I’m sorry of you and the idiots family. I’m sorry you had to deal with the trauma of seeing the leftovers of the people and sorry that family loose members because of stupidity
Everyone misses the point. That pisses me off to no end. People ooh and awe at the destruction but don't think it through. There are crewmen involved, and an engineer behind the throttle. I am a retired locomotive engineer late of the Southern Pacific's Sacramento and Oregon Divisions, the final four years with the UP. Here’s the truth about the heartache no one knows. Statistically, in a typical 30 year career a locomotive engineer will experience three fatalities, sometimes pedestrians, most times motorists. In my own career I tagged two pickup trucks, a station wagon and a pedestrian. Miraculously no one died. The pedestrian wound up with a couple of stitches to the back of his head as the only injury. I was lucky. So were they. The only question mark is one night I was approaching Chico, California and the train dispatcher called to ask me if I had hit anyone. A very odd question. The train following me reported he came upon a bunch of crap strung out down the track that used to be a human being. It was determined he was riding and fell off of my train between cars. That's something else usually overlooked. Someone has to scrape up the aftermath of all this carnage. First weekend of June, 1972. High school graduation night in Red Bluff, California. One of the guys I hired out with, Phil Bentley had one number more seniority on me. His train was coming trough town when a "pleasure van" as they were known at the time, had eight teenagers in it. The driver went around the lowered gates and all of them were killed. He walked back to try to render some aid if he could. There was a girl laying against a picket fence, a piece of flashing from the van driven into her skull. He cradled her head in his lap until she soon quit breathing and died. But for one number, that could've been me. He got my three, his three and two of someone else's in the blink of an eye. That whole crew, both head end and rear end (we still had cabooses then), were changed men after experiencing that horror. February, 1974. I was called on duty for 7am for a hostling job in SP's Roseville yard. In the crew dispatcher's office I bumped into another engineer named Bill Hood, called for the Sacramento Swing. A very short run from Roseville to Sacramento and return. He was glad of the call off the extra board as his daughter was in some kind of school activity that evening. A play or recital or something. But he knew he'd be able to get.there. There is a place between Roseville and Sacramento called Ben Ali There is a four lane grade crossing there, and about one mile north of that crossing there was a person walking along the outside of track #1, the engineer'side.He was blowing the whistle but the person didn’t hear it and he hit and killed that person. The person was a teenage girl walking to school. Against the cold, damp air she had her hood drawn tight around her head and a new "Sony Walkman" cassette tape player, with headphones on. She never had a chance. Engineer Hood had given the girl the Walkman for Christmas a few weeks earlier. He had struck and killed his own daughter. It's been 49 years but I still tear up whenever I speak of it. He died right there with her. We just didn’t know it at the time. He rarely marked up to work. His marriage fell apart and he had lost everything. Then one day around two years later he ate the barrel of a .38. We saw it coming but there was nothing we could do. Helpless, like the eternity that passes from when you plug the train and the sick, ringing thud that follows when the pilot plow hits flesh and blood. Late summer, 1975, downtown Redding, California. I was called around 3 am in Dunsmuir to head home to Roseville 209 miles down the line. The rest of the crew and I were in a restaurant having breakfast and an engineer named Ted Vasquez walked in, looking ill and pale. There was an organization in the old Hotel Lorenz called the “Point Man.” They helped veterans, most of whom served in Viet Nam back then, and is still active today as far as I know. A paralyzed vet was trying to get to the office. Motorized wheel chairs were fairly new and unlike those of today were outfitted with smaller front wheels. Trying to cross the tracks at a grade crossing one of the front wheels dropped into the flange way and he was stuck. Well before cell phones, all he had was a walkie-talkie CB radio to contact anyone. Before getting help engineer Vasquez hit him at 45 mph and it basically exploded him. But it isn't always the speed that kills. If I pick up a rifle cartridge and throw it at you it won’t do much harm, but you still wouldn’t want to catch one in the eye. That is low mass at low speed. But if I fire that cartridge at you the bullet will go right through you. That is low mass at high speed. Think of a train as a reverse bullet. Very high mass (unit trains like coal is around 16,000 trailing tons, not including the weight of the locomotives. That's another 2,000 tons) at a much lower speed. That is what gives them their wallop. Even at a modest 20 mph a glancing blow will pop someone open like squeezing a grape between your thumb and index finger. Bottom line is if you are anywhere near a moving train you are in mortal danger. A train will derail at any time, on any track at any speed. Trains don't hunt people down. But if you get in their way they'll be happy to kill you. It's their sandbox and they get to make the rules. And sometimes the engine crew gets killed too. Either burned to death after hitting a tanker or squashed like a bug when they hit something like a logging truck at speed and the cab gets erased. The only time it makes national news is when a train winds up in the ditch and scatters all over hell and back and blows a part of some town to bits. We've had two of those lately, both on the Norfolk Southern only a couple of days apart. Grade crossing accidents are second only to drunken driving in the number of motorists killed each year. That's about one person every two hours. There is a high degree of probability some one has been killed while you've been reading this lengthy post. I didn't intend to write a book today so sorry if it's too long. Keep in mind, grade crossing protection is NOT FAIL-SAFE. There is battery back up for a power outage and in remote areas where there are no public utilities batteries are the primary power source, kept recharged by solar panels. But other conditions I'll not get in to for obvious reasons can occur rendering them inoperative. So never pull onto the track unless you know you have room to get all the way in the clear on the other side. If you do get caught drive right through the gates. They are of a break-away design for just this purpose. You may have to repaint your hood or roof, but you'll still have your car and your life. Twice in my career I went over two crossings where the gates were inoperative. 40 mph on one and 45 mph on the other in broad daylight. The mantra is stop, look and listen before crossing any track. Those days no one got killed because the drivers were paying attention and saw or heard me coming. Stopping isn't always a choice so someone won't drive up your tailpipe. "Look." A real look. A glance can get you dead. "Listen." That means turn off the music and roll your window down. There are many thousands of blind curves out there and you may not see a headlight approaching. This is especially important in foul weather. Worse still is in snow. After about two feet of snow is on the ground it acts like a sponge soaking up the sound. Even worse still, in heavy snow the throat of the horn of the locomotive's whistle can get clogged. If it works at all you can get only a pitiful squeak out of it. And that takes us right back to "look." When grade crossing protection fires off a train is going to occupy that crossing in 20 seconds. There are bugs that activate the system and they are located at places according to what ever the track speed is. Lights blink, bells ring and gates come down. You've got 20 seconds to get out of the way if the train is running at track speed. Most do not know there are four speeds at play each trip. Track speed, maximum authorized speed, restricted speed and temporary speed restrictions. There are many more engineers I know who hit and killed others in a less dramatic fashion. However I am but one of perhaps 50,000 engineers in North America, which includes Canada and Mexico. It's a pretty exclusive club considering there are hundreds of millions of people we serve day in and day out around the clock. The ultimate irony? In a grade crossing accident, if someone is killed and it can be proven that the whistle wasn't blowing, headlights improperly displayed or bell not ringing, that engineer is open to a charge of manslaughter. All class I carriers have a dash camera on their engines and each engine has an event recorder that acts like the black box on aircraft. Direction, speed, throttle position, amperage in power or dynamic brake, the various air pressures in play, lights, whistle, bell etc. That is to keep their tit out of the wringer when some moron gets themselves greased. But it keeps engineers in the clear as well. People get transfixed as the drama plays out in front of them. That is exactly what you shouldn't do. Collisions can and do cause derailments, then you're in deep, deep trouble. Get out of your your car in case you have to run for it. For the victims killed it’s over immediately. But the event haunts an engineer every night when trying to get to sleep for the rest of their lives. Today, post accident counseling is available if wanted or needed that usually includes three days off with pay. All of this is unbelievably gruesome stuff. Don't assume everyone knows these things. They do not. So now that you know, tell someone you love. It just might save their life one day.
I had a landlord who had work 30 years as a locomotive engineer for Norfolk Western without once being involved in a collision with a motor vehicle. One day his engine plowed through a tanker truck full of milk, and an empty school bus. He resigned that day.
@@stevencooper2464 I understand completely. Anyone who says they've never been scared out there are liars or have a vacancy between their ears. I cannot swear to it but I do not think I ever made a trip anywhere without a least one car going around the crossing gates right in front of me. One time a car did that in Dorris, California about three miles below the Oregon state line on a trip to Klamath Falls, Oregon. The idiot did it right in front of a California Highway Patrolman. The cop lit him up immediately. That made my whole day a lot brighter. You get caught doing that in California the fines and penalties are almost as severe as getting popped for drunk driving. Yup. They mean business.
Thank for posting this. I have been researching the local railroad here in Northern NY. Everything is always about the hardware or the corporate. The Engineer and crew are never mentioned. The statistics at rail crossings are never mentioned.
As a truck truck driver I thank you for posting this information in a well thought out manner as well as your commitment to moving the continents commodities some of which I likely enjoyed myself. A lot of what you said applies to trucks too, however unfortunately people become to complacent and distracted by all of the gadgets in their computer on wheels and like you said do not think of the people that need to respond to these calls when something goes wrong or the operator of these vehicles. Once again I thank you for your post, take care buddy! AC🤙
Ex bus driver, not train driver. Please believe me when I say that you never forget a fatal like these. Even years later it "reminds" you of what happened at the most unexpected time. Please people, be careful as the train will always win
Not quite. The rest of us will always lose, but sometimes, the train will lose as well. Derailments *can* happen in these (or many other) situations. Please try avoiding standing too close to the tracks.
Here in the UK we have gated crossings mostly. Still have walkers ignoring the gates when they are closed . Feel sorry for the engineers have to deal with this happening
I drove a school bus for 5 years. From the reading on this I begin to think that stop, look, and listen should be the norm for every crossing. On long island and many congested areas this is likely to cause an accident as well.. but I digress. Our yard had a crossing and there was another out on the little side road. One of the drivers said that the side road one wasn't working, or at least wasn't working. by law she stopped, opened the door, listened.. didn't hear anything.. and proceeded across. she said that a train blew it's horn and passed by.. and then the gates came down. by that time she was heading for our driveway turnoff but that rattled her. There is another crossing.. wish I could find it on a map and for some reason I can't.. but I've sat there a few times before realizing 'hey, this is the crossing I had all that fun with in the school bus yeaaaars ago'.. There were two crossing. main road and then the side road I traveled up on. there was a traffic light where the side route hit the main one. there was space for 1 bus or 2 cars. the problem occurred when there was only 1 car. peopla are f*****n STOOOOPID... They would blow their horn, drive around behind the second car. and act as if the sun shone out of their asshole they were so smart. until one time 3 went around me. leaving the second car on the tracks. asshole #3 was on her ass and wasn't about to move. The time of day I came through.. there was ALWAYS a train that came through about the same time. Sometimes I beat it, sometimes not. Cue the bells ringing and the gates coming down. Asshole #3 still isnt' moving and #2 is obviously panicking. blowing horn, trying to move back and forth. the no place for the first two cars to move. (this is the time to run a goddam red light people..). fortunately for the assholes the light turned green and the car on the tracks got off. however I think asshole #3 got stuck in the oncoming lane. i admit i was a pr***. I took off and left asshole# 3 to face the cars coming in their lane. he can get his own butt back into traffic.
The only people I ever really feel bad for in these situations are the train drivers. They can't do anything about it and have to just ride it out and while not their fault in anyway may end up killing people. Cause 9/10 times there's no logical reason for the vehicle to even be on the tracks like that to begin with. And then there's a lack of knowledge of what to do and who to call when you do get stuck on the tracks. And unfortunately that also depends on the distance the train is from the crossing. If you're lucky contact with the train/railway is made in time that they can stop. Sometimes a lot of these just seem like the person is intentionally getting their vehicle there and getting hit. Just seems like if some of them would keep driving they'd be not getting smacked by a train
Wanna know what the real problem is? Ignorance. I don't use that word as a slur. Unless someone takes the time to educate themselves they just do not know enough to keep themselves out of harm's way. Do you have school age children? Are you active in the process of their education? Good. Go to the next PTA meeting. Go to the next school board meeting. Then put the wheels in motion to have basic railroad safety as a part of the school curriculum. To my knowledge none of this is taught anywhere. There was a program called “Operation Lifesaver.” A few trainmen and enginemen out of each terminal would make classroom presentations to get the word out. I haven’t heard of them for years and I doubt they’re still around. It’s a necessary but sad state of affairs more children know about semi-automatic firearms and what to do in an active shooter situation than how to cross railroad tracks safely. As a stop gap measure here are some handy dandy tips: Next time you’re waiting for a train to pass, read the writing on the sides of tank cars. It tells you what’s inside. Anhydrous ammonia, LPG, vinyl chloride, cyanide, acids, hydrogen peroxide, ammonium nitrate and a lot more. Some cars are carrying as much as 28,000 gallons of this stuff. Most all of these commodities are heavier than air and flow down hill when tanks are ruptured. Sometimes it’s just a failed valve that is leaking. Do you live near a railroad right of way? Is it at a higher elevation than your home or the schools your children attend? Guess what? If the answer is yes then you already have one arm tied behind your back. The kid runs across the track. The cross ties are loaded with slippery stuff. Creosote, crater, oil, grease and on track equipment lubricates. If you slip you might be lucky and only lose your legs. Employees are forbidden to step on a rail by rule. You slip, bash your head on a rail. Lose consciousness and you get run over by the next train or you can bleed out. On the inside of well worn rail near the top of the rail, the “ball” of the rail, “flash” develops. Very thin carbon steel strips as sharp as a surgeon’s scalpel. Bump into it and it will lay your ankle open to the bone. You may not even feel it at first. You feel like your socks are wet, you look down and see all the blood. Then it starts to hurt. In rural areas in the summertime in the heat of the day rattlesnakes stay underground. Later at night they will lay along the side of the rail to stay warm. Other wild animals walk along the right of way because it’s easier going than through brush or scrub. Where I have lived and worked there are bear, mountain lions and bobcats. I even had a bear on my porch a couple of nights ago. They really don’t like to be bothered. Find one of these predators out there and you can drop a couple of links in the food chain. Burrowing animals like rabbits, squirrels, ground hogs and hedge hogs are all over the place and so are their burrows and warrens. It’s real easy to step in one and wind up with a badly sprained or broken ankle. If you’re going to go out there anyway give your self a hand and wear boots with at least 1” heels and high ankle support. This is required foot ware for employees. Danger is everywhere out there even if no train is around. Stay off the tracks or you could wind up having a very bad day. Where there is automatic grade crossing protection there is a usually a signal house that controls it near by. On the side of that box is a telephone number and the crossing id number to report problems, malfunctions or accidents. Unfortunately, sometimes fate is the hunter. There is no way to guard against that. Spread the word and stay safe.
how does one underestimate the sheer destructive power of a train ? sometimes vehicles stall or become hung up over stupidity or accident and yeah majority of the time the train wins but not always do the crew or passengers or sometimes bystandards due to twisted steel and elements being impacted and driven violently through anything anyone in its path , that includes the engineers cab or passenger cars. elevated crossings is the answer.
you feel bad for the train driver? lol, usually they doesn't care when they kill someone, it's appened to a lot of my friends and it's not a thing for them. Think of the guys who's under the train and wash all the blood and body-parts, when you have some intestine stuck in the bogie and you need to take them bare hand because I remember perfectly till this day. "what do I do with all of this (teeth, fingers, some bodyparts and a lot of skin), do I take them and it's go back to the family or do I just put it in the bin?" I was one of them, it's not a specific team, it's just the regular workers who do this job. You need to be seroiusly touth to doing this, so please, feel bad for these guys. Drivers doesn't deal with consequence.
@@Phooie I wasnt joking about the steam trains being quiet - despite the whistle. If im driving a traction engine at a fair for example, its surprising how many people just dont notice you, then fair crap their pants when the whistle is blown as a warning!
They said on another video that it was fake. But if I saw the guy on the quad cross with the dog I would have liked to slap the shit out of him. What an asshole.
I am not a fan of train wrecks. I came here for the beautiful views of the railroad snow plows doing their job. But I had to laugh when that one train pulled into the station where the tracks were choked with snow.
These videos would be just fine without the need to add in clearly staged crashes. Why does EVERY ONE of these crash video creators feel the needs to do that?
Those videos were showing crash education demonstrations. They're for teaching various drivers what not to do, how to handle the worst scenarios, etc. They're recorded for the education of first responders, LEOs, truck drivers, train engineers, bus drivers, etc. It wasn't meant for anyone's entertainment, per se, but to show and educate drivers the effects of being careless and getting in the way of a train.
A number of these clips were showing training demonstrations for first responders, train engineers, bus drivers, truck drivers, etc. They were filmed to be shown in educational settings, but of course, as happens all the time now, they were also released to YT. They aren't "set up" videos at all.
A fair number of these clips were made for educational purposes to teach truckers, bus drivers, train engineers, first responders and LEOs what to do and not do if a train-vehicle crash occurs. There are lots of indicators as to which ones are demos, as well as this having been posted a couple of years ago with a very clear explanation as to what was happening in those particular clips. This one is a lousy, terrible compilation of various videos from others.
It’s at 1:30 in the video. 13:09 is what is left. The Man is a Hero👍 Thank You for saving the Dog. And whoever did such a thing should be incarcerated for life
That dog was tied to the rails? SMH, how can someone be so damn disgustingly cruel?! Thank God that man was there & saved the pup at the last second! I hope they tie-down whoever did this, to the tracks!
It's possible that the dog had gotten away dragging a leash or tie-out rope and was simply tangled in the rails. I shudder to think it was intentional, but it's possible. People like the jackwagons yelling in that video have no love or respect for animals. "Leave it!" FUCK YOU! I would rather die than sit back and watch that happen. (that's directed at the people in the video, mind you)
Look up "Did This Video Show a Dog Rescued from Train Tracks?" on Snopes and you'll see this one was fake - fortunately for everyone involved, especially the dog! Nevertheless, messing around on active train tracks is still dangerous and involves illegal trespassing. I believe the near miss at around 00:25 is also fake, but the dog one has become better-known. The rest are genuine.
First video is a truck from the company I drive for. The driver was safe and able to drive it back to our terminal. The truck has now been fully restored and back on the road hauling freight across the country.
It’s odd. The trucking companies, railroads and even Mississippi steamboats have been competing with each other for nearly 175 years or so, and in some cases with more than a little animosity between the three at times, especially with owner/operators that included riverboat captains. Everyone has the right to earn a living. I find it also more than a little ionic that the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen is now a branch of the Teamsters Union. I would imagine there are a lot of people who are spinning at major RPMs in their graves as a result. I’m glad that the driver and truck made it, against the odds. Stop, look and listen. Take care.
It's called grounding here in the UK......result of a long trailer going over a raised section of road/track.......middle of Trailer grounds, resulting in the truck going nowhere.
@ 3:43... That spigot of hot lava is such an appropriate metaphor as to what happens when you play footsie with an oncoming train at an activated railroad crossing grade...🤔🤨...
The guy flagging down the train at 7:43 has good intentions, but i dont think he realizes that trains take up to 2 miles to stop, And by this point the crew knows what’s happening
My friend Doug an engineer on a freight train hit a Ford Aerostar, killing the driver, and the Ford van's transmission came up through the floor Doug was standing on. That was a close call for him.
At 9:15 the person in the black coat and white hat just looked at the train hitting the snow and they just stood looking at it a not moving what a nut case.
Did y’all notice how half of these accidents happened because someone ran a red light? It’s shocking how often this reckless behavior leads to serious crashes
what people need to learn (Network rail in the UK say this a lot in their ads) You vs train you can never win. Trains can never stop in time no matter what. Think before saving a minute of your daily commute, think of your family, friends and The driver of those trains.
I had to hide my eyes when the train and tornado collided! All those cars hitting that lava, now that's the stuff of nightmares, but the truck and iceberg will keep me up at night!!!