Have you ever been on a train when it struck a car

[Bill Haithcoat]

It has happened to me twice, both pre-Amtrak. Once on the South Wind(forerunner to the Floridian) from Miami to Nashville, when we struck a car south of JAX. The lone male driver escaped, his car had stalled on the tracks.

The other time was on a train from Chicago to Chattanooga, we hit a car around Vincennes, Ind.,about 8 or 9 at night. Rumor had it that it was a lone female driver and she was killed.

What was noteworthy in each case is that I hardly felt anything. Indeed, if I had been in a sleeper room I probably would not have known but just that we were stopped, slightly rougher than usual,waiting for another train to pass or whatever. But in Florida I was in the diner and in Indiana I was in a coach. So basically it was the crew talking about it that gave it away.

This was before trains usually had p.a. systems and also, I have never done the scanner thing. Actually I may have been fairly young and naive on those occasions, possibly at my age now I would realize the stop felt slightly "different"...but in any case, it was no big dramatic thing at all, so far as the passengers are concerned.

 

[AlanB]

Well I've never been in a train that hit actually hit a car Bill. However, I have been in an Amtrak train where the engineer thought he had hit a trespasser. It was a rather interesting experience to hear him yelling into the radio that the train was in emergency, while of course hearing the air drop, and feeling the train braking rather abruptly.

I'm going to quote part of my trip report posted on On Track On Line. You can read the full report by clicking here.

I had just barely finished my lunch and was still nursing my soda, when the most interesting part of my trip occurred. While I can't say for sure, I think that this was the first time I've ever ridden an AMTRAK train into an emergency stop. I've done it plenty of times on the subway and even a few times on the MU's from Metro North and the LIRR. I've come to know that hiss very well, although many New Yorkers don't seem to know what it means.
Nonetheless it was certainly the first time I've ever gone into emergency on AMTRAK, while listing to the engineer yelling into the radio that he's put the train into emergency. Of course one of the first thoughts that flashed through my mind was the Auto Train, since this was less than a week later. But since we weren't bouncing or bucking, just braking, I figured that we weren't going to jump the rails. We had just passed a lake on the left side of the train where there were lots of people standing on the side of the roadbed fishing. When I say roadbed they were actually just at the outer edge of the graveled area for the Maintenance-of-way vehicles to drive on when they aren't high-railing it. There was a freight train (Q436) in the pocket on our right waiting for us to pass. We were at MP 93.2 with the clock reading 4:10 when this happened.

My first assumption was that the people at the lake had somehow either done something to scare the engineer or maybe put something on the tracks. However once the train had stopped, the engineer having dealt with the repercussions of throwing the train into emergency, then again called out to both the conductor and the CSX dispatcher with the reason he hit the button. Apparently as he was paralleling the freight train and coming around a very slight curve, a 350 pound man stepped out from in between two of the freight cars, and almost directly in front of our train. The engineer was quite certain that he had not hit him with the engine, saying that he had jumped back, but could not say for sure that one of the cars hadn't clipped this fool.

Well naturally the conductor had to walk the train, not only to see if there was a body, but also to ensure that the emergency stop hadn't created any problems for our train. While he was out on the tracks he discovered why this moron almost lost his life. Yes we hadn't hit him thankfully, although he probably deserved it. It would appear that he and some of his buddies had taken the opportunity of the stopped CSX train to rob it. The conductor spotted 3 or 4 other people running off into the woods carrying stuff. He also spotted the moron walking away. Naturally the CSX dispatcher radioed for the police to come investigate the freight train, and we got underway about 10 minutes or so later.

 

[tp49]

I was on a train that hit a person laying across the tracks in September on the Capitol Corridor just south of the Hayward station.

 

[jccollins]

I was in the rear car of the Capitol Corridor a few years ago and looking out the back window (for some reason the crew didn't have the window covered in black like they usually do.) I saw the freight train following directly behind us hit a car on a roadway crossing with a driver and what appeared to be a passenger in it. (it was too far to see if there was really a passenger or not). The motorist went around the lowered crossing arms after our train had passed, but didn't know the freight was following behind us. One of the most horrifying scenes I have ever witnessed.

 

[Superliner Diner]

Yes.

I was on one of my trips a few years ago from Philadelphia to Orlando, I believe on the Silver Meteor. It was getting near the end of the trip, which was already running about an hour late. We had some slow orders coming through Sanford, Winter Park, and a town in between called Maitland. I went to the rest room as part of my preparations to detrain at Orlando, when the train obviously went into an emergency stop. Thankfully there was a bar to grab onto.

Once I was decent I rushed back to my seat to get my scanner. I did not see any activity outside, so I wondered what happened. The crew seemed clueless as to handle the situation.

What had happened was akin to a minor fender-bender, a hit-and-run. The engine had clipped an SUV that had fouled a grade crossing. The SUV had very minor damage apparently, because he did not stop at the scene. The train's crew was not sure whether they should remain stopped, or just proceed. I guess they later reported the incident to Amtrak and CSX, because we soon were on our way.

 

[Amfleet]

My mother was on the Auto Train with my sister back in '97 (I was not present) and they hit a dish washer somewhere over night in South Caraolina. Apparently there was some pretty bad damage on the under carriage of the locomotive. They came into Sanford around 4:00 pm, 7 hours late.

 

[Guest_coach34135]

My mother was on the Auto Train with my sister back in '97 (I was not present) and they hit a dish washer somewhere over night in South Caraolina. Apparently there was some pretty bad damage on the under carriage of the locomotive. They came into Sanford around 4:00 pm, 7 hours late.

Well, too bad the cooks could've used the dishwasher maybe.

what kinda of MORONS put APPLIANCES on a track!?!?!? let alone a moron in a car or walking.

UGH

 

[Viewliner]

Its important to remember, while many of these incidences are preventable, some aren't, like the occasional occurace where a car is stalled on the tracks, and can't move. For example, a little while a woman took a wrong turn on to the tracks instead of the street, at night and couldn't move the car, or inform the approaching NJ Transit train in time. Fortunately, she got out and the train didn't derail.

 

[Amfleet]

Its important to remember, while many of these incidences are preventable, some aren't, like the occasional occurace where a car is stalled on the tracks, and can't move. For example, a little while a woman took a wrong turn on to the tracks instead of the street, at night and couldn't move the car, or inform the approaching NJ Transit train in time. Fortunately, she got out and the train didn't derail.

The woman was probably drunk, because one should still be able to notice the crossing mechanisms even at night. Though, there are some instances where accidents are unavoidable.

 

[Viewliner]

She wasn't drunk, it was very dark, and she must've turned too soon, or too late.

 

[tp49]

A lot of times vandals in urban areas throw things on the tracks for the purpose of making a train derail. Some of their favorite things to use are parking meters, shopping carts and apliances such as refrigerators, dishwashers, washers and dryers.

 

[Amfleet]

The Auto Train (along with the Silver Meteor and Palmetto) do travel through some very low income urban areas of the Carolinas.

 

[Chatter163]

Yes, this happened to me earlier this year, during a summer trip on the Silver Meteor, somewhere in Carolina. It happened durirng the night and we we unaware of it. We just knew that we had been on time when we retired for the evening and were two and half hours later when we woke up. The dining car attendant told us that we had struck a car that had attempted to "beat the train." Fortunately the driver bailed out in time and was not hurt. :blink:

 

[Viewliner]

I remember going home on the Silver Star last april, and the Viewliner had a dent in the door, and the attendant explained it was probably someone throwing a rock at it. Its unfortunate to see.