[Magdalen] another train wreck

[Jim Guthrie]

From: James Oppenheimer-Crawford

>This is so sad.  A woman driving an suv tried to beat the gates at the RR
>crossing, and the gate came down on her car, pinning it.  She got out to

No one who is familiar with crossing gates would ever say they could "pin" a
car. They are built to be broken away in emergencies.

Like most motorists and truckers and bus drivers involved in such "accidents"
they probably shouldn't be on the road any more than a drunk driver.

>see what was going on, and got back and tried to get her suv out, and then
>the train hit her, killing her.

It would appear to be more the case of being more concerned about a scratch on 
her car
than her own safety.

>The engine man in these cases is always horribly shaken up.  There's
>nothing he can do; the train takes time to stop. He just is along for the
>ride at that point, watching it all happen.

Same as when someone commits suicide by jumping in front of a train. I was in
the cab riding with the crew between Port Jefferson and Smithtown  when I was a
teen and we smashed into a car at the Moriches Road Grade Crossing in St James
(one that Raewynne would be particularly familiar with). There were fatalities.
But it should be noted that the cab of a diesel locomotive is somewhat akin to
being on the second-floor room of a house traveling at speed.

And they don't stop on a dime, and unlike some accounts of these accidents, the
conductor (sic) cannot "swerve to avoid the car" (that's a description I've read
quite a few times in grade crossing accident accounts).

>Somehow the third rail was disconnected, and ripped its way into a car,
>causing fires. Several passengers, who probably would have just been shaken
>up, died.

The strength of the SUV when hit caught under the third rail at the crossing
(third rails don't cross streets, obviously) and have a transition section for
the third rail shoe (there's such a pick-up shoe on display in the hallway here
in my apartment) and tore it out of its supports and it cut trough into the lead
car with 750 volts DC coursing through like a snake and the train continued to a
stop. The momentum of the train did the rest, pulling it up into the lead car
for some distance, apparently.

It should be noted that this type of carnage was common in the early days of
railroading (without the 750v DC feature), as the rails were made of wood with
iron straps affixed to the top. They'd come loose and snake through the wooden
floor of the coach like a snake, killing and maiming all in its path.

>There was a Metro North wreck at the Spuyten Duyvil curve a while back.
>(just north of Manhattan Island) When I was going to NYTS, I used to ride
>through there all the time.

Unlike the Spuyten Duyvil wreck caused be a railroad employee falling asleep, or
the New Haven wreck that resulted from track failure, this one appears to be the
story of a motorist who had Jim Guthrie

Unlike the speeding train in the Spuyten Duyvil wreck, this one was traveling at 
58 mph -- 2 mph below the 60 mph speed limit on that stretch of track.

Let me add that there have need crossing accidents on this line because GPS 
systems instruct people to turn onto the tracks in some case. I think Garman 
settled one of these out of court for a very hefty sum

Cheers,
Jim