Sounds vaguely familiar. Believe I saw it in grade school. Later on, I drove tow truck. So had to actually assist in aftermaths. That's a tough thing to do. Maybe if others had to endure the same, they'd be more careful. Boxcab E50
We just had another one here (Chicago). Metra struck a lady corssing the tracks, crossed in front of a stopped train, while an express on the next track came through. Gates were down and people were warning her, she kept going......
And the other day, in Hudson, Co., a 10 y/o girl apparently tried to beat an oncoming empty BNSF coal train. Child pronounced dead at scene. People stopped at crossing blew car horns, trying to keep the her from going around gates. Didn't listen. Even worse, is the crew saw the child go around the gates in front of them, and knowing they'd never be able to stop in time. In situations like this, where the deceased was at fault, I have sympathy for the train crews, NOT the family(ies) of the dead. Just my personal opinion!!
Too many TV shows portray these "beating a train across the crossing" acts in such a "fun" manner. Maybe those highway films need to include train vs. auto footage. Anyone know if train-mounted cameras are in the future (similar to cop car dash-mounted cameras)?
Mike- Train mounted cameras already exist. It's just that loco fleets are not totally equipped yet. So far, I've heard that UP and BNSF are doing it. Or approved a program to have this done. Most all of the time, it's the fault of a "victim." (Now there's an errantly applied word!) And the poor train crew never gets the incident out of mind. The media rarely ever writes/talks of the crews as they should. The crews are, so very sadly, the real victims. Boxcab E50
I was on my daily train into Chicago (Metra) a few years back and we hit a girl going to school. Two trains were coming in each direction, she only saw one, stepped back farther onto the platform and got hit by ours. Dead on the scene. The entire crew immediately gets a 2 week leave, I believe, in these circmstances. I still have visions of it myself, and I only say the head car after the attempted to clean it at the scene.
My uncle worked for ATSF for many years, and has many bad memories/stories he has shared of people/kids in cars looking up right before impact... it is devistatingly sad!
To me this is the way of the future. If all trains will eventually be DPU then maybe the crew should be located on the rear locomotive or mid train. This unit should be equiped with remote cameras from the lead locomotive to provide the crew vision on the front and a recorded record of any incidents.
