2 Pedestrian Strikes 9/14/15 (PA & MD)

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Don't know if this was a suicide but wonder if these signs help keep some off the tracks. I took this pic from a SEPTA train on the NEC.

ImageUploadedByAmtrak Forum1442241377.812084.jpg
 
Don't know if this was a suicide but wonder if these signs help keep some off the tracks. I took this pic from a SEPTA train on the NEC.

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ImageUploadedByAmtrak Forum1442241377.812084.jpg
Although I don't have any empirical evidence I would be shocked if those signs play much if any role in keeping people from committing suicide. For reasons that continue to elude me we expect drunk people to end the night with fifty dollars for a cab and we expect suicidal people to carry phones to the scene of their death. Really? Either install a phone with 24/7 access or take the sign down. Alternatively we could educate our citizens on less disruptive means of committing suicide. We have over three hundred million people in this country. You can't expect all of them to have a reason to live. We'd be darn lucky if even a quarter of them have a reason for existing that extended beyond mindlessly spawning offspring. Half measures only serve to give half interested people a false sense of success.
 
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Train involved is Acela 2103. Looks like2110 and 2117 may be cancelled today due to this event. The middle tracks were closed and for a period track 4 was also shut down for coroner's investigation. The incident was at Moore PA according to reports.
 
Train involved is Acela 2103. Looks like2110 and 2117 may be cancelled today due to this event. The middle tracks were closed and for a period track 4 was also shut down for coroner's investigation. The incident was at Moore PA according to reports.
It happened in Prospect Park, PA between Philadelphia and Chester.
 
Train involved is Acela 2103. Looks like2110 and 2117 may be cancelled today due to this event. The middle tracks were closed and for a period track 4 was also shut down for coroner's investigation. The incident was at Moore PA according to reports.
It happened in Prospect Park, PA between Philadelphia and Chester.
There is a reason that the name of that station is identified as Prospect Park - Moore PA in old timetables ;) but it is not important to argue about it. Yup it is in Prospect Park. Specifically the incident was at MP 9.5
 
In the Amtrak ETT it is listed as "MOORE".
Ah! I didn't realize that. But I knew that in older timetables that I have seen, it is listed as Prospect Park - Moore. AFAIR there is not any CP there anymore, but maybe there was an interlocking or a siding thereabouts named Moore at some point?

Surprisingly, just noticed that the modern day Google Map lists the station as Prospect Park - Moore too!
 
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The sort-of long story about Prospect Park/Moore Station:

In 1873 the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad wanted to built a new line between Philadelphia and Baltimore. The proposed right-of-way crossed a farm owned by James Moore in what is now Prospect Park, PA. Mr. Moore was willing to grant an easement to the PW&B with the condition that a station the railroad proposed for his property be named "Moore Station." The railroad agreed, the railroad and Moore Station was built, and property values soared. Now a hot property (thanks to that station), the descendants of James Moore engaged in residential development on the farm property. The area developed became generally known as Moore, PA. A post office was opened in 1882, identified as Moore PA, with the first postmaster being (wait for it), George Moore, son of James Moore.

The entire area called Moore was actually within the municipal boundary of Prospect Park, PA. In 1923, the name of the post office was changed to Prospect Park after the borough council petitioned the Postal Service. Moore PA disappeared as a place name, except...

The original 1873 easement grant from James Moore to the PW&B stipulated that the name Moore must forever be the station. Thus, we have SEPTA's Prospect Park/Moore station.
 
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Amazing! It did seem like there must be a cool story hiding behind it somewhere. :)

So was the station built by the Moores or by the railroad?

I learned recently that the Short Hills station in Millburn Township NJ was actually funded and constructed by Stewart Hartshorn who owned the land in the area that he developed as a planned community for nature lovers, and named Short Hills, where I lived before I moved to Florida. The name Short Hills is just a adoption of the local Lenape Indian name of the area. Stewart's daughter Cora took voer from him upon his death, and is today memorialized in the Arboretum named after her which is easily reached from the train station on foot along Chatham Road. There are all these neat little stories hidden behind various old stations.
 
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This is getting out of hand. One Thur., one Fri., and now one today...
Two today. Capitol Limited is stopped at Boyds MD
Yep. Washington Post early report: Person fatally struck by Amtrak train in Montgomery County,

Before someone posts an insensitive comment, excerpt:

An Amtrak train fatally struck a teenage pedestrian on the tracks near the Boyds MARC station Monday afternoon.

Montgomery County police said a male teenager was killed. Police spokesman Rick Goodale said detectives do not know the age of the teenager or why he was on the tracks.
The Post article has a link to a report on the Friday fatality north of Baltimore on the NEC.
 
My understanding is that the teen who died in Boyds was 16. It is reported that he was with two other teens and that "Several other people who weren't on the train were evaluated on the scene and taken to a nearby hospital. They are expected to be OK, police say."

It has been quite a week in terms of fatalities on or near the tracks in these parts.
 
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Amazing! It did seem like there must be a cool story hiding behind it somewhere. :)

So was the station built by the Moores or by the railroad?

I learned recently that the Short Hills station in Millburn Township NJ was actually mostly funded by the Hartshorn family who owned the land in the area that came to be know as Short hills, where I lived before I moved to Florida. There are all these neat little stories hidden behind various old stations.
I also love stories like that. Sometimes it seems like wheeling/dealing is a modern day behavior. Not so.

I believe the station was built by the railroad - likely part of the deal. That station was torn down and replaced by today's station in 1911.

Back when I was a contributing member of society (i.e., not retired), I often had to deal with old property maps. Some of the property maps for the Amtrak NEC in that area are still labeled "PW&B RR."

The source, including everything you ever wanted to know about Prospect Park, and a whole lot more, is HERE.
 
In the Amtrak ETT it is listed as "MOORE".
Ah! I didn't realize that. But I knew that in older timetables that I have seen, it is listed as Prospect Park - Moore. AFAIR there is not any CP there anymore, but maybe there was an interlocking or a siding thereabouts named Moore at some point?

Surprisingly, just noticed that the modern day Google Map lists the station as Prospect Park - Moore too!
Jishnu, the nearest interlocking is BALDWIN and that's at 11.7. It's also an incomplete interlocking. Meaning a train can go 1-4 going North but not 4-1. If that makes any sense. The next closest interlocking is HOOK.
 
Back when I was a contributing member of society (i.e., not retired), I often had to deal with old property maps. Some of the property maps for the Amtrak NEC in that area are still labeled "PW&B RR."

The source, including everything you ever wanted to know about Prospect Park, and a whole lot more, is HERE.
This is just one reason I love Amtrak Unlimited. I learned something new and cool today, about something I didn't even know existed!
 
There is a lengthy front page article in today's Washington Post on the 16 year old teenager who was hit by the CL in Boyds MD. Sad story with a photo that was taken of him and his girlfriend minutes before he was hit on the tracks. An adventurous life cut short on the railroad tracks.

The 3 recent trespasser fatalities were likely people trying to cut across the tracks. But there has been a trend in recent years to pose for photos on railroad tracks which is likely contributing to the number of trespassers fatalities. .
 
In the Amtrak ETT it is listed as "MOORE".
Ah! I didn't realize that. But I knew that in older timetables that I have seen, it is listed as Prospect Park - Moore. AFAIR there is not any CP there anymore, but maybe there was an interlocking or a siding thereabouts named Moore at some point?

Surprisingly, just noticed that the modern day Google Map lists the station as Prospect Park - Moore too!
Jishnu, the nearest interlocking is BALDWIN and that's at 11.7. It's also an incomplete interlocking. Meaning a train can go 1-4 going North but not 4-1. If that makes any sense. The next closest interlocking is HOOK.
Did you know that Baldwin interlocking gets its name from the Baldwin Locomotive Works which was located at Eddystone? Numerous giant steam locomotives were delivered over that interlocking within the US, and others were delivered to the docks for delivery abroad, presumably by road for locomotives of different gauge, on of the examples was the following....

I came to know of this while researching the development of the Indian Railways Broad Gauge (5'6") WP Class Pacific locomotives, which was the result of a joint project between the IR Design Office and BLW. Baldwin produced the first set of prototypes, which came to be known as the WP/P Class in India. It went on to produce many more together with MLW, a Czechoslovakian and a Polish company and then finally Chittaranjan Locomotive Works in India. a total of over 750 were built and deployed.
 
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