Hello all. I purchased a Walthers side dump gondola this morning for two reasons. One because it's a bit unusual and secondly because it reminded me of a time when I was almost killed by one when I was a kid while playing on some side tracked cars... What happened was a friend and I were climbing around on the cars playing pirate ship or what ever it was we were doing when my friend decided to pull down on the control lever that was sticking out at the end which caused the car to tip up on its side. The extreme angle it went up to caused me to slip and fall out and the large heavy door just missed closing on me by inches after I hit the ground. I won't ever forget that as long as I live... We were told time and time again by the local railroad agent to stay away from those cars because we could be badly hurt or killed but being stubborn kids we wouldn't listen, but after the above incident we began keeping our distance from them more - but not before I got stung up by wasps and we accidentally caused a group of cars to take off rolling down the tracks by themselves after releasing the one and only brake wheel that was holding them up on a hill. I'm telling you, we're lucky to have survived childhood...
Anyone else out there have a story like this ?.
Tracklayer
Seeing what a train can do to a body is not a pleasant sight. I got involved in an attempted Homicide/Suicide December 23 1986 when a distraught woman jumped in front of a subway train with her 13 month old boy. I was working at the time and was returning to our shop after a taking care of a signal problem when the woman jumped in front of the train my helper and I were on. After the power was removed I crawled under the train with the motorman and brought out the baby which had both of his feet severed. I went back under the train and retreived one of the severed feet ( the other foot was still attached by a piece of skin) I let the cops rescue the woman who lost both of her feet too. Funny thing is there was no blood. The wheels sealed the arteries and veins. It was hard driving home with that on my mind.
I worked with a brakeman we all called "Red"..He was killed when we was switching cars.
Red cross the tracks to throw the switch-I was "fieldman" which means I was uncoupling the cars in the cut.Anyway,Red gave a backup signal and then proceed to cross the tracks-I saw the danger and gave a "washout" signal to the engineer but,it was to late Red was ran over and died instantly..I never will understand why he made such a stupid mistake.
All to sadly that wouldn't be the last time I would see bloody ties.
As a brakeman I had several close calls--it was the nature of the job.
Nothing like being in between the cars and hearing slack running in or out.
Larry
Conductor.
Summerset Ry.
"Stay Alert, Don't get hurt Safety First!"
retsignalmtr Seeing what a train can do to a body is not a pleasant sight. I got involved in an attempted Homicide/Suicide December 23 1986 when a distraught woman jumped in front of a subway train with her 13 month old boy. I was working at the time and was returning to our shop after a taking care of a signal problem when the woman jumped in front of the train my helper and I were on. After the power was removed I crawled under the train with the motorman and brought out the baby which had both of his feet severed. I went back under the train and retreived one of the severed feet ( the other foot was still attached by a piece of skin) I let the cops rescue the woman who lost both of her feet too. Funny thing is there was no blood. The wheels sealed the arteries and veins. It was hard driving home with that on my mind.
During the 6 years I worked for Conrail at the Enola shop I had seen the aftermath of many accidents. And too often had to do accident inspections on locomotives. Cars at crossings, suicides, transients, animals...so horrid and unforgettable.
Mark H
Modeling in HO...Reading and Conrail together in an alternate history.
Yep, heard all the standard warnings and typical horrow stories. There was some railroading in the familiy, so I both respected that input and was attracted to the rails. I hung around the tracks when I had the chance, but always kept a safe distance. Pretty much didn't climb onto rolling stock.
The only time I ever had a problem was the first time I ever put a penny on the track. We were living in a motel outside Randoplh AFB in Universal City, TX, just north of the SP main from San Antonio to New Orleans. There was a small embankment between the tracks, lower down, and the motel. At the top, my brothers and I had dug a couple of foxholes (Combat! was like my favorite TV show, even though dad was Air Force ). I laid the penny on the tracks and was well clear and in the foxhole so as to not freak the crew out. The locos come pounding through and -- BLAM! -- something hit me hard enough in the forehead I was seeing colors briefly. I can only assume it was the penny, which managed to travel uphill and hit me between the eyes, like a dang German sniper. If my GI helmet liner hadn't been still packed with our household goods, I probably would've been OK.
Very odd, my luck, mostly bad. One good winning lotto ticket could make up for that... [he muttered under his breath to no one in particular]. So be careful around the tracks kids.
Mike Lehman
Urbana, IL
When I was 8-9 years old, I used to love watching the NH freights when staying @ my Grandmother's in S. Boston ( tracks following A street to the waterfront). my cousin and I usually watched from a few overpasses (Braodway or Silver St), but would sometimes wander down to the tracks for a better "sneak" peak. We knew we were never allowed to ever jump the fence to the ROW. One day, a local kid on a dare decided to jump on a boxcar and loosing his balance swung out to regain a grip, slammed his arm into a bridge abutment almost severing the entire arm. being so young, all we could do is to run and scream apparantly alerting a local store clerk. How must have called for assistance. Never found out about his injuries. Was quite a scarey experience for someone so young, but this really "scared me straight" as to the dangers around a RR.
Modeling B&O- Chessie Bob K. www.ssmrc.org
Once upon a time, before the tracks were elevated, we amused ourselves by putting pennies on the tracks. Dad told us never to touch the third rail, because it was very high voltage electicity and it would kill you. I beleved him, and so I never touched it. But I loved riding home on the trains. Freeport was an elevated station and so the doors did not open until the train stopped. But Merrick and beyond were not elevated, having ground level platforms. The conductors moved through the trains opening the doors and lifting the drop plates to expose the stairways. As soon as the conductor turned his back, I was on the bottom step with only one foot on the step and only one hand on the grab bar as the train swept into the station.
Much nicer than the new cars and high level platforms. So sanitary, you would think that you were on an airplane.
ROAR
The Route of the Broadway Lion The Largest Subway Layout in North Dakota.
Here there be cats. LIONS with CAMERAS
This is a true story, and the worst case scenario. In February of 1927, the BR&P passenger train was approaching the Salamanca station when it picked a switch causing the pacific type locomotive to flip on its side, killing the engineer. The switch was accidentally left unlocked, presumably by the section gang who had earlier cleaned the switches of snow and ice. After they left, a 6 year old boy saw the unlocked switch, and tried to throw it. It was too Heavy for him to lock in either position, so he left it. Shortly thereafter, the passenger train hit it. Kids will be kids, but sometimes no matter how many times you stress it, they still do dumb things. When I was a kid, every railroader for both the B&O and the Erie knew my dad, and I was sure to get a whipping if I was caught around the two railroad yards. I could hang out with him at the B&O station, and maybe get a ride in the switcher from one of the crews, but never on my own.
About the penny on the tracks - my oldest was about 4, and we took him to Musikfest in Bethlehem PA to see Tom Chapin (Harry's brother, who does children's songs), and Conrail has an Operation Lifesaver display we also went in. They showed a cartoon that originated fromt he UP with a fox and a bird, the fox kept doing all sorts of unsafe things around the tracks and the bird kept trying to tell him not to do it. One of the things was putting pennies on the track, and it showed how they can shoot out like bullets. Shortly afterwards, I took him to Strasburg to ride the train. After our ride, we went up tot eh Red Caboose to eat dinner. While waiting to go in, we sat out by the tracks to watch the last Strasburg train go by. There were some older kids with their parents there as well, and they went down to put coins on the track. My son, not shy at that age, yelled out that they shouldn;t do that, and even went to the mother and said it was dangerous. They pretty much ignored him, as expected, so he came back to me and said "Dad, let's go sit somewhere else" and made me move to another spot not near the coins.
Another indicent I witnessed, a guy in a pickup couldn;t make up his mind if he was going ot beat the crossing gates or stop, he ended up with the cab past the gate, the gate down on his bed behind the cab. Being obscured by buildings, I wasn;t sure if the train was westbound, whould could potentially throw the pickup right at us, or eastbound, nor was I sure if the pikcupw as clear or not, so I picked up my son and hightailed it away from the tracks. Luckily for all involved, there was enough space between the gate and the track that the truck was clear, but not if there had been any shifted loads.
And the craziest thing, when I belonged to the L&KV club at the old location, one night a train is going by when suddenly it goes into emergency. Blocking half the crossings in South Bethlehem. We had a scanner in the club so we could hear what was going one, about the time the conductir gets to where our building is, looking for the broken air hose, the engineer radios back that he has pressure coming back up. Conductor keeps walking the train, when he gets to the rear, he finds they are about a car length from the last 3 cars of the train. And the angle cock on the now last car is closed - since the train speed was little more than a brisk walk, some hooligans pulled the pin to seperate the train then knew to close the angle cock - but it still remains a myster as to what they intended to happen, it wasn;t as if these were cars with loads worth stealing, they were all empty flat cars.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
BroadwayLion Once upon a time, before the tracks were elevated, we amused ourselves by putting pennies on the tracks. Dad told us never to touch the third rail, because it was very high voltage electicity and it would kill you. I beleved him, and so I never touched it. But I loved riding home on the trains. Freeport was an elevated station and so the doors did not open until the train stopped. But Merrick and beyond were not elevated, having ground level platforms. The conductors moved through the trains opening the doors and lifting the drop plates to expose the stairways. As soon as the conductor turned his back, I was on the bottom step with only one foot on the step and only one hand on the grab bar as the train swept into the station. Much nicer than the new cars and high level platforms. So sanitary, you would think that you were on an airplane. ROAR
Those cars you're referring to must have been the MP54s. I grew up on Long Island as well but in the area of the M1 and M3 cars. Every so often we'd hear about some kid taking a shortcut across the tracks and getting zapped on the third rail.
Modeling the Pennsylvania Railroad in N Scale.
www.prr-nscale.blogspot.com
GP-9_Man11786Those cars you're referring to must have been the MP54s. I grew up on Long Island as well but in the area of the M1 and M3 cars. Every so often we'd hear about some kid taking a shortcut across the tracks and getting zapped on the third rail.
LION.... circa 1960
A former coworker of mine her father was an engineer on the C&NW in the Up of Michigan. She was telling me at work her dad came home from work one day, told his wife he was done. Seems like another car played beat the train and won but he lost sight of it as he hit the crossing. Seems like he couln't handle it anymore.
In the mid 40's my parents lived in Detroit and were stopped at a crossing when some idiot decided to beat the train. His car stalled on the tracks and all he had time to do was put his hea in his hands before the train hit him.
Never have understood why people try to beat the train.
At the museum I volunteer at, some guys were telling a story of a guy working at the Southern Railway's Hayne Shops her in Spartanburg. Evidently this guy was working underneath a boxcar while it was up on jacks. Unknown to his coworkers, said boxcar had a hole in the floor. At any rate the jacks failed and the car fell on the worker, who happened to be right where the hole floor was. Hisdcoworkers thought he was a goner until the car door opened and he emerged. Not sure if I believe this one or not.
We also posted a fair amount about trains striking cars and trucks, but how about a truck striking a train? When my wife and I rode the Durango and Silverton summer, we took the shop tour and they told us this story. Evidently, a truck lost its brakes coming down the mountain on US 550 into Durango. The truck ran through an intersection, off the end of the road, crashed through the fence ans truck K28 #473 right in the cab, knocking it off the tracks. Had that loco not been parked there, the truck would have hit a loaded train. Had the truck struck the boiler, a massive explosion could have resulted.
As long as we are relaying stories I have another one. In August of 1968 I was hired by the NYCTA as an electrical helper and assigned to the Signal Dept. After about six months I found myself working with an old Black Signal Maintainer. When I started working with him he told me directly that he didn't like White people. Every weekday we had to go to the Tower at Hudson Terminal (now known as World Trade Center) to be there for the rush hour incase of Switch trouble as they were the only Switches being used in the area. The Signal Maintainer sat in the Dispatchers office and I was in the tower with the Towerman. A train had just left the station when all of a sudden the Maintainer came into the tower and told me to get my lamp and head back to Canal st with him. When I asked why he said we had to get out of there. The towerman asked me what was up and I could only shrugg my shoulders When I left the tower the Motorman of an approaching train tooted his whistle when he saw me. The train was crossing over to the track that the previous train had just departed from so I was OK. The Maintainer gave the M/M a proceed signal with his lamp. As the train was entering the station the brakes went into emergency. The Maintainer kept walking north away from the train even though it was his responsibility to find out why the train stopped. When I asked him why we weren't stopping to investigate he said it didn't concern us. When we arrived back at canal st the phone was ringing and it was our Foreman and he told me there was someone at Hudson Terminal that had been run over by a train and we should stay in our quarters until the situation was cleared up. It turned out that a passenger had been dragged down the platform with his leg caught in a door and his body fell onto the track when he smacked into the wall right outside the dispatchers office. The train made so much noise that the impact wasn't heard. The maintainer saw it and didn't want to get involved so he ran out without telling anybody. The towerman could have held the train away from the station had he allerted him or the dispatcher. When I berated the maintainer for his actions he complained to our supervisor that I was harrasing HIM and I had to go see him. Since there was no real proof that he saw the incident nothing happened to him although he was banned from the tower for a couple of weeks. About a month later I was drafted into the Army and never saw him again. About a year later he was forced to retire when he reached 70.
I told my Father about it at dinner that night and he told me in no uncertain terms to never ever turn my back to him and I never did.
This happened about 20 years ago in a small town --- maybe Dillon, SC or Pembroke, NC. I'm not sure. The dining car crew had finished their work on the southbound Auto train about 11PM & had just returned to the crew car for the night. The train suddenly went into emergency and came to rest with the crew car positioned at the same point where the engines had been when the brakes went on, about 1500 feet back from the engines. The crew car was positioned between the passenger cars and the auto carriers. We (the crew) heard that the train had clipped a guy on a bicycle! He was sitting beside the tracks with his head in his hands and his bicycle looking like a ball of spaghetti. The onboard service Chief and a few attendants got out on the ground with the conductor to look the guy over & make sure he was all right until the police and paramedics arrived. As far as I know, he was unhurt but wondering what was in that last drink (he had just exited a bar near the tracks). We got underway after the operating crew did their inspection & never heard another thing about it. It takes quite a while to inspect a 48 car Auto Train, but fortunately the delay was only about 30 - 60 minutes, as I recall.