A Pregnant Texas Teen Was Killed By A Train While Taking Maternity Photos

[rdamon]

After an unsuccessful attempt to find the thread where this was discussed, looks like we have another “This is a great place to take a photo” victim

 

http://www.theeagle.com/news/local/navasota-train-death-woman-was-excellent-athlete-who-wanted-to/article_39b771eb-f7df-5e83-bff8-d04167c692ad.html

 

 

Thompson was killed Friday in Navasota while posing for photos on a set of train tracks. Witnesses told investigators she was standing where two train tracks meet. Police said one set of tracks belonged to BNSF and the other to Union Pacific. Thomson was standing between the tracks and watching for an oncoming train from BNSF with her back turned toward an oncoming Union Pacific train. Witnesses said she tried to cross the Union Pacific tracks to avoid the BNSF train and was hit by the Union Pacific train.

 

 

 

 This article was referenced in the comments ..

http://www.godvine.com/read/train-track-selfie-tragedy-1516.html

 

[erikem]

I remember a few threads on the stupidity of using an active railroad track for photos (and movies (sigh)). Sad to see this still going on.

[samfp1943]

[quote user="rdamon"]

After an unsuccessful attempt to find the thread where this was discussed, looks like we have another “This is a great place to take a photo” victim

 

http://www.theeagle.com/news/local/navasota-train-death-woman-was-excellent-athlete-who-wanted-to/article_39b771eb-f7df-5e83-bff8-d04167c692ad.html

 

 

Thompson was killed Friday in Navasota while posing for photos on a set of train tracks. Witnesses told investigators she was standing where two train tracks meet. Police said one set of tracks belonged to BNSF and the other to Union Pacific. Thomson was standing between the tracks and watching for an oncoming train from BNSF with her back turned toward an oncoming Union Pacific train. Witnesses said she tried to cross the Union Pacific tracks to avoid the BNSF train and was hit by the Union Pacific train.

 

 

 { Note: Ms. Thompson was on the tracks posing for a 'photo shoot' she had hoped to use to start a modeling career... samfp1943}

 

This article was referenced in the comments ..

http://www.godvine.com/read/train-track-selfie-tragedy-1516.html

 

 

[/quote] Note: The following is cut from the last link in rdamon's post:

FTL:"...A train traveling at 55 mph can take more than a mile to come to a complete stop once the emergency brakes are applied. The train headed for Savanah, Kelsea and Essa was going roughly 39 mph. By the time they'd spotted the girls taking their train track selfie, there simply wasn't enough time to stop the train. 

"We watched in horror as we got closer," said John. 

Michael blasted the horn. Instinctively, John and Michael yelled at the girls to get out of the way, even though they knew there was no way for them to hear. But try as they might, they couldn't get the girls' attention. 

"They were in their own little world," recalled John. "We saw them for about 12 seconds until they disappeared from our sight and the train continued moving forward." 

The train finally came to a stop about a quarter of a mile down the track. John hopped off and raced to where he'd last seen the girls..."

 What is sometimes lost in the context, and telling of thse kinds of events are tHE SCARS THAT ARE LEFT IN THE MINDS OF THE RAILROADER'S WHO WITNESS THESE SAD EVENTS. 

 They relive them for years, recalled by virtually any random thought that can cause them to 'flash by'. They were not at fault and are just as innocent of the chain of events that they have participated in; the scenes are seared in their minds. I can vouch for the above, as I too, have my memories of a couple of similar events from 20+ years OTR.