There are at least two crew people in the cab of each locomotive, the engineer and a Bateman. The engineer runs the locomotive and the brakeman gets off to throw any switches that need to be thrown to get the locomotive onto different tracks. The engineer has, on many locomotives,to hold a dead man switch down with his foot for the locomotive to move. Thus,for the collision to have happened without serious, intentional foul play, at least both crew members in one of the locomotives would have had to be asleep and the dead man switch not working. No engineer in his right mind runs a train through a red board.
Some people who are far more experienced railroaded than I are on this thread. Will any of you please comment on what I have said. My comments are all based on three summers of railroading I did about 50 years ago while in college.
“50 years ago while in college”
What an interesting time you must have had.
You are correct that no engineer in his right mind would knowingly run through a red board.