I wish everybody that plays chicken on the tracks could see the kid that got hit by a hopper train near my house last year. He got lucky, the plow just tagged him and broke his ribs, punctured his lung, tore his ear half off and rolled him down the ballast. If he'd gone underneath, there wouldn't have been anything left but parts. Even thoug he just got nicked, he still looked like he'd been in a blender but at least it didn't kill him. Wonder if he'll remember it? I guess they haven't learned anything since Watash was running so I doubt they ever will but it's still a rotten feeling to see them out in front of you.
I found a site some time ago that deals with the greusome reults of train hopping- it's called Dead Train Bums, and it has some graphic stories and full-color pics of people who tried & died hopping trains. Personally, if I want to ride a train I'll ride Amtrak or an excursion special.
Rule281, My heart goes out to you and all the other engineers who have to experience an "idiot" challanging a train. Wednesday morning a young man decided to let Amtrak #1 help him commit suicide a few hundred yards from my house. The engineer said the guy was standing next to the ballast looking at him, then calmly walked in front of the engine! This was the second suicide at the same crossing this year, and the 19th death on the MS Coast. About half of them were walking on the ROW! My Deepest Sympathies! Hank [ 24 November 2001: Message edited by: Hank Coolidge ]</p>
I remember one time around 1960. I was working the graveyard shift as Telegrapher. The SP had mostly F7's at that time. Anyway,this train comes barroling past my station. A few minutes later the Hog Head called me on the radio and said he thought he saw a body laying between the rails at mile post so and so. I called the railroad cop for this area and told him what mile post the engineer reported the body. Just before I got off my shift, the cop stopped in and told me the engineer was correct. It was yjr body of young man all mangled up. This was open country with no crossings or housing in the area. He said it looked like the young man had hitched a ride on one of the cars of a previous train and fell off between the rails. A couple of days later, the shirrif stopped in and questioned me about the guy, if I had seen him riding in or on a car. I told him all I knew was what the engineer radioed me and what the railroad cop told me. The sherrif then told me that the young man was 19 years old and just had a fight with his live in girl friend and stomped out of the house slamming the door. He lived about 2 blocks from the tracks. They can't figure how he could have hopped a freight as the trains travel 35 miles per hour through the residential area where the kid lived. Later the railroad cop showed me pictures of the kid between the rails and I almost got sick.
