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Quite a few years back, around 1990 or so, I was a volunteer fireman/EMT in a small town I won't mention along the then BN mainline. I remember the day well, because I was starting a week of vacation from my regular job, and had decided to sleep in. Around 7:45AM, I heard the California Zephyr blow through town(I lived about 100 yards from the rail line) and I remember looking at teh clock and rolling over to go back to sleep, Just as I began drifting off, my plectron went off, signalling a rescue call. At the end of of the signal, the dispatcher called out: "train versus pedestrian". Since I was awake, I responded to the call, and was surprised to find that only myself and one other firefighter were in town, so it was just the 2 of us, and we responded to the scene which was about 1 mile east of my house. Sure enough, the Amtrak was standing on the mainline as we made our way from the highway to the ROW, and the conductor met us at the Train, his first words were: " you don't even need to go up there, he's dead". As EMS responders, the law requires that we respond anyway, so on I went, and I am not afraid to tell you, it was not pretty. The engineer was standing nearby, clearly upset. He said the man was riding a motorcycle down the middle of the tracks( The highway was closed due to construction, so he obviously decided to take the tracks as a detour, which was a fatal mistake)the engineer said: "I saw him as I came through town, and I blew the whistle, and I know he heard the whistle, because he looked back and then stopped, and he was trying to get the motorcycle off the tracks when I hit him" <br /> The sight sickened me, and for years afterward, I felt sick everytime I heard Amtrak come through town. The man's body lay some 300 yards or so from the point of contact, <br />no longer even on the track he was hit on, but on the other track next to it, squarely between the rails. The force of the impact had knocked the man completely out of his clothes, the only clothing remaining on his body was his undershorts, and they were down around his ankles. The man's head no longer resembled anything human, it looked more like a squashed grape. The railcrew had covered the body with a sheet, to spare the passengers from the sight. Our only actions that morning officially, was to check for the ABC's, and then call the county coroner, because as BLS responders, we could not declare the man officially dead. Of all the calls I responded to in my five year career as a volunteer firefighter/EMT, I can still remember this one vividly after almost 20 years. Amtrak's whistles no longer bother me like they did for the 2 or 3 years after the call, but reading this thread sure brought it back. <br /> Ed, no question about it, you were absolutely right. I know the speeds were not anything like an Amtrak, but the results of train versus human are always the same. It's ugly for everyone involved, and you are right, everyone loses, not even just the idiot who got himself killed, but everyone involved.
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