The awful accident involving the Southwest Chief and a dump truck brought to my mind the five hours I spent in the head end of an Amtrak locomotive. I was working on the first edition of my All Aboard book and wanted to include a chapter describing the jobs of each of the on board…
Since the first of this year, five people have been struck and killed by Brightline trains, the new rail passenger service running between Miami and West Palm Beach in Florida. And for the calendar year 2017, a total of 17 people died after being struck by Tri-Rail trains. That’s the commuter railroad serving Palm Beach,…
NEWS ITEM: Police have identified the 76-year-old man who was struck by an Amtrak train about 5:45 p.m. Monday near Gear Avenue and Mount Pleasant Street. Sometimes it’s a suicide and sometimes it’s some idiot driving around the barriers trying to beat the train over the crossing. But make no mistake: when these incidents…
An interesting question came in by email the other day asking about “Quiet Zones” … that is, specific stretches of track, usually running through or adjacent to residential areas, where residents want relief from the blaring horns of locomotives hauling both freight and passenger trains. Under normal circumstances, engineers are required to sound the…