Yesterday afternoon The famed Sunset limited collided with a car carrying a migrant worker and her daughter at a crossing killing them both. Apparently the driver did not see the train approach until it was pretty close and when she caught sight of it she panicked and depressed the brake pedal instead of the gas stopping the vehicle dead in the tracks. Before she could react further the Sunset Limited on a 79 mile an hour stretch of track tore the car in 2. No word on the engineer but damage to the train was minimal and was able to continue on after a 2 hour delay. The crossing had no gates or lights, only a sign and a witness said the car never slowed down before the crossing. Russ
I'm becoming such a curmudgeon complaining about incompetence, lack of education, etc., but I am beginning to believe that the number of people getting axed by trains is another piece of fallout from all of this. No one seems to understand kinetic energy, momentum, and the fact that you cannot stop a umpty megaton train in two car lengths. They also don't seem to understand grade crossings.
As cold hearted as this may sound, as much as we try to teach the public about these monsters, some don't listen and when these things happen, the only ones we should feel sorry for are the crews at the controls of these trains and they know they can't stop in time.
Clay I couldn't agree with you more, those engineers have to live with the tragedy and some may not survive it either. We should pray for the engineers for healing and comfort.
The article that I read did not mention a specific town and only stated rural Volusia County Florida. Russ Hoffman Valley RR
