vans that are always getting nailed here.
In the case I cited, it was a low-boy van whose driver had never been in the area before, was unaware of the steep crossing approaches, and used routing his dispatcher had given him from 1500 miles away. Definitely not the driver's fault, but hats off for his quick thinking. How many times has GPS given each of us routes that turn out to be way off the mark.
So many companies dispatch with people who have never even driven a truck. Who have never seen the routes. They use computer maps to route the shortest way to save money on all costs. Drivers end up on all kinds of odd roads, even with GPS. As the drivers call such roads, "turkey trails." Now and then a driver does not fully retract their landing gear. Inches can matter... Weight, trailer length, placement of the trailer wheels. It can add up to a wrong combination for going over elevated rails.
