Carl -
Isn't that you home base?That would be the UP Metra line, yes?
Chico
Steam Is King wrote: Carl -Isn't that you home base?That would be the UP Metra line, yes?Chico
Except for the CSS&SB, all commuter trains into and out of Chicago are run by Metra, a governmental-type agency supported by, among other things, part of our sales tax.
Lombard is on the old West line of the UP, previously C&NW. There are two other UP commuter lines: Northwest and West, and they comprise all of the rail transportation into and out of the Ogilvie Transportation Center downtown, west of the Chicago River. Before Ogilvie and a skycraper on top were built, it was commonly referred to as "C(and)NW Station." Old-timers like me occasionally slip and use the old term.
Carl
Railroader Emeritus (practiced railroading for 46 years--and in 2010 I finally got it right!)
CAACSCOCOM--I don't want to behave improperly, so I just won't behave at all. (SM)
Oh--crossing signals were definitely functioning normally. This is a good system, with gates lowering dependent on train speed. There were no scoots in the area at the time, though some were due shortly after I left the scene. A westbound scoot (none due for a good 20 minutes) will drop the gates at Elizabeth (which is about a quarter-mile west of the station) just before stopping at the station, but they will rise, allowing the traffic to cross, and go down again after a few seconds when the train leaves the station.
6:30 p.m. Bad news--this collision resulted in a fatality. Killed was the mother of Astronaut Dan Tani (a Lombardian through high school), currently on the International Space Station. She reportedly drove around the lowered gates.
So will they try to get Dan down? I know Atlantis is not slated to go up until January.
Hey, all - first post -
I got tired of the news choppers above my house (I work from home) and noticed the trains moving slowly outside my window so I threw my camera in the car and went to check it out.
It was bad and sad -- when I crossed the tracks at Finley the UP westbound had the crews out and were examining the trucks and left side running gear, which told me it was a car collision.
The westbound stopped 1/4 of a mile from the strike. The car was a mess.
I enjoy the photos on www.railpictures.com so I took some photos of the stopped freight and two of the wrecked car. After I found out the lady didn't survive, I decided not to post the photos because it seems kind of ghoulish to me.
I live three houses down from the main and am used to hearing the trains go by, so often I don't even notice them. Funny how strange it is when I'm hard at work and notice the different sound of a commuter train all wound out but moving at 5mph.
Incidentally, 1/8 mi. from where the train was parked is a bridge over the DuPage river where, in the 70's I'm told, a car full of chemicals derailed into the river and killed all the fish down to the Fox river.
The spot where the train stopped is popular with suicides -- there have been two or three there so far this year. The last one apparently waved at the crew as he stood in front of the oncoming train.
On a lighter note, I've been trying to convince my wife for years that the silver doghouse at the tracks is where the guy who operates the crossing signals lives. His address begins with "MP..." and when the UP trucks are there, he's got company inside. She never believes me.
mxr
Welcome, MXR!
Your DuPage River story is just a legend. I do remember one wreck on the curve there, but that wasn't the hazmat spill. The one that made the news was the Glen Ellyn wreck in May 1976--a car of anhydrous ammonia ruptured and caused an evacuation. When the vapors were hosed down, they got into the Glen Ellyn storm sewer system, and flowed into Lake Ellyn, killing all of the fish there.
By the way, my avatar photo was made from the intersection at the crossing where the incident occurred. There's no problem at all with visibility at this point.
al-in-chgo wrote: Steam Is King wrote: Carl -Isn't that you home base?That would be the UP Metra line, yes?ChicoExcept for the CSS&SB, all commuter trains into and out of Chicago are run by Metra, a governmental-type agency supported by, among other things, part of our sales tax.Lombard is on the old West line of the UP, previously C&NW. There are two other UP commuter lines: Northwest and West, and they comprise all of the rail transportation into and out of the Ogilvie Transportation Center downtown, west of the Chicago River. Before Ogilvie and a skycraper on top were built, it was commonly referred to as "C(and)NW Station." Old-timers like me occasionally slip and use the old term.
As long as C&NW are carved into the entryway (skyway entrance), I will call it the Northwest Station! Is it not true that UP operates the METRA trains on its 3 lines?
Thanks for setting me straight, Carl!
Here's something else I remembered after I posted last night -- I'd just gotten my first big-boy car with my own money, a 1994 Jeep Wrangler. Traffic had stopped at that same intersection on Elizabeth and St. Charles and I was on the south side of the tracks. So far, so good.
The stoplight went green and my traffic started moving. Some turkey blows the light and almost causes an accident. Traffic stops with me on the tracks. So far, maybe not so good.
The guy who ran the light stopped in the intersection and got in a screaming match with someone who almost hit him. Out of the car pointing and waving. There's three of us on the tracks, I'm in the middle. So far, they are wasting my time and I'm starting to get uncomfortable. Much honking in the column of stopped traffic. Sure enough, the gates go down. So far, so bad.
Westbound freight's coming, I can't back up because traffic is packed. I can't go forward because traffic is packed. I had time to consider wether or not my roll bar would help my cause and how much trouble I'd get in if I bashed the car in front of me to get the hell out of the way.
Traffic moved, the day was saved, I'm sure the crew gave us all the finger as we got the hell out of the way and the train passed.
There was much shaking afterward and swearing and the coppery taste of adrenaline. Sucked.
That same intersection used to be a great place to get your jalopy airborn when you were a teenager, before they leveled it all out. Or so I heard.
mxr618 wrote: ... Westbound freight's coming, I can't back up because traffic is packed. I can't go forward because traffic is packed. I had time to consider wether or not my roll bar would help my cause and how much trouble I'd get in if I bashed the car in front of me to get the hell out of the way.... mxr
...
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
eolafan wrote:While this story is certainly tragic and sad (not to mention that it did NOT have to happen)...it is testament to the fact that just because you may be older and have lived a long time and have seen a lot, you are NOTnecessarily either smart or practice common sense. This accident did NOT have to happen if the victim had NOTviolated the law of not passing a stopped school bus and then if she had followed the message of the very old saying "look-listen-live" offered to all of us for so many years by Operation Lifesaver.
One just has to wonder what was going through her mind as she sat behind the school bus and honked, then drove around it. The bus would have blocked her view of the train as she was alongside it, but it shouldn't have when she was behind it--and there are enough gates and lights at that crossing to be seen from anywhere. The bus would also have hidden the car from the train crew until it was too late to even sound the horn for her.
When I got as close as I could to the crossing yesterday, I saw the school bus sitting there--and I just hoped that it hadn't been directly involved (I knew it had to have been involved somehow, or it wouldn't have stayed there).
mxr618 wrote: That same intersection used to be a great place to get your jalopy airborn when you were a teenager, before they leveled it all out. Or so I heard.
Yes it was!!! I grew up in Lombard on the south side of Roosevelt, but had many friends that lived north of St. Charles. As long as church wasn't letting out I would be able to get some good air there.
An "expensive model collector"
n012944 wrote: mxr618 wrote: That same intersection used to be a great place to get your jalopy airborn when you were a teenager, before they leveled it all out. Or so I heard. Yes it was!!! I grew up in Lombard on the south side of Roosevelt, but had many friends that lived north of St. Charles. As long as church wasn't letting out I would be able to get some good air there.
Oh, yeah! We saner people used to tread very lightly over that one. (In fact I had been thinking about how smooth the crossing still was when I went over it the morning before the incident.)
Couldn't fly any more, though--they put a stop sign northbound on Elizabeth ahead of Parkside (to allow left-turners crossing the tracks to get out of the way).
I'll bet you could have gotten airborne at Park Blvd., though, when it was still open!
I've said this before, and I'm saying it again.
I wish the grey matter-challenged local news media would learn how to write headlines about these incidents.
Why not
Woman killed driving car in front of train
instead of
Train hits car, kills woman driver
The second one implies blame on the train and I suppose the engineer.
Aaaaargh!
Poppa_Zit wrote: I've said this before, and I'm saying it again.I wish the grey matter-challenged local news media would learn how to write headlines about these incidents.Why notWoman killed driving car in front of traininstead ofTrain hits car, kills woman driverThe second one implies blame on the train and I suppose the engineer.Aaaaargh!
Right on PZ, but the media gets better ratings using their headline.
The Des Moines Register in their Dec. 20th edition had this:
"Rose Tani, 90, apparently went around a school bus at a railroad crossing in Lombard, Ill., where the gates did not come down, and was hit by the train, according to WLS-TV."
The other day I had CNN on and heard this story. I don't remember the exact wording of the reporter(s), but I know I thought the words they were using were sensationalizing the incident. I know, not unusual for the media. I don't think they mentioned that she drove around lowered gates. A lot easier to blame someone else (the train in this case) for a person's lapse in judgement.
Jeff
I didn't watch WLS' coverage, so don't know if the statement came from them.
But I was close enough to see the lowered gates. Of course there wouldn't have been a gate between the car and the train--she was in the wrong lane, going around a school bus!
jeffhergert wrote: The Des Moines Register in their Dec. 20th edition had this: "Rose Tani, 90, apparently went around a school bus at a railroad crossing in Lombard, Ill., where the gates did not come down, and was hit by the train, according to WLS-TV."
Well is that what happeded or not? It is certainly not an insignigicant detail. If the signals failed, that changes the whole story from what is usually the case with these grade crossing crashes. I think we need to go back and find out what happened.
If the gates were functioning, I sure would like to see some kind of confirmation that WLS-TV reported they were not.
Maybe the gate came down on the school bus, and could not fully lower. Maybe the school bus driver is partly at fault for stopping too close to the crossing.
It certainly would be interesting to learn what actually happened in this news event.
ALSO: "Passing a stopped school bus" is a very loaded statement. You cannot pass them when they are stopped with their lights flashing and stop arm extended. And you cannot pass anything at a railroad crossing. But you can pass a stopped school bus if its lights are not flashing and stop arm is not extended. And a stopped school bus does obstruct the view.
Let me ask this: When school buses stop at a grade crossing, are their drivers supposed to turn on the flashing stop lights and extend the stop arm? Or are they prohibited from doing so? Or is it optional?
With the son being in space, I am sure we will find out what exactly happened as this is a high profile case.
I cannot imagine not being able to be there. I wish him well.
ed
Bucyrus wrote: jeffhergert wrote: The Des Moines Register in their Dec. 20th edition had this: "Rose Tani, 90, apparently went around a school bus at a railroad crossing in Lombard, Ill., where the gates did not come down, and was hit by the train, according to WLS-TV."Well is that what happeded or not? It is certainly not an insignigicant detail. If the signals failed, that changes the whole story from what is usually the case with these grade crossing crashes. I think we need to go back and find out what happened.If the gates were functioning, I sure would like to see some kind of confirmation that WLS-TV reported they were not. Maybe the gate came down on the school bus, and could not fully lower. Maybe the school bus driver is partly at fault for stopping too close to the crossing. It certainly would be interesting to learn what actually happened in this news event.ALSO: "Passing a stopped school bus" is a very loaded statement. You cannot pass them when they are stopped with their lights flashing and stop arm extended. And you cannot pass anything at a railroad crossing. But you can pass a stopped school bus if its lights are not flashing and stop arm is not extended. And a stopped school bus does obstruct the view.Let me ask this: When school buses stop at a grade crossing, are their drivers supposed to turn on the flashing stop lights and extend the stop arm? Or are they prohibited from doing so? Or is it optional?
The 90-year-old mother of Space Shuttle astronaut Dan Tani was killed today by a freight train when she drove around a lowered railroad gate in Lombard, police said.
Rose Tani, who was driving a Honda Civic, was pronounced dead at Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital in Downers Grove. Authorities said crossing gates and warning signals appeared to be functioning properly at the intersection of Elizabeth Street and Union Pacific Railroad tracks, the site of the incident.
PHOTO GALLERY• Astronaut Dan Tani
Police said Rose Tani, who lived in Lombard, apparently became impatient when she was stopped behind a Glenbard East High School bus. She honked her horn and went around the bus heading northbound when the westbound train struck her car. Students on the school bus returned to the high school where authorities made crisis counselors available, said police Lt. Jim Glennon.
The incident occurred at 2:42 p.m. The train was heading to Clinton, Iowa. It had left Northlake.
My own personal observations are the buses turn on flashing lights when stopping at grade crossings,( whether gates are down or not), but do not extend the stop paddle.
Geez, as if going around the gates wernt bad enough now we got going around a stopped school bus.
On the night of the crash, I was watching the 10:00 news on Channel 5 WMAQ. They had a local reporter on the scene, and the topic that she stressed the most was the speed of train traffic in the area. That was the last of her report that I saw, my wife changed the channel when I started yelling at the TV.........
n012944 wrote: On the night of the crash, I was watching the 10:00 news on Channel 5 WMAQ. They had a local reporter on the scene, and the topic that she stressed the most was the speed of train traffic in the area. That was the last of her report that I saw, my wife changed the channel when I started yelling at the TV.........
Over the years I've met many standup reporters from Chicago TV stations, in various situations. Those who were truly impressive could be counted on one hand.
Please read my post right above yours. I was within a couple of hundred feet of the accident scene within about ten minutes of the time it happened, arriving soon after ambulance and fire equipment. The gate for northbound traffic was fully lowered, and signal lights were flashing. The school bus was an adequate distance back from the lowered gate.
You're right--you can't pass a school bus, and you can't pass anything at a grade crossing. You can't drive around lowered gates, either--but she attempted to. Also, Mrs. Tani was a local resident, and, according to her children, drove only on familiar roads. None of this makes sense--as I said before, one has to wonder what she was thinking as she did all of the things she did.
School buses in Illinois, when they perform the mandatory stop for grade crossings, usually flash yellow flashers, stop, and open the door to listen. Putting on the red lights and extending the stop flag (the "arm" on our school buses extends forward to prevent students from cutting too close in front) would require oncoming traffic to stop--right on the crossing. Forget about that!
As I also mentioned, the media aren't always the brightest bulbs in the string. WMAQ TV gave the wrong grade crossing in their report (in this case the "miss" was nearly a mile!), WBBM Radio reported that it was a Metra train that hit the car (UP stack train--not even a Metra engine to confuse anybody), so if WLS reported gates not lowered, it might have been a little more malicious, but was still par for the course.
Eventually, of course, we'll have the download from the grade crossing itself, and just possibly an on-board camera. But I'm not worried.
CShaveRR wrote: Bucyrus wrote: jeffhergert wrote: The Des Moines Register in their Dec. 20th edition had this: "Rose Tani, 90, apparently went around a school bus at a railroad crossing in Lombard, Ill., where the gates did not come down, and was hit by the train, according to WLS-TV."Well is that what happeded or not? It is certainly not an insignigicant detail. If the signals failed, that changes the whole story from what is usually the case with these grade crossing crashes. I think we need to go back and find out what happened.If the gates were functioning, I sure would like to see some kind of confirmation that WLS-TV reported they were not. Maybe the gate came down on the school bus, and could not fully lower. Maybe the school bus driver is partly at fault for stopping too close to the crossing. It certainly would be interesting to learn what actually happened in this news event.ALSO: "Passing a stopped school bus" is a very loaded statement. You cannot pass them when they are stopped with their lights flashing and stop arm extended. And you cannot pass anything at a railroad crossing. But you can pass a stopped school bus if its lights are not flashing and stop arm is not extended. And a stopped school bus does obstruct the view.Let me ask this: When school buses stop at a grade crossing, are their drivers supposed to turn on the flashing stop lights and extend the stop arm? Or are they prohibited from doing so? Or is it optional?Please read my post right above yours. I was within a couple of hundred feet of the accident scene within about ten minutes of the time it happened, arriving soon after ambulance and fire equipment. The gate for northbound traffic was fully lowered, and signal lights were flashing. The school bus was an adequate distance back from the lowered gate.You're right--you can't pass a school bus, and you can't pass anything at a grade crossing. You can't drive around lowered gates, either--but she attempted to. Also, Mrs. Tani was a local resident, and, according to her children, drove only on familiar roads. None of this makes sense--as I said before, one has to wonder what she was thinking as she did all of the things she did.School buses in Illinois, when they perform the mandatory stop for grade crossings, usually flash yellow flashers, stop, and open the door to listen. Putting on the red lights and extending the stop flag (the "arm" on our school buses extends forward to prevent students from cutting too close in front) would require oncoming traffic to stop--right on the crossing. Forget about that!As I also mentioned, the media aren't always the brightest bulbs in the string. WMAQ TV gave the wrong grade crossing in their report (in this case the "miss" was nearly a mile!), WBBM Radio reported that it was a Metra train that hit the car (UP stack train--not even a Metra engine to confuse anybody), so if WLS reported gates not lowered, it might have been a little more malicious, but was still par for the course.Eventually, of course, we'll have the download from the grade crossing itself, and just possibly an on-board camera. But I'm not worried.
CShaveRR,
Thanks for the information. I agree that most TV reporters often have no idea what they are saying. Their biggest sin is leaving things out such as failing to address the 600-pound gorilla question that is the underpinning of their story. They also bias their reporting according to the dictates of political correctness.
I have seen FOX 9 TV report a car/truck collision and actually try to imply blame on the truck driver because the people in the car fit a media template of victimhood. But the car entered a highway at right angles without yielding to the truck. The truck driver had no way of avoiding the collision. Yet FOX 9 went back and dug up his driving record, which indicated that he had failed to stop for a stop sign in the past. To make their point that the truck driver was bad, FOX reported that he BLEW through a stop sign.
Obvioulsy their embellishment with the word, "BLEW" was intended to reinforce their implication that the truck driver had to be bad because the people in the car were good. Other than their snide insinuation that the truck driver was at fault, they made no objective mention of the actual subject of fault in this serious accident that resulted in the deaths of several people in the car.
I only bring up the questions of the role of the school bus and the gate/signal performance, because the WLS report calls it all into question. Falsely reporting that the gates malfunctioned in a fatal grade crossing accident needs to be addressed. I will call WLS next week, and ask them for an explanation and source of their information.
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