Trains and Tractors don't mix

[Durwood]

This is what happens when a train meets a tractor....the tractor loses.

[jodyand]

I remember that on TF ruined a good tractor. :00000060:

[bontai Joe]

Probably didn't do the train much good either. :eek:

[Argee]

Was the tractor driver killed??

[drbailey]

OMGosh , Thats a bad dream !!

[Kid Muddy]

How's that old saying go, "The only good Deere is a dead Deere"?

Something like that anyway. ROF ROF

I do hope the driver was OK though.

[bmwe0692]

When a driver thinks he can beat the train, HE LOSES!! each and every time. Going at close to 60 or70 miles per hour. a COFC/TOFC(container on flat car/trailer on flat car) like that one in the picture,can't stop in 600 or700 feet!!! A loaded 115 car coal train will take close to a mile,a mile and a half to come to a complete stop. It's not a pretty picture going out and picking up pieces of a small car spread out along the rails.When I was on the section, we usually got in on the clean up,Boom truck picked up the larger pieces and we threw in everything else. Talking to the engineers and hearing some stories they tell. If you get a chance,or better yet go to an Operation Lifesaver meeting. They have a very informational meeting, If there is a question that they don't have an answer for, they take the persons name and they get a personal reply.
Like the old signs said: LOOK:LISTEN:LIVE good words to live by!!!
T.J. 32 years of rail-roading come sunday
Have a great day!!!

[Kid Muddy]

One thing I've always wondered about, is why don't train cars have running lights? I imagine it would be a maintenance nightmare, but at some of these country crossings in the middle of the night, it would be nice to see from a distance if a train is going by.

[Wingnut]

Thats nothing that a little Bondo can't fix!
Looks to me to be a little insurance fraud!

Hey bmwe0692 is it true that the railroad loses approx. $420,000 an hour for the line being shut down? (That is what the Union Pacific Emergancy Response Manager quoted at Texas A&M Fire School!)

[Carl]

Ya, the tractor got crunched.

Trains seldom loose. I was setting in a resturant next to a railroad line. All of a sudden I realized that there was a lot of smoke and dust blowing by the window. a train slid through a lumber stake truck loaded with lumber. The truck was basically gone. The train had the ladder on the side of the engine tender bent, and paint on the engine scratched.

[jodyand]

Hey bmwe0692 is it true that the railroad loses approx. $420,000 an hour for the line being shut down? (That is what the Union Pacific Emergancy Response Manager quoted at Texas A&M Fire School!)

I know the river barges on the Mississippi river that bring coal to Big Cajun power co. If they don't get unloaded in a certain amount of time Cajun has to pay the barge co about $2500. a hour per barge that are stuck there. And when you figure each tow has about 40 barges that alot of money.

[Jim_WV]

Wow !, I too hope the driver got off safely. I just can't understand how people can not see a train coming. What a terrible way to learn a lesson IF you're fortunate enough to live through it.

[freebird]

"Oh, that'll buff right out"

[bmwe0692]

The U.P. has contracts with all sorts of companies. Promise to be there by this time and its not, You pay. Recrews,traveling crews around the state,
wages for people sitting around,waiting for their chance to get in and start building back to where we can run trains. Paying for what was destroyed.
Not to mention the cars, lading and material involved. That cost comes off the top!
Contract crews come in, remove all the cars, old track and regrade a flat roadbed. They have 39' sections of prebuilt track with bolts, angle bars and ballast cars,ready to go at all the major terminals all over the system. Run work trains out to the derailment site with the panels and ballast and start building from each end,meet in middle, dump ballast,surface the track,start running trains!! Of course this might take 12-24-36 hrs. Makes for a GOOD pay check,but for the fatigue that also sets in. Haven't got in on any lately! (knock on wood)
FRA, OSHA and a host of government people are usually on site taking measurements ,testing the train crew,checking wheel flange sharpness,
trying to find a cause.
Hope this little lesson helps some one to stay alive.
T.J.

[Ingersoll444]

One thing I've always wondered about, is why don't train cars have running lights? I imagine it would be a maintenance nightmare, but at some of these country crossings in the middle of the night, it would be nice to see from a distance if a train is going by.


Well you would think that would help, but 1 if your at a crossing there are lights there, and if they are flashing you better be thinking theres a train there, eaven if you cant see it. if your ar the side of the line with no crossing, your probably tursspassing. Also I bet if you dug, you would find almost all the crashes happan in bright day time. I dont think its a problem of not seeing the train, its just being stupid. "I can make it"

[chipmaker]

Evidently JD needs to improve those bolts that mount the engine to the tranny. If it was a ford with those high strenght bolks they advertise that holds their beds on it would not have got busted in two..........and here i thought JD made a high quality product :00000060:

Sort of gives a new meaning to splitting a tractor, or breaking the bead on a tire! Don't ya know, if that tractors operator survived, he had to have one heck of a ride on what was left of the operators station.

[thesmartfarmer]

You would think they would make those tractors better than that ROF

[bmwe0692]

The FRA Federal RailRoad Administration is thinking of mandating reflectorized
striping along the sides of the car bodies. Most train accidents happen,like the previous poster, said in broad daylight.
On double or even triple track always wait for the train to get a ways from the crossing. There might be a train or two coming from the other way!
Remember The light at the end of the tunnel maybe another train!!!!
T.J.

[Kid Muddy]

Well you would think that would help, but 1 if your at a crossing there are lights there, and if they are flashing you better be thinking theres a train there, eaven if you cant see it. if your ar the side of the line with no crossing, your probably tursspassing. Also I bet if you dug, you would find almost all the crashes happan in bright day time. I dont think its a problem of not seeing the train, its just being stupid. "I can make it"

There's plenty of train crossings without lights, just stop signs. There are a few without even stop signs, just signs that say "Watch For Trains". I always stop at crossings at night, with or without stop signs. I've seen too many train accidents to know that the train always wins.

[Ken N Tx]

Trains do not always win..
http://www.ble.org/pr/newsletter/0797newsletter/Kansasunionpacific.jpeg Train Accidents (http://www.ble.org/pr/newsletter/0797newsletter/page3.html)

[Ingersoll444]

You got that right Ken. Also a fact that is missing is that a train is run by someone. And that someone has to live with the fact everyday, that they killed someone, just becoiuse the person was in "to much of a hurry" to wait a few min for the train to pass.

[Simon Smith]

Over here all trains have running lights, but crossing accidents are on the increase.

Must just mean there are more stupid people about

[bmwe0692]

Next time you are waiting for a train. If you can see the headlight,guess how fast it is approaching. You'll be surprised how quickly it gets there! Not seeing any thing moving behind the light throws your sense of speed and distance way off.
One train crew(engineer and conductor) that I know of, are going to counciling, They had an incident and hit a car going around the gates- one hurt-one killed. They have reoccuring dreams of the incident, just like the viet-nam vets. Lots of stress being on the lead engine of the train. Close calls,near misses,driving around the gates are some of the things that are reported to the dispatcher. If they can get your license plate, who was driving and any other particulars, a stern, but polite letter is sent to the offending partys address.
Hope my rambling dosen't offend any-one, we all need to watch out for one another in this day and age!!
T. J. terry

[CatDaddy]

Must just mean there are more stupid people about

Nah, there have always been plenty of stupid people. I think they just breed faster. And of course, their shenanigans make news.

Darwin Awards, anyone? ROF ROF