Posted on 09/12/2008 4:48:21 PM PDT by My Favorite Headache
Metro Link train in flames...dozens of ambulances en-route to the scene...
Thanks. That would have been my take mostly because there are several ninety degree bends in the track near there. Still, there are some people who have been saying the trains go about 70 on that stretch of track. I can’t honesly imagine that.
The Conductor wouldn’t know the exact speed. He could give a pretty good guess, but he is doing other things and might not be noticing the speed very much, unless it was outside the normal speed considerably.
That would be my take on it.
they are lifting the Metrolink Car now....LAFD said they needed a forensic photographer on stand by.
In any case, they said the “recovery” operation will be over by 5pm today.
I missed this earlier. I’m very sorry to hear this.
Glad to hear the worst is over
More bad news is going to be coming out. I just found out that a Moorpark pastor and his wife were on the train. He does not show any brain activity. His wife is being released today with a punctured lung.
Since trainriders often only know each other by first name or by face only, unless they publish a list of pictures of the victims, we will never know for certain if someone we used to ride with didn’t make it.
The 70 mph ends in Chatsworth....the section where the accident was is 40 mph. I have the timetable in front of me (I am one of those train nuts too)
KNBC 4 is live right now.
I’m leary of the aftermath of pulling that engine out. I hope I’m wrong.
I like trains but I’m not quite the level of nut. I wouldn’t mind being though. There is something about trains that interest me. There’s something about the sea and sail boats too. It’s sorta like I hear them calling me.
Interesting the NTSB lady said they heard “Metrolink’s theory of what happened”
Thanks for the KNBC(4) tip. I was able to catch part of it.
CNN Headline News has been covering it too.
I made a mistake also and didn’t read to the news that Bob has two broken legs... awful.
Many familiar faces will surely be missing, should you decide to take that train again. I watched a man being interviewed on ch.9 last night. He was one of two riding in the second car who emerged unscathed. Later, when he was asked if he would ride that train again, he said he had to talk with his wife and daughters about that. The interview, where he described the crash, the conditions and rescuing other passengers from the car, was very poignant.
I was going to take a different train yesterday out to the L.A. County Fair, but came down with a bad cold.
Metrolink may be extrapolating their theory based on the normal etiquette in that area of track. The NTSB should take it with a grain of salt. They need to look at all the possibilities real hard.
They said they are basing it upon the dispacher recordings and the information gathered from the signal itself (it records the signal’s status when trains go by).
I thought it was spin the first I heard of it on the car radio. Simply, because there was no reason to make a pronouncement like that today.
Thanks ZGuy. That sounds reasonable.
ZGuy provided the probable source of that determination. It made sense.
Right now I’d rather see the victims and their families be the focus. It’s not going to help them to hear this was a human failure right now, so I agree with you.
They can’t just blame the engineer. The conductor must call aloud every signal and ensure the engineer knows and follows the indication.
That would seem to be a very hard thing to accomplish on a busy Metrolink train, for the Conductors.
You pinged to me a thread I pinged you to at post #16. ;-)
Trying to get caught up on the thread now.
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