Big Jim posted:I find it completely idiotic to place a curve speed board a full two miles away from the intended curve! No wonder anyone not intimately familiar with the territory forgot!
There's a freight speed limit sign right before the approach signal on the downgrade out of the yard at Dupont, and I don't think there's a passenger speed sign southbound past where the trains cross the entrance at North Fort at JBLM (Fort Lewis). You go up a hill from there, pass the Ft Lewis museum, head through Dupont and the odd dogleg through the yard, then a gentle downhill run until you hit what can best be described as a solid left hand turn.
No matter what you've seen on TV or online, that's an incredibly tight curve. Freight trains go over it very slowly.
As I understand, some of the crews (including the crew in this accident) only had one pass in a crowded cab at the line south of Lakewood. I'm not certain but I don't think he even got to the controls on this line before the run that led to this wreck. Amtrak and Sound Transit did a very poor job getting him ready for this run, which appears quite clear in light of all the info we now have.
As for what Amtrak will do for the engineer, I can imagine they'll have to do right by him in light of this report. Otherwise, the attorney(s) I'm sure he has standing by will make short order of Amtrak...
Also, there's a new story floating around that Amtrak has been ordered to replace several of these Cascades Talgo cars due to safety concerns: https://www.seattletimes.com/s...as-soon-as-possible/
