Train runs over two women trespassing on high bridge and survive.

[vsmith]

nAkKcZh6Q 4

http://abcnews.go.com/US/women-survive-run-freight-train/story?id=24758554

You can't fix stupid.

Amazingly they survived unharmed by laying flat between the rails, and they then fled the seen after the train stopped. Police have since located the two women and trespassing charges are likely pending.

No word on how many bottles of Tide were necessary to clean their shorts afterwords.

[Ulrich]

Amazing!  And they had the presence of mind to lay down between the rails... I wonder what percentage of the population would be quick witted enough to do that. 

[edblysard]

You can hear the engineer plug the train just as it starts onto the trestle….and bet your bottom dollar these two will now sue the carrier for emotional harm…there should have been a covered walkway or something for them to use while they trespassed.

[Ulrich]

The lawyers are already lining up..

Hopefully these ladies get a stint in jail to reflect on what they did (and on how lucky they are to be alive).

[Deggesty]

"Train runs over two women trespassing on high bridge and survive" I'm glad the train survived.

[Randy Stahl]

Maybe the crew should get a lawyer and sue for emotional distress ?

[Deggesty]

How many of us have read the comments to the news story? One was made out of pure ignorance: "Most engineers end up killing one person a year on the tracks, and many develop PTSD as a result. "

[BaltACD]

Deggesty

How many of us have read the comments to the news story? One was made out of pure ignorance: "Most engineers end up killing one person a year on the tracks, and many develop PTSD as a result. "

A person a year per engineer is a gross overestimation, however, for those operating over the road, the question is when, not if.

[tree68]

BaltACD

A person a year per engineer is a gross overestimation, however, for those operating over the road, the question is when, not if.

We have the same problem on our line.  I haven't had to dump a train yet, but the horn has gotten a good workout more than a few times.

We have one short bridge that is blind in both directions, and has been known to be occupied by "pedestrians" on more than one occasion.  

[Ulrich]

Suing the women might work if they have  assets that can be ceased. No point in suing people who don't have anything of value.

[selector]

Those two's greatest assets are being washed out of their undergarments as we speak.  I don't know why the railroad would bother with them.  I'm sure they have profited from the experience as much as they ever will (the trespassers, that is), and prosecution will just be a drag on the bottom line.

Still, I suppose there is the principle of it all.....

-Crandell

[ndbprr]

Good thing they weren't too fat!

[Norm48327]

selector

Those two's greatest assets are being washed out of their undergarments as we speak. -Crandell

Good one, Crandell.

[Kyle]

To bad they didn't get a good smack in the head by the plow. Not enough to kill them but to knock some sense in them!!! I feel bad for the engineer, he probably will have emotional distress about this. Thankfully thy weren't killed which would have been a lot worse for the crew.

Hopefully the RR will push for the maximum amount of jail time and then sue these two till they have nothing. They already have the attention of the media, might has make an example of the two to discourage others from trespassing. This would also be a great time for a spokesman for the railroad to talk to the media about safety around trains to educate the public. Maybe a great time for operation lifesaver to be promoted. Maybe RRs and media will work together to educate the public, and decrease trespassing an deaths.

[eolafan]

Either moronic hillbillies or illegals !!!!

[Semper Vaporo]

I am confused about how the women eventually got off the bridge.

Did they crawl the length of the engines to the front to get out or did they go sideways to the edge and walk off that way... If there is room to get out from under at the side and walk along side, why didn't they just stand at the side instead of lying down in the gauge?  Certainly does not appear to be any room at either side and I don't think there would be something to hang onto on the side of the engines.  Did they get up on the engine from one end and use the walkway along the sides?  Was the train so short that they walked back across the bridge behind the engines/train?

 

[BaltACD]

I am guessing that the train cleared their position on the bridge before it came to a stop.  Then they would have to make a decision of where to get off th bridge.

[samfp1943]

ndbprr

Good thing they weren't too fat!

They might qualify for places in a "Nutri-Systemz' Commercial ?

The Space between the top of the ties and the  bottom parts of the diesel is ( I think) pretty close to 10 inches...   They had to be fairly svelt, to fit in that space; or they would not have been able to turn another cheek-ever.

[Deggesty]

BaltACD

I am guessing that the train cleared their position on the bridge before it came to a stop.  Then they would have to make a decision of where to get off th bridge.

I don't doubt that the train had cleared the bridge before it stopped. Incidentally, I doubt that anything would be accomplished by telling newspeople that a trains do not have an "emergency brake," which was reported to have been used in this incident I am sure that they were rather embarrassed, and did not want to risk having to talk with anyone connected with the railroad--so they may have gone to the end away from the train and vanished into the landscape for a while. If they had needed to get to the other end, I wonder how long it was before they dared to try again.

[tomikawaTT]

samfp1943

ndbprr

Good thing they weren't too fat!

They might qualify for places in a "Nutri-Systemz' Commercial ?

The Space between the top of the ties and the  bottom parts of the diesel is ( I think) pretty close to 10 inches...   They had to be fairly svelt, to fit in that space; or they would not have been able to turn another cheek-ever.

NBsnooze described the clearance as eleven inches - not much less than the height of barbed wire on a combat obstacle course.  They also stated that the women would be prosecuted for criminal trespass.  I interpret that to mean that the county will prosecute, and probably pay their public defender as well.

Chuck

[gardendance]

eolafan

Either moronic hillbillies or illegals !!!!

I'm not sure why their residency status has any bearing. Why would someone presumably crafty enough to have entered the US illegally suddenly lose their craftiness and think that a crossing a railroad bridge in southern Indiana would enhance their greencard quest?

[cacole]

If they insist on a jury trial, it will wind up being the railroad's fault for having the nerve to actually run a train on the track, and a sympathetic jury will award them millions of dollars.

[nyc#25]

Trains do, indeed, have an emergency brake position on the automatic

train brake controller.

[henry6]

They crawled out from under the train after it stopped and took off. When we start talking railroading and trains, we've got to adapt to the nomenclature and forget our other world. Emergency brake on a highway vehicle is the hand brake rather than the foot pedal and is used to hold a truck or car in place but also can be used if foot brake fails to respond. On trains, it is completely different. An emergency brake is an action, a verb, not a noun. A train's emergency brake is when the engineer sets the brake handle in emergency to release all the air to set the brakes. It also happens when a train becomes uncoupled releasing all the air. The train is said to go into emergency. There are wheels or handles on each car and locomotive, too, which when turned, will physically cause brake shoes to clamp tight to the wheels. Where air applied brakes can be released by pumping the air line, mechanical applications have to be reversed at each location where they are "tied" down. For complete rules, regulations, and workings of train brakes read operating rules and books published by each railroad and the AAR CODE.

[The Butler]

Here is a statement released by the

Indiana Rail Road (PDF file, 55.03 KB):

Shuffle Creek Trestle

[Deggesty]

Thanks for the statement--which was well written.

[Ulrich]

Maybe these women will be smart enough to cash in on their fame/notoriety. A spot on Dr. Phil... a Playboy centerfold. This could be their ticket... (after they get out of jail).  

[gardendance]

How about some comments from trains.com's countless female contributors?

[Murphy Siding]

gardendance

How about some comments from trains.com's countless female contributors?

    Well..... I'm not a woman, and I don't play one on TV, and I didn't stay at a Holiday Inn last night, but I'm not sure how a woman's comments would vary from a man's.  Is it because the trespassers were women?

[henry6]

Trespassing is trespassing. Illegal is illegal. Stupid is stupid. Gender us gender but neither gender has ownership of the first three. However, I would like to hear this pair's statements at to what they were doing on he bridge, at that hour of the morning, and what was going through their minds as this whole scene unfolded. Not because they are women but because it may tell a story from which others could learn...