#22 Texas Eagle just hit a truck outside of Fort Worth

Shop deals on ebay
Advertise with us
shop deals on amazon
Amtrak Unlimited Discussion Forum

Help Support Amtrak Unlimited Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Status
Not open for further replies.
most likely the driver will be cited. The driver should be billed for the cleanup.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
amtrakwolverine said:
most likely the driver will be cited. The driver should be billed for the cleanup.
Click to expand...
He definitely should be billed 'cause it's a mess out there. I think they're going to back us back into the Fort Worth station as soon as they get things cleaned up enough, then we're getting a new locomotive for the rest of the trip. Hopefully I'll be able to get a pic of the this one covered in foam while we're stopped.
 
They just had the story on the 5 o'clock news. They said his support jacks high-centered and he got hung up. He was hauling barrels of poly styrene. It was also reported that one pax was taken to the hospital. I hope they are OK. Sure have been alot of train/vehicle/persons accidents lately. I was about 6 yrs. old when a trainman told me "boy, you get under that train and it'll turn you into sausage"that scared me. I've had a pretty healthy respect for trains since then. The train always wins. BTW your pics were as good as the news crew :)
 
Thanks for the info. Good to know the guy got stuck and wasn't just being an idiot. And thanks on the pics. We had a great view of it from the rear window. I added a few more pics to my picasa album (see link in OP), but wasn't able to get one of the engine 'cause they had already taken it away before they let us off to walk around.
 
They need to know how and where to drive their trucks to avoid getting stuck. If the guy can't make sound decisions, then revoke his license. ,fortunately there were no fatalities.
 
Aloha

Considering how close the landing gear is to the tractors axles it must not have been cranked up all the way.

I went back to your pictures, because something bothered me. In my opinion the driver lied about being stuck.

Here is why

  1. there is almost no grade visible.
  2. the landing gear normally would be about 10 inches above the road.
  3. Where is the gear after the accident?
  4. Where are the marks in the crossing?
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Wow, i was just driving by Dallas Union station last night thinking 22 had come and gone. Glad I didn't do a point run from FTW to DAL yesterday. :lol: That would have been bad, especially if I needed to be somewhere that night.
 
saxman said:
Wow, i was just driving by Dallas Union station last night thinking 22 had come and gone. Glad I didn't do a point run from FTW to DAL yesterday. :lol: That would have been bad, especially if I needed to be somewhere that night.
Click to expand...
There actually was some poor college kid on our train who was only going FTW-DAL. He said the commuter trains didn't run on Sundays so he decided to take Amtrak instead. At least he wasn't flying out of Dallas 'til today or he would've been screwed.

And I happened to eat breakfast and lunch today with the passenger who had to go to the hospital. He had been giving himself an insulin shot in the bathroom when we hit the truck and the needle jabbed into his stomach. They patched him up and got him back on the train while we were stopped in the FTW station for the engine switch. He also got upgraded to a sleeper for free and is getting a voucher in the mail (he wasn't sure the dollar amount).
 
Thanks for the up date I am glad the other pax wasn't injured very bad. It was great of Amtrak to let that person benefit from someone elses mistak.That is going above and beyond in my opinion Despite all I hope you enjoyed your trip :D
 
the_traveler said:
I think you're right Eric, but the marks and gear may be under the barrels on the left track. But I don't see enough of a grade incline either! :rolleyes:
Click to expand...
Aloha

Since the "Stuck" part bothered me i again looked at the pictures, and I now notice the tractor is visible in front of the nose of the trailer, and the trailer broke just forward of the tandem axles.

With the levelness of the road there there is no way in my mind the landing gear could get stuck if cranked up all the way it is supposed to. Next It appears the nose of the trailer is attached to the tractor, placing the back of the tractor about 8 feet from the left track. The rear of the trailer seems to be about 8 feet left so. So there is no way I buy the truck being stuck, unless the landing was not correctly raised. In either case the driver was negligent. I have Driven Semi's at various times as part of handling scenery.
 
GG-1 said:
the_traveler said:
I think you're right Eric, but the marks and gear may be under the barrels on the left track. But I don't see enough of a grade incline either! :rolleyes:
Click to expand...
Aloha

Since the "Stuck" part bothered me i again looked at the pictures, and I now notice the tractor is visible in front of the nose of the trailer, and the trailer broke just forward of the tandem axles.

With the levelness of the road there there is no way in my mind the landing gear could get stuck if cranked up all the way it is supposed to. Next It appears the nose of the trailer is attached to the tractor, placing the back of the tractor about 8 feet from the left track. The rear of the trailer seems to be about 8 feet left so. So there is no way I buy the truck being stuck, unless the landing was not correctly raised. In either case the driver was negligent. I have Driven Semi's at various times as part of handling scenery.
Click to expand...
in which case if it is driver error then he/she will be fined for the cost of the cleanup etc.

"But officer that train came out of nowhere and hit my truck. I was just minding my own business driving along when BAM".
 
Last edited by a moderator:
boxcar817 said:
Thanks for the up date I am glad the other pax wasn't injured very bad. It was great of Amtrak to let that person benefit from someone elses mistak.That is going above and beyond in my opinion Despite all I hope you enjoyed your trip :D
Click to expand...
Yeah, I was really impressed Amtrak did all that for him, especially since the accident was obviously the truck's fault and the pax wasn't even hurt that bad. I will definitely be using this story to show people how much better Amtrak is than the airlines. And while we were delayed for the cleanup, they gave free snack packs to all the coach pax, which was a nice touch too.

As far as my trip goes, this delay just made it even better. I've completely missed my CZ connection now, so instead of getting off the TE in SPI, I get to spend the night in Chicago! I've never been there and was kind of bummed that I couldn't quite get there on the POS-EMY loophole. Now I'm staying there tonight (hopefully on Amtrak's dime, but there's a cheap hostel in case I do have to pay) and going out on tomorrow's CZ. The only thing I'm worried about is that there's only 3 roomettes available on the CZ and 5 of us on this train that missed the connection. But I have only one bag and I walk fast, so I should be able to beat 'em all to the pax services desk. :)
 
Roadfool said:
As far as my trip goes, this delay just made it even better. I've completely missed my CZ connection now, so instead of getting off the TE in SPI, I get to spend the night in Chicago! I've never been there and was kind of bummed that I couldn't quite get there on the POS-EMY loophole. Now I'm staying there tonight (hopefully on Amtrak's dime, but there's a cheap hostel in case I do have to pay) and going out on tomorrow's CZ. The only thing I'm worried about is that there's only 3 roomettes available on the CZ and 5 of us on this train that missed the connection. But I have only one bag and I walk fast, so I should be able to beat 'em all to the pax services desk. :)
Click to expand...
Aloha

The one time I was delayed and missed the connection into Chicago they boarded in Galesburg, I think, and made the arrangements in the lounge car.
 
It looks like there might be an ever so slight grade off to the left there.

But, that shouln't even hang up a lowered Civic.

Bottom line; my speculation only, is we've got a lazy trucker that doesn't raise his jacks all the way and tries to race trains.

I think the only intelligent thing he did was get out of the truck.
 
Roadfool said:
As far as my trip goes, this delay just made it even better. I've completely missed my CZ connection now, so instead of getting off the TE in SPI, I get to spend the night in Chicago! ... Now I'm staying there tonight ... and going out on tomorrow's CZ. The only thing I'm worried about is that there's only 3 roomettes available on the CZ and 5 of us on this train that missed the connection.
Click to expand...
Since it was a guaranteed connection, it will be on Amtrak's dime! :cool:

If you don't have to be there on a certain day, you could always try to "offer" to stay another day "if I can get a roomette on the following day's train"! ;) (I don't know if they will do that!)
 
the_traveler said:
Since it was a guaranteed connection, it will be on Amtrak's dime! :cool:
If you don't have to be there on a certain day, you could always try to "offer" to stay another day "if I can get a roomette on the following day's train"! ;) (I don't know if they will do that!)
Click to expand...
Ooh, that's a good idea. I'm definitely going to try it if there aren't any roomettes left for tomorrow. I sure don't want to get back to Fresno any sooner than I have to. :)
 
if you ever get to chicago if the freight railroads and metra will stop playing the how much more can we delay amtrak game.

amtrak shows you arrived 5 hours late.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
In this case, I actually agree with the dispatcher giving us the lowest priority. We were already so late that everyone was going to miss their connections. No point in making all the other trains run behind just so we could only be 4 1/2 hours late instead of 5.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Latest posts

Back
Top