Crossing gates and power outages

[Ted Calver]

Never trust a crossing. I always look both ways.....just in case.
http://abcnews.go.com/US/passenger-t...ry?id=45022454

[Andy Giddings]

Never trust a crossing. I always look both ways.....just in case.
http://abcnews.go.com/US/passenger-t...ry?id=45022454

Amazingly enough, no reported injuries. I can only imagine how the drivers of both the train and truck feel

[Rod Sheridan]

Amazingly enough, no reported injuries. I can only imagine how the drivers of both the train and truck feel

When I was in college I had a girl friend whose father was a Locomotive Engineer, he hit an automobile at a level crossing.

The people had driven onto the tracks and the guards came down in front and behind the automobile.

He could see the automobile, even though the train was about 600 metres away. He had a 106 car freight behind 4 locomotives.

He recounted that he applied the brakes, put on the horn and closed his eyes, and to that day had nightmares about the sound of the locomotive pushing and rolling the automobile in front of it until it broke into pieces and was pushed off the track.

I always think of him whenever I'm at a guarded crossing watching the train go by, I'm sure an incident like that would leave permanent psychological damage..............Regards, Rod

[John K Jordan]

I always think of him whenever I'm at a guarded crossing watching the train go by, I'm sure an incident like that would leave permanent psychological damage..............Regards, Rod

When I was a kid in PA we lived across some tracks. One day a man started over a crossing a few hundred yards up the tracks from us. A train took the front end of the car off at the firewall and spread it down the tracks. Amazingly the man escaped even a scratch. Someone came and asked us kids if we had heard whether or not the conductor blew the whistle. Unfortunately, we were no help even though we had been playing in the yard at the time - when you live next to the tracks you almost never hear the trains or whistles. We did have "stop, look, and listen" drummed into us. Our dad always turned off the radio and rolled down the window to listen.

JKJ

[Mike Henderson]

When I was a teenager, I was working at a place next to the train tracks (dual tracks). No gate, just the sign. For some reason I was out in front of the company and witnessed this.

A freight train was passing on the track away from me. As soon as it finished, cars started to cross the track. What they couldn't see because of the train that had just passed, was that a passenger train was coming on the track closest to me and from the direction where the other train was headed. So the freight train was blocking people's view of the passenger train. Several cars made it across the tracks safely but one was hit broadside and the woman driving it was killed. Her kids had a service station just across the street from me and she was coming to their station. Unfortunately, they witnessed the accident, also.

Mike

[Garth Almgren]

Since the RR crossing gates are counter balanced I'd be surprised if the batteries were not rated for an extended power outage. The little batteries in my electric security gate controller are supposed to open and close the two 8' gates 400 time if the power goes out.

While riding the Sounder train to Mariners or Seahawk games, I've noticed that the small powerhouses between cities that power the signals often have a portable generator chained to the building during storm season, so I think the battery backup is likely only good for a few hours, but not days.

[Frank Drew]

Frank there was an accident in Chicago that fit's that description. The light changed and there were vehicles in front of the bus and the back of the bus was on the tracks. The driver panicked and did nothing when they could have rammed into the vehicles in front to get clear. A poorly designed intersection and light timing was to blame.

That sounds exactly like the awful accident I'd heard of, Ronald, complete with the driver not having the presence of mind (or whatever) to blow through the cars blocking her bus. Terrible for absolutely everyone involved.