Car Struck by Empire Builder

[SP&S]

I guess this could be from our If It Wasn't For Bad Luck I Wouldn't Have Any Luck At All department. Man injured after car hit by train. Details are sparse, at least nobody on the train appears to be hurt.

 

[john h]

its pretty bad when this is a daily or weekly occurence we sure need more train education

 

[afigg]

There was yet another truck collision for Amtrak on Monday. This one was in California when a San Joaquin train hit a truck trailer loaded with tomatoes. Sounds like a something out of a movie scene, but according to the newspaper article, there were injuries on the train and the locomotive was sufficiently damaged that it was taken out of service. Modesto Bee article at http://www.modbee.com/2011/09/19/1867662/train-hits-stopped-tomato-trailer.html . Note, there are some rather judgmental and hostile posts following the article claiming that everyone injured was faking it.

 

[MrFSS]

There was yet another truck collision for Amtrak on Monday. This one was in California when a San Joaquin train hit a truck trailer loaded with tomatoes. Sounds like a something out of a movie scene, but according to the newspaper article, there were injuries on the train and the locomotive was sufficiently damaged that it was taken out of service. Modesto Bee article at http://www.modbee.co...to-trailer.html . Note, there are some rather judgmental and hostile posts following the article claiming that everyone injured was faking it.

Reminds me of the story of a city bus that hit a car. The bus driver got off to use the pay phone down the street (no cell phones, yet) and when he came back there were about 30 more people on the bus than when he got off, holding their necks!

 

[grounded flyboy]

Reminds me of the NY Giants on Monday Night Football !!

 

[Texan Eagle]

Apart from the controversy over injuries, one line that had me curious is that it says the conductor did everything she could to bring the train to a stop and ensure safety of passengers. Question- can the conductor apply Emergency Brakes? Or did they mean the Engineer but used the wrong term?

 

[Trogdor]

Question- can the conductor apply Emergency Brakes? Or did they mean the Engineer but used the wrong term?

Quite often, news reporters will not know the difference between a conductor and the engineer.

So, the question to both of your questions is yes (at least, most likely yes for the second question).

The conductor (or anyone on the train) can apply the emergency brakes by pulling the emergency brake handle at the end of the car. However, in the vast majority of cases, the emergency brake is applied by the engineer.

 

[fairviewroad]

Not that this excuses sloppy reporting, but the article implies that it was the CHP officer who credited "the conductor."

 

[George Harris]

Not that this excuses sloppy reporting, but the article implies that it was the CHP officer who credited "the conductor."

The CHP officer may not know the difference, either. Have a brother an law that was a big rig driver. He would always say know where you trailer is.

 

[lthanlon]

Quite often, news reporters will not know the difference between a conductor and the engineer.

This is why journalism is in such a sorry state today. Reporters don't know the difference between a great many things.

 

[Anderson]

Great, just what Amtrak needs...a tomato surprise.

[/bad pun]

This has just been a lousy year for this sort of stuff. Serious question: Does Amtrak at least have insurance for this?

 

[TraneMan]

Wonder if this accident caused problem to the locomotive later on? I am reading else where that had to call BNSF to finish pulling it.. It's just over 14 hours late now.