Posted on 08/22/2006 5:30:44 AM PDT by MichaelP
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| Occurred : 1/14/2002 02:47 (Entered as : 01/14/02 2:47) Reported: 4/3/2006 11:51:27 AM 11:51 Posted: 5/15/2006 Location: Paintsville, KY Shape: Disk Duration:15 minutes |
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| Train Collision At exactly 2:47 a.m. on Jan. 14 02, while working a coal train enroute from Russell Kentucky to Shelbiana Kentucky, our trailing unit and first two cars were severely damaged as we struck an unknown floating or hovering object. I know it was 2:47 because my watch froze, and to this day shows that time. Along with my watch the entire electrical systems on both locomotives went haywire. Approaching a bend near milepost cmg 42 in an area referred to as the wild kingdom, for the many different types of animals spotted there, my conductor and I saw lights coming from around the way. This ordinarily means another train is coming and will pass on the other track. The outlay of the area is this, the river, #1 track, #2 track and a straight up mountainside, carved out for the laying of these tracks. I killed our lights as not to blind the oncoming crew. As we rounded the corner our onboard computer began to flash in and out, speed recorder went nuts, and both locomotives died. Alarm bells began to ring and thats when we saw the objects. Apparently scanning the river for something, the objects, (at least 3) had several "search" lights trained there, the first object hovered about 10 to 12 feet above the track. Metallic silver in color with multiple colored lights near the bottom and in the middle, no windows or openings of any kind that we could see. Approximately 18 to 20 feet in length and probably ten feet high. With both engines dead as we rounded the corner we made little noise and the first object did not respond in time, I estimate that we hit the object at 30 mph with 16,000 trailing tons behind us. It clipped the top of our lead unit then skipped back slicing a chunk out of our trailing unit and first two coal cars. The other objects vanished into thin air. Our emergency brakes had initiated due to the loss of power and we stopped approximately a mile and a half to two miles after impact. Our power restored after we were stopped and we notified our dispatcher, located in Jacksonville Fla. of what had happened. We were told to inspect the cars to see if they'd hold the rail and try to limp into milepost cmg 60 which used to be the Paintsville yard which is no longer in full operation. We checked everything out and the cab of the rear locomotive was demolished and smoking, the second two cars looked as if they had been hit with a giant hammer but looked like they'd hold the rail. We pulled into Paintsville yard at approximately 5:15 am. The huge overhead lights lining the yard were noticeably dark and the only lights came from what we assumed were railroad officials vehicles parked near the end of the track. We pulled to a stop and began unloading our grips off the wounded train. We could hear what sounded like an army of workers immediately tending to our train. Vehicle doors slamming, guys running by in weird outfits and lights glaring from all directions, the one thing missing was railroad officials. A guy named Ferguson shook my hand and asked me to follow him into the old yard office. We did, once inside they, and by they I mean I have no idea who these people were, began to ask us hundreds of questions, they then told us for our own protection we'd be medically tested before we could leave. I asked repeatedly to talk to my road foreman or trainmaster and not only were these requests denied but they confiscated my conductors cellular phone. Hours later we were led outside the old yard office and the strange things continued to happen, the 2 locomotives and two cars were removed from the rest of the train we had brought in and my only guess was parked 4 tracks over under a huge tent like structure buzzing with activity. We were lead off property and told due to national security our silence on this matter would be appreciated. We were then put in a Railroad vehicle and taken to Martin Kentucky were we went throgh questioning again with railroad officials and were then drug tested. After all of this we were sent on to Shelbiana, where we took rest for 8 hours and worked another train back to Russell. Working back we passed by Paintsville, no sign of the engines, cars, tent, people, nothing. ((COMMENT/ADDENDUM FROM VISITOR TO NUFORC SITE, MAY 16, 2006)) For what it's worth, as a railfan I can say the terminology/slang the witness is using is accurate and how he describes the train's reaction seems likely. Since he says his dispatcher is in Jacksonville, FL, I can tell it happened on CSX. You might want to ask him about that and if he remembers the unit numbers or model. Locomotives last between 15-20 years unless they are totally demolished in a wreck. That means the units involved are most likely still in service and can, perhaps, be examined. Another FWIW would be the Portland, OR, railcams that operate 24/7 with some sky in the views. I doubt that they archive their feed but you never know. ((END ADDENDUM)) |
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Mike
Interesting story
Iranians!
Well, that's kinda weird. Maybe this is why everyone thinks us Kentucky people are all crazy.
ISn't there a way to verify if anything REALLY happened?
Is this a call for Agents Mulder and Skully?
That officialdom was already there and waiting indicates that the train clipped something that belonged to officialdom.
Aerial View Paintsville, KY Railroad yard
Should have been easy enough to get pictures of the damaged engines.
E.M.P.
That or Jack Bauer is nearby.....
Nuttier 'an a squirrel turd!
Okay, maybe it's just me but I'm thinking if I hit something that caused that kind of damage, I'm walking back down the tracks as far as I have to to find out what I hit and if anybody was dead or laying in some kind of wreckage alongside the tracks...
ping
This story proves the magical powers of Kentucky White Lightnin'.
No pictures of the damage, huh?
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