For the past couple of years, an annual festival in Danville, PA, based upon the community's historic involvement in the development of iron rails, has been aided in part by excursions from the North Shore Railroad's home base in Northumberland.
That well-intended gesture probably came to a bad, and permanent end yesterday, when a transient, who appears to have recently been discharged from a mental health facility, decided to end his troubles by placing his neck directly in the path of the wheels of the approaching train. I can only imagine the horror among the more sheltered potion of the general public who brought along their offspring with visions of Thomas the Tank Engine, etc.
Unfortunately for all of us, but especially those who carry the recognition of the ever-growing gap between an industry now operating on one-fifth of its 1945 work force, and a news media geared more and more to both sensationalism, and the unrealistic expectations of a public occasionally naive and simply not understanding of the workings of a very heavy, and thereby, more dangerous technology, the lesson was brought home yesterday.
http://wnep.com/2014/07/19/death-on-tracks-halts-excursions-at-iron-heritage-festival/
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