joy ride costs college kid his life

[Anonymous]

Wednesday morning 4 University of South Carolina fraternity brothers thought it would be fun to take a ride on a CSX freight train that was temporarily stopped on a track that runs behind their frat house. Thinking the train would slow down when it approached the Amtrak Station a mile, more or less, from their location, they planned to hop off at that point. To their shock, the train continued to accelerate up to about 50 mph. It finally slowed enough for them to jump off when it reached Clinton, South Carolina, 65 miles from where they had hopped on. To their horror, they discovered one of their members was missing. His body was found near Newberry, about midway between Columbia and Clinton. Another young life lost to an act of sheer stupidity.

[selector]

I wouldn't attribute to stupidity the loss of a life of a college student.  A lack of understanding, ignorance, desperation, accident....maybe, but not stupidity.

[Ishmael]

I wouldn't attribute to stupidity the loss of a life of a college student.  A lack of understanding, ignorance, desperation, accident....maybe, but not stupidity.

I agree with this. When I was about 12-13 years old, I lived near the A-B brewery. They have their own switching line, the Manufacturers Ry. My buddies and I noted that they never had any crew in their small cabooses, and so would often climb aboard to see if we could get a ride.

One day the cars started, and one of us lost his cool and was about to jump off. The rest of us sat on him, and kept him on until the train stopped. We had to walk several miles home, but we were all OK. Our buddy wasn't stupid, he was just scared and lacked judgment.

That was about 60 years ago, and I had lunch with him this week.

 

[Joe the Photog]

With all due respect, this kid was just plain dumb, all four of them actually. He wasn't scared when he jumped on the train. Lacking judgement? Yeah, I'd say so, perhaps helped by an over indulgence of spirits. Here's how I know these kids were stupid. When the three survivors got to Clinton and realized their friend was gone, who did they call? 911? No, they called their fratenirty brothers and started riding along the line as best they could. An egineer on a following train a few hours later called 911 when he saw a body lying on the tracks. How stupid do you have to be not to call 911 as soon as you realize your friend, who was hanging onto a fast moving train, is no longer hanging on and must have dropped off when it was doing 50 mph? Joe H. Columbia, SC

[Anonymous]

I apologize for my use of the word "stupid". Still, a life of promise wasted, what a shame. When I was a conductor the only incidents I had near the university involved kids pulling a cut lever while we were involved with a crew swap. I guess they understood the air would shoot when we attempted to proceed, causing crossings to be blocked long enough to invoke the wrath of the local police.  

[Anonymous]

Hello joe the photog, good to see you on the forum. I look forward to viewing the results of your efforts on railpictures. 

[Joe the Photog]

It sounds mike you've been in the area for a little while. If so, you know how that area near the Greek Village has changed over the last few decades. I personally can hardly remember when it was an industrial area and I don't remember the Lincoln Street Viaduct at all, living in Lancaster back then. These guys are solely to blame for their actions, but you have to wonder why in the world the college thought this was a good place to put all of the fraternity and sorority houses. As for my stuff on RP, keep looking. I added some today and I have some more I'm working on now.   Joe H.

[Anonymous]

I was furloughed from NS in 2002 and that area has changed drastically since then. Years ago, the university had a great opportunity to purchase a huge tract of land out of the city on hwy. 215 near the location of the International University but ,for whatever reason, they declined and we have the cluster---- that exists today. Whoever decided to put frat houses there is probably having nightmares about that decision. 

[rixflix]

It was booze, drugs or plain fun that accompany a higher education; part of the testesterone driven life that they're free to try when mommy and daddy have paid the bills and ain't there.

Been there and done that (except getting croaked) around 1966. It was fun and is still fun to relate to family and friends but I'm alive!

Kids just get foolish sometimes. The herd gets thinner and we are all heading to dust.

Yes, I go to Confession aka Reconciliation and love the latter. Try it if you haven't,  because it's like having a second father or mother, or a calm friend to unload with.

Too bad the kid is DEAD but that's what he was supposed to be.

RIX

[CSXDixieLine]

Wow this story really hits home: I went to Newberry College, graduated from the University of South Carolina, and my best friend at work graduated from Presbyterian College in Clinton, SC. He played football and was a fraternity boy and since he knows I am a railfan, he tells me of a time when he and his frat buddies got drunk and went down to the tracks to hop a freight, only to be thwarted when a train did not show up after about 2-3 hours of waiting. He has asked me where he would have ended up if he would have been successful--I always tell him jail or the morgue.

[R. T. POTEET]

Let us observe one minute of silence in respect to this individual's passing and grant him a Charles Darwin Award for his selfless contribution to the quality of the gene pool by removing himself from it!

[eolafan]

While I respect the opinions of all of my fellow forum posters and their individual right to those opinions...I PERSONALLY WOULD CALL THAT KID STUPID. Just goes to show that ones level of formal education provides no guarantee of intelligence...none at all as this case proves. Let's hope this ends up being a lesson to anyone who would be so moronic.

[Anonymous]

While I respect the opinions of all of my fellow forum posters and their individual right to those opinions...I PERSONALLY WOULD CALL THAT KID STUPID. Just goes to show that ones level of formal education provides no guarantee of intelligence...none at all as this case proves. Let's hope this ends up being a lesson to anyone who would be so moronic.

well said, as sad as it is that he died he played with fire. we all know what happens when you play with fire.

[arkansasrailfan]

Another case of stupidity I saw was this family came down to Union Depot.(man, woman, daughter) well, we all didn't pay attention to them until the mother and daughter go out in the track and the woman lays down and appears to be taking pictures. For a few more times a couple of them go out in the track, waiting for a train hiding around the corner. So then the father and daughter come and talk to one of us(I had retreated to the main group) , and boy they get a safety lesson! But they said they came to watch trains and knew they had trespassed and it was dangerous. Well, then they left. So 5 minutes later, what appears? Our mystery train(headed by SD70s pulling an auto train), so shows that they were being dumb and they were bad luck.

[rixflix]

""Educated Monkey". Remember the tune?...Oscar Peterson? The monkey, the lion, et al. Tried to google but couldn't connect the terms. I'll inquire at my local Jazz station. www.wpfw.org tomorrow. You can love or hate their Pacifica politics but the music is teriffic, fierce and/or pacifying.

The dead kid isn't enjoying any of this, or the trains we love in our world, but will have a better trip in the next. There is or there isn't an after life but we have to "catch on" as the hobos say.

Stupid  

[caldreamer]

They deserve to be nominated for a Darwin Award for sheer stupidity.  They get no sympathy from me.

[dknelson]

"Stupid" is harsh but accurate.  A vivid reminder that recent research indicates that the brains of young people are in fact lacking into their 20s in areas of judgment and being to think through consequences.

Dave Nelson

[solzrules]

I wouldn't attribute to stupidity the loss of a life of a college student.  A lack of understanding, ignorance, desperation, accident....maybe, but not stupidity.

Umm....No.  He had it right the first time. 

Most college kids know better than to climb on the rear bumper of a car with the intent of 'hopping' off when it slows down, so why would a 10,000 ton train be any different?  I'm thinking that alcohol probably was involved, but I don't know.  It is unfortunate that the kid died, but that's what happens when you do something royally stupid. 

[rixflix]

I dunno, but my kid went car-surfing  outside of his high school (very pricey and a beans and sardines time for me) and broke his skull. Just to impress!  I held his hand when they put the tube up his "guy thing".  Couldn't watch and hugged him for dear life.

I mean he was and is an intelligent and living kid today, but I couldn't have stopped his foolish "moment".

rick aka the kicker dawg

[Anonymous]

The thing that surprises me the most about this incident is the reaction of the kid's buddies after they finally got off the train and realized he was missing. Read Joe the Photog's post. I hope these guys represent only an extremely small sample of what attends our institutions of "higher learning".

[pm_1225]

I guess they thought it was an adventure to hop a freight it might have been in the last century when things were different. Its the 21st century now times have changed but foolish acts take place all the time. It cost a life I hope this guys "buddies" reflect on what happened and what one foolish act can do. Most of all they learn from this. But by their actions reported so far in not ringing 911 imediately maybe they wont. 

[Mr_Ash]

Do you guys honestly have no clue why these guys didnt call 911? Nobody in there right mind EVER calls the cops on themself... It says that they didnt even notice he was missing till the end so for all they knew he was still on the train or just hopped off at some point, how are they saposed to magicly know if he was injured/killed? Heck one of his friends could have even pushed him... Nooo lets jump to conclusions say they were all on drugs, drunk and or stupid

 "hello police? Me and some friends hopped a freight train can you come arrest us please"

Dont get me wrong people shouldnt be hopping freights but you guys dont need to flame and bash every person that gets injured/killed by a train, your acting as if hopping a freight is one of the 7 deadly sins when infact its been going on for a couple hundred years and will likely continue far into the future...