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You are correct, HW, and that is why I do not defend journalists of any stripe.  Too often, they select words which are technically correct but slanted towards conveying something, which creates headlines or supports a cause to which they adhere.  Try reading narratives of the same event in a left-leaning newspaper and a right-leaning newspaper.

We/I better drop a rant on journalists, or Honourable Webmaster will cut the thread.

You also are correct, GRJ.  The devil is in the details.  By massaging the details, one can create alternative facts.

As I get a little long in the tooth, I have more sympathy for "elderly couples" who get confused or fail to notice what is happening.  But all too often, these crossing accidents are the result of a knowing choice (going around the gates) or negligence (failure to STOP-LOOK-LISTEN).

Several decades ago, we had a horrific accident here in Virginia.  The Catlett VFD was responding to a fire.  The driveway to the fire crossed the Southern single-track mainline, guarded only by a crossbuck.  Blowing their siren loudly, they didn't hear the train horn.  Several firemen were killed.

Taking a devastating event & turning it into a positive.

On October 10, 1997 we lost students in a devastating train / car collision. I spent 36 years teaching Drivers Education at Milford High School and this collision had to be addressed in a manor that would help students learn from this collision.

Calling these students “Stupid” would be the wrong approach. Have to present this information in a manor that will help students to understand the facts and name calling is a poor way.

The DE Instructors teamed up with the Milford Times and they supplied us with photos to share. We also worked with The CSX Railroad “Operation Lifesaver”. The CSX Railroad had retired engineers who would come out to the school and talk to our DE Students. These engineers and the material they had to share met the objectives to help students. They never used the term “Stupid Driver”

Below are some photos supplied by our local newspaper: “Milford Times” and we are still using these photos today and “Operation Lifesaver”.

1 CSX Crash : Highland

2 CSX Crash : Highland 1997

3 CSX Crash : Highland

Hope this helps: Gary

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Images (3)
  • 1 CSX Crash : Highland
  • 2 CSX Crash : Highland 1997
  • 3 CSX Crash : Highland
Last edited by trainroomgary

In my "spare time" of which I don't seem to have as much lately, I teach new drivers in our volunteer departments the specifics of ambulance and fire apparatus response. I don't know whether, technically, our rules are part of the traffic code in New York, or in other states, but our policy is as  follows:  Every lane of intersecting traffic is to be considered a separate intersection. That means that approaching an intersection with multiple lanes going across, the driver is obligated to stop and look both directions, before crossing the next lane.  A railroad track, whether signaled or dark, is considered a crossing lane, and the driver is supposed to stop, or at least slow the F down considerably, before crossing the tracks.

"The siren was too loud" is not a valid excuse. If the fire engine was responding to an area that had un-signaled RR crossings, we may infer that it was a rural area, where use of the siren was <possibly> not a necessity.  We get lots of well-meaning volunteers who think that the siren is a weapon or force field that will push opposing vehicles out of the way.  They have been watching too many TV shows. We are obligated to sound the siren at intersections, but not to sound them constantly.  We are also obligated, by state law, to stop at every stop sign along the way. (Sometimes we actually do that.)

In my "spare time" of which I don't seem to have as much lately, I teach new drivers in our volunteer departments the specifics of ambulance and fire apparatus response. I don't know whether, technically, our rules are part of the traffic code in New York, or in other states, but our policy is as  follows:  Every lane of intersecting traffic is to be considered a separate intersection. That means that approaching an intersection with multiple lanes going across, the driver is obligated to stop and look both directions, before crossing the next lane.  A railroad track, whether signaled or dark, is considered a crossing lane, and the driver is supposed to stop, or at least slow the F down considerably, before crossing the tracks.

"The siren was too loud" is not a valid excuse. If the fire engine was responding to an area that had un-signaled RR crossings, we may infer that it was a rural area, where use of the siren was <possibly> not a necessity.  We get lots of well-meaning volunteers who think that the siren is a weapon or force field that will push opposing vehicles out of the way.  They have been watching too many TV shows. We are obligated to sound the siren at intersections, but not to sound them constantly.  We are also obligated, by state law, to stop at every stop sign along the way. (Sometimes we actually do that.)

"....each lane of intersecting traffic is to be consideted a separate intersection," is wise and safe.

A woman was recently killed in Wilmington, MA when the car she was driving was struck by a train as she was crossing the tracks and the gates failed to lower at all.

Turns out the gates had been inspected and tested earlier by an Amtrack employee/contractor who forgot to turn the system back on to operational status before he left. His employment has been terminated.

Darwin's theory is not limited just to drivers of motor vehicles.

Like most people )probably including most readers of this post), I have a few regrets.  One of them involves a trip as Engineer in freight service, from Hobart (Los Angeles) to San Bernardino, in the 1970's.

The Santa Fe, between Fullerton and Riverside, was a single track railroad operated under CTC rules.  We left Porphyry (Corona) on a flashing yellow signal -- Approach Medium, requiring that we approach the next signal prepared to pass it at a speed not exceeding 40 MPH.  The next signal displayed a yellow aspect, requiring us to reduce speed to 40 MPH or less, and be prepared to stop at the next signal, which was located at the heading-in switch of a siding called May.  That signal displayed flashing red, instructing us to head in, and the signal at the other end of the siding was red, requiring us to stop in the siding.

The area was somewhat rural then, and there was a road crossing, protected by a pair of wigwag signals, about 200 feet into the siding.  Our train would just fit, after clearing that road crossing.  The Conductor informed me by radio, that our waycar had just cleared the crossing, and I stopped with about one car length between the engine and the signal.  The waycar was still within the crossing circuit, causing the wigwags to continue swinging and ringing.  As we were heading in, I had heard the voice of the Engineer on a westbound train approaching Arlington, asking the Train Dispatcher if he was going to hold that train at May, as a flashing yellow signal was in view.  "Nope.  East man's heading in there for you."  And right after that conversation, the rear end of our train cleared the Main Track.  So, the westbound train got a green signal, and came to May at 60 MPH.  Just before the train entered the crossing, an automobile was driven across, behind the waycar, which was partially blocking the driver's view, and was t-boned by the locomotives, with all occupants of the auto being fatally injured.

I regret that I did not suggest to the Conductor that we keep the crossing blocked intentionally until we had met the opposing train.  I regret that I did not specifically alert the rear end crew to the approach of the other train.  I regret that the driver of the car did not listen for the whistle of the approaching train.  There was not any operating rule violation involved, and there was no legal liability to take any of those measures, but a complex sequence of events led to human deaths, and I have been nagged by what-ifs for 35 years.  And I remembered that day at May, every time I stopped a train near a road crossing, making sure to minimize opportunities for unplanned events.

Last edited by Number 90
@mark s posted:

Think the conductor/brakeman in the waycar bare 99% of the responsibility for not protecting the crossing with flags or flares

Actually, Mark, there was no such requirement.  I'll agree that it could have been helpful in this case, but not required.  When you start requiring things like that, you vastly increase your liability, which is already high, and there are tons of mitigating factors that can hopelessly entangle the railroad in extra liability..

But it was daylight, both wigwags were in operation, and the oncoming train was sounding the whistle.  And there was enough visibility around the rear of the waycar, for the driver to creep up and see for a sufficient distance to cross safely.  It's the driver's responsibility to decide if it is safe to cross the tracks.

Nonetheless, I wish that we had purposely blocked the crossing that day, on our own, without being required to.

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