Just noticed a train crashed in Brazoria County- Not much on details yet but this is not a pretty site:
OUCHIE, boy this is a mess indeed. I sure hope that the engineers are OK. Keep us posted about what happened.
Here are a couple of "stories" I found about this pile-up. One of the articles says the wreck was low speed but I don't think four big, heavy diesels would accordian like that if they didn't have a pretty good head of steam. http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/metropolitan/1161698 http://www.click2houston.com/hou/news/stories/news-110566820011206-101206.html?subid=22100412 The good news is that, assuming the stories are accurate, nobody was seriously injured.
Apparently no one was injured, thank goodness! There is a brief article on the Trains Newswire for yesterday. http://www.trains.com/Content/Dynamic/Articles/000/000/001/719hefqd.asp
Probably doesn't belong on this thread, but there was a real tragic one here in Oregon yesterday. A woman in a van with her four children, taking them to school, and aware of train vs. car things, saw a train coming, hit her brakes only to find that the road was icy. Anyone ever experienced that? Total lack of control. She went into the crossing, the train hit her and she and three children died. One survived. Most ironic, her husband was chief of firefighters in town and first on the scene to discover his entire family wiped out. Let's pray for him and the surviving child.
Fitz. The trouble with these type of accidents is that the draw bar and knuckle are the same height as a car window. on impact at high speed the passengers usually die instantly due to impact with the knuckle. I make my wife stop 100 feet from a crossing . As even a derailment can send rails and ties flying like bullets. A lot of people honk and get mad but we just wave them buy. Railroading is really a dangerous busniess. Arthur.
Fitz. Another bad habbit people have at crossings with no gates is. On double trackage they will cross as soon as the train passes without waiting to see if a train is coming the other way. I came within a foot of being killed doing this stupid act myself. Arthur.
Arthur, amen to all of the above. A friend on his way to visit us one day many years ago got a ticket for running a crossing gate. He was p****d, but also lucky, as he is still alive. Some people just don't get it. The lady in Oregon wasn't aware of the ice. A real tragedy. She knew better about the crossing.
Well fitz, unfortunately I have a story that ties yours back to the thread in a way. On Saturday, there was a train vs. vehicle crash in Irving, TX that cost one person their life and of course impacted many others. A Trinity Railway Express commuter train hit an offending van that was weaving through the gates. The gentleman in the van did not survive. This was the inaugral Saturday run of the TRE to its new Fort Worth terminus, and the TRE was free (and FULL) all day Saturday. Shuttle buses were used between the stations immediately adjacent to the accident site from about 12:30pm to 3:00pm. I spoke with one of the passengers that was on the train during the crash and they said that the train was running at a pretty good pace (he estimated around 50-60mph) and that they only felt a small jolt at impact followed by loss of power in the car, but there was no derailment or damage otherwise to the train. They could see debris and smoke outside but could not see the van until long after the crash. Reports have said that the van was dragged several hundred feet after impact and that it was rendered unrecognizable, as you might expect. A very sad ending to the TRE's new beginning in Dallas/Fort Worth. I hope that it will open people's eyes here about the importance of obeying the grade crossing signals and laws. The problem is people here just aren't used to the trains traveling so fast so they think they have time. Anyway, prayers out to all those affected by this tragedy.
Very sad ... ! A few fools are in such a hurry that they will never again smell the roses. Seen on a bumper sticker: "So What Are You Going To Do With The 30 Seconds You Just Saved????"
