Car v train in Lombard IL

[Anonymous]

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 

[Tharmeni]

 

So will they try to get Dan down?  I know Atlantis is not slated to go up until January.  

[CShaveRR]

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.

[CShaveRR]

Yes, you have the right line.  A westbound stack train apparently hit a car at the Elizabeth Street crossing (Channel 5 has given the wrong crossing--).  It must have happened a little before 3:00 p.m.; I was unable to use the crossing to get home from work.  When I got there, a fire engine and an ambulance were on the scene; as I write this, I'm still hearing the news-choppers overhead, even though it's dark (they hadn't gotten there yet when I was coming home from work).  Elizabeth Street is the nearest crossing to our house, 0.62 miles away.

[al-in-chgo]

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. 

 

[Steam Is King]

Carl -

Isn't that you home base?That would be the UP Metra line, yes?

Chico