Our worst fears for the long-term future of UP steam may have finally happened:

https://kdvr.com/2018/07/21/pedestrian- ... henderson/



Updates as they become available. One rumor being circulated said it happened in front of a photo line of photographers........

It's not the first pedestrian fatality that I've heard of on excursions. I sure hope UP doesn't change their stance on steam. Unfortunately, railroads are involved with these types of accidents daily because people just can't stay the heck off the tracks.

My condolences to the crew and folks involved.

Joe

I was pacing the train at the time of the accident. I can confirm that one woman was stuck and killed reportedly while filming with cell phone. There was only a few people at that location. Train crew was extremely distraught. UP 844 went into emergency and it looked like the end of the world. Enormous cloud of black smoke so much you could no longer see the locomotive. It was unlike anything I have ever seen. Many of us thought the train derailed, or exploded.

I am not sure why people would want to get so close to a operating steam locomotive. But this is also coming from the same public that ask me can't I swerve to miss some one standing on the tracks. My condolences or to the family and crew that are involved. If you see someone to close the tracks do not hesitate to grab them and throw them away like We seen with the little girl when 4014 was being towed back to Cheyenne.

I can think of at least one more trespasser fatality during a Union Pacific steam excursion. Happened sometime around 2000. The man never took notice of the steamer and I believe it was suspected to be a suicide. Hopefully management doesn't overreact to an unfortunate tragedy.

Prayers to the woman's friends and family.

That incident was in the DFW area in the late 90's with the 3985.

No reason to hyper ventilate on this. Sadly trespasser fatalities are a frequent part of mainline railroad operations. The majority are suicide by train or people under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

Let's keep all involved in our thoughts and prayers especially Ed Dickens and the 844 crew for whom this has to be very upsetting.

Thanks, Ross Rowland

The public, sadly, is VERY ignorant of trains in some of the most basic ways.

I had the opportunity to pace a sold out 611 excursion out of Manassas a few years back.

While waiting for the train at a grade crossing, I was talking with some of the railroad personnel there. I commented how people were standing too close. The gentleman I was speaking with said most people didn't realize how wide trains were (and smiled as he added that most people didn't realize how loud 611 could be).

The comment about width was echoed by a "friend" on Facebook, who is a now retired bus driver and for a time worked for Rail Explorers (rail bike company that ran on the Adirondack Scenic and now operates in other locations). At other times, he said he had to get people back from tracks when a regular train was due. They at first asked him, "Why? We aren't on the tracks." They were indeed clear of the rail, but not clear of the loading gauge! He had to explain that trains were a good deal wider than the tracks the run on.

People are too used to cars, in which the width of the wheels is very close to body width, and in some cases, the wheels are wider than the body. They don't observe that doesn't apply to almost everything on rails!!

This isn't that new. At Harpers Ferry, W.Va., before the station was restored and the parking lot upgraded some years ago, commuters would park their cars too close to the tracks at the west end of the platforms. As those tracks are curved, pilots and snowplows would swing outward and catch a bumper. It was not unusual for such a hit to knock the offending car into one or two others.

This is alternately horrifying and hilarious--a close call at that station in Harpers Ferry:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pd6maEpbzDg

When they had the close call, were those people standing on public property or were they trespassing?

Ultimately it is too soon to make any determinations about this event. Some say that it was a suicide. Others say that she was just too close. The authorities will determine a cause.

I doubt that an isolated incident such as this will have a lasting effect on the UP steam program. The program does much more good than harm and perhaps what will come out of this is increased vigilance by the UP special agents and employees protecting the passage of the steam trains.

.

It's of note that is a station platform in service. Amtrak's Capitol Limited and Maryland Rail Commuter (MARC) trains stop there. It was also a location of some photo runbys in Chessie Safety Express days with the 614.

The station dates to about 1892. It was originally located slightly east and south of its current location, when the then-new steel bridge that carries the branch to Winchester and Strasburg, Va. was also part of the main line. It was moved to its present location around 1930, when the main line was realigned and the new deck bridge was built.

Although retired now in WV, I am still a Philadelphia NRHS member. Almost without fail, each month in the chapter newsletter will be mention of one or more trespassers killed in the Philadelphia area by AMTRAK, SEPTA, NS or CSX. It's hard for me to comprehend that number of rail-related deaths in just one city.

One thing that may help in terms of perspective. . .

This country has about 700 rail fatalities in a given year, including suicides. Most of those are trespassing incidents (people walking on tracks).

For comparison, auto related deaths are about 34,000 to 36,000 per year, the better part of 100 per day. They are so numerous that unless the accident is particularly freakish (confused old man mistakes gas pedal for brake and plows into a market), or an unusually high death toll (I would guess four or more fatalities), they get no coverage outside immediate area.

An auto wreck that got national coverage by fitting both criteria involved a woman, driving an estimated 20 mph over the speed limit, who launched her van over a bridge railing in New York City and landed in the zoo in the Bronx, killing herself and six other family members.

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/kil ... -1.1069488

The rate of gun deaths in this country is about the same as auto deaths, roughly 100 per day. About two thirds of those are suicides, about 30% are homicides (and from what I can tell, that includes things like domestic incidents that spiral out of control, and probably includes bar fights that do the same), and about 4% or 5% are accidental and other incidents.

This is a tragic incident, and because it involves a train it will get high exposure, but the nature of it is still unusual.

Just to be clear, I am referring to the close call of the man standing on the station platform watching one train and not hearing one behind him. I have seen that video before and wondered about the circumstances there.

No doubt it was railroad property, and yet platforms are typically offered by the company for use by the public. Are there conditions attached to that typical offer of usage that would prevent a conflict between a pedestrian and a moving train?