q2bman wrote:Ya, well, the island may not be 25'. Its more like 15' or so, i don't know exactly. The distance a train may stop away from the rails is dependant on the state the train is in. We make ou trains stop 250' away when cutting crossings so that vehicle traffic may see any adjacent main lines or siding that may have trains approaching the crossing. The train you spoke of could not back up just a foot. Releasing the air (brakes) would be neccessary to move the train even a foot. To get the brakes aired back up takes time and the train will roll. Its a tricky manouver to stop those trains at the right point. Several factors can cause the engineer to overshoot his stopping point. he may have been able to shove some of the slack in with the brakes applied but i doubt it. Even if he could he maynot have wanted to. Trains stop with the cars stretched to ensure no vandals pull the pins on the cars. Which by the way is very dangerouse and illegal (just in case some vandals are watching). q2b or not 2b i like it!
Hey, I think I've learned how to quote!
Thanks for the education.
That rule means losing 1000 feet of storage space.
I can understand that at crossings with no signals.
Unneeded at crossings with signals.
Didn't know they kept tension to keep idiots from pulling coupler pins. Also did not know about brake air repressurization time.
The SB engineer did a great job stopping - only missed by 11 inches!
Still, it was inconsiderate and bad PR for them to have kept the gates down. Pedestrians walked around the gates. They could see no NB trains approaching, but few even looked to see if another train SB on the next track was coming to the crossing. (Of course, it would have blown the horn
for the crossing.)
When the crewmember came out, I thought he was going to scold me for
raising the gate. But he.ld the other one up. I kept looking both directions for any other trains. One did come, so we let the gates back down --probably too early.
Just had pedestrains, 26 y/o mother and her 2 y/o daughter, killed by Amtrak at 78 mph. Mother apparently was trying to get across before
the train. Short fast Amtrak would only close crossing for 50 seconds.
Train was held for many hours (5?) of investigation. Why? To bring in new engineer?
A 10 y/o girl was killed at the same crossing in 2005.
Father claims they should have had a pedestrian gate in addition to the
existing lights, bells and gates.
Of course, my heart goes out to him, but what more is needed? A letter inviting people NOT to cross?
He is suing everyone; town, railroad, train conductor, engineer.
They will settle because that costs less than going to court and winning.
STUPIDITY PAYS!
(Hey! Where's MY check?)