Another tragic accident with a train

[cwclark]

I was at the dinner table yesterday and a story came on the local news about a 7 year old boy in Houston that tried to hop a slow freight train to get to school yesterday. the boy lost his footing, fell under the wheels, and had both legs severed just below the knees...There was another boy the news interviewed about the accident and the kid couldn't quit crying knowing what happened to his best friend (he also hopped the train but was just lucky that nothing happened to him)... Anyone that is a parent should really work with their kids teaching them the dangers of trains and what can happen to them while pulling these stunts...The boy that got crippled and the boy in the interview found out the hard way......it was very tragic....Chuck

[Anonymous]

Chuck,

I think our society has been educated to the teeth about the dangers of trains. The main problem is that many of these daredevils have this false sense of security that "It'll never happen to me!"

[Anonymous]

100% of the responsibility falls back on the parents.
If they knew what their kids were doing while away from home, a lot of this wouldn't happen.
Now days the kids go out the door without anyone knowing, or caring, where they are going.
I'm sure glad I don't have any kids to worry about.
gtr

[IRONROOSTER]

This a tragic accident. I doubt that you could call 7 year olds dare devils - children that young do not really understand risks and dangers, certainly not like adults do. They also are unable to effectively judge what they can and cannot do - that's why young children have so many accidents. As a parent I can tell you that no matter how much you supervise children or try to educate them about the dangers, they will go and do dumb things. Fortunately most of the time it is without serious consequence. In this case there was a very tragic consequence.

My heart goes out to this little boy and his parents.
Paul

[steveblackledge]

when your young everything look's harmless, that was what i thought anyway, sometimes you don't take notice till sombody gets hurt. Yesterday i had to get the Briti***ransport police out to near my dads home, some teanagers had got onto the line past the 6' metal fencing and guess what they were doing, climbing up scaffolding on a bridge and dangling there feet in front of trains, this is BAD but there are also 25'000 volt power lines, when they were told to get off they laughed, so i had to get the police

[cheese3]

I always meke sure my mom or dad knows where i am in case something happens. Of course i am smart enough to know not to climb on trains but i let my parents know in case i get hurt riding my bike or something.

[selector]

Let me tell you a brief story. Many years ago, high in the Andes Mountains, where my Dad was a mining engineer, he took us to a tailor shop to have some school clothes made for us (its was cheap, and still good quality). Shortly after we got to the tailor's, my brother became fascinated with one of those old-fashioned treadle-operated Singers in the corner, and he began to get the treadle going. My father called to him to stop, which he did (he was about seven). When my father next looked, Wayne was hammering away at that treadle as if his life depended on it. With a look that could kill, my father began to stomp towards Wayne, and Wayne's eyes grew bigger as my Dad approached, but he just kept at it. He was too compelled by the excitement and the allure. What he found exciting was more important than the consequences.

Surely this is the effect that gets so many young, naive children into trouble. The allure is too much, and the consequences are too difficult either to contemplate or to anticipate. They act on impulse, on a dare, or out of a percieved necessity (to get to shcool so that they don't have a note sent home to Mom and Dad for being late...AGAIN!).

What a tragic disaster for that young boy and for those who know and love him.

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by cwclark

I was at the dinner table yesterday and a story came on the local news about a 7 year old boy in Houston that tried to hop a slow freight train to get to school yesterday. the boy lost his footing, fell under the wheels, and had both legs severed just below the knees...There was another boy the news interviewed about the accident and the kid couldn't quit crying knowing what happened to his best friend (he also hopped the train but was just lucky that nothing happened to him)... Anyone that is a parent should really work with their kids teaching them the dangers of trains and what can happen to them while pulling these stunts...The boy that got crippled and the boy in the interview found out the hard way......it was very tragic....Chuck

Chuck,

The story was in the Houston paper this morning, and the boy was 13. His ankles were crushed when he slipped under the train. His injuries were so bad that his feet couldn't be saved and had to removed. Sad, sad, sad... They said that the train crew wasn't even aware that it had happened until they were stopped and told five miles down rail.

Just thought I'd update the story for you.

trainluver1

[Leon Silverman]

I wouldn't argue with gtrr's statement that the parents are 100% responsible, except that aren't 100% of all parents that are responsible.

[rtraincollector]

As I read this first was thinking it was taught by older kids then told it was a 13 year old makes me think it started out as a dare then grew to an easy way to school that was very dangerous and finally one poor lad had to pay the price sorry but it seems to always end this way . Its a shame that we can't convince our youth at our parents couldn't when we were young how dangerous something can be till a tragity happens we all probally can think of somethin dumb and risky we did as kids and we may have gotten away with it but now we know how dunb we were being at the time. I bet the schools in the area go into a big thing about how dangerous it is now . When it probally should have been done years ago.

[red p]

Ive been on and off moving equipment a 1000 times when I was a conductor,we even used to do it at 20MPH.
But, there is an art to it.It is one of the first things they teach you when you hire out.
No dought the old heads make it look easy.Keep in mind they do it everyday.
Im sure those kids dont think of that.i had this same talk with a kid in the neighborhood once,and he had the nerve to ask me to teach him how to do it.Of course the answer was NO!
Point is-if you know what you are doing it is a very safe operation(if you lose your footing ,your momentum will spin you away from the train).
If you dont ,then it is very dangerous.
The point im trying to make here is that even though it looks easy.We had to take a class to learn how to do that!
And that is something a lot of people dont think about.

[Anonymous]

Though I've already made a contribution to this thread, I'd like to share a story about an incident that happened to me and a friend when we were about ten years old.
First of all, we grew up around the Southern Pacific yard, and had spent many an after school evening fooling around on the side tracked cars-even when we knew we weren't supposed to be anywhere near them.
One day, a slow train came through town, and we decided it would be cool to hop up into an open box car and rid for a little ways. Well, the train got going too fast to jump off of before we knew it, and we ended up having to ride it to the next town which was over twenty miles away before it slowed enough so we could get off. Once we did get off, we called my buddy's dad and he came and got us. That was 1976. He's still grounded and I'm still banned from hanging around with him by his folks...

trainluver1

[selector]

Good story, Trainluver!! [^][tup]