One more thing, in addition to "be safe, be smart, please promote finding the blue sign with the phone number and crossing code. The FIRST thing to do if an incident of some sort is blocking the tracks. There is a always a train coming and dispatch can tell the train crew to stop the train which can make the incident not get a whole lot worse. None of my friends were aware of the signs.
To all the German viewers, please call the authorities, either tell them where its located, or the number (usually on the hut next to the crossing with BÜ). call 112.
I finally googled this to see exactly what the signs look like and where they're located, I keep meaning to check out some local crossings for the signs to familiarize myself with them outside of an emergency situation.
This is a strange coincidence. The day before this was uploaded, in Belgium, a line bus mostly carried middle and high schoolers to school when it suddenly broke down on a level crossing. The driver first did a thing to get get his bus restarted and get out of there and onwards or at least off the rails. Then evacuated the bus. 57 seconds after evacuation a train made contact. Bus was empty and only a couple of people got injured on the train. I heard on the news the spokesman for the railway basicaly telling the driver off for not calling the dessicated number to get trains stopped. Now important to note, the bus was stopped for 2min 57sec when contact happend. The timeing of evacuation was taken from a kid who basically started filming when he got off. Now imagine you are that driver and your bus suddenly stops. You try to restart the thing, perhaps twice, then you have to think, crap this ain't moving, get up and make sure all passengers get off safely. By the time that is happend you have got to know what to do. I don't know details as I wasn't on the bus but I think sometimes there is wrong place wrong time. Also, bus was 19 years old, had over 600 000 miles on the clock. The main operating body uses crap like that, it had an inspection (like all motorised vehicles need ro have here) and was cleared for another year, but contractors who drive around 50% of the milage of lines and do so in name of the main company so to speak, get forced to either run even older stuff because hey, timetables changing in 3 weeks time and you get 4 more shifts you need to run or force them to constantly modify because a 15 year old bendy bus with only 150 000 miles on it (cus it only ran at peak hours) was to poor for their standards. In 5 and a half years the only thing I ever saw wrong with it was a speedo thar wasn't working, for some reason that was mounted via a hinge and a key and some guy had opend that door breaking contact, and the rear doors that weren't working for a couple of days. I rode that beast nearly daily and I'm sad it didn't get preserved. Oh well, at least her younger sisters at the same depot got longer lives (due to bus shortages at the main company, they lone in the old crap of the contracters.) Sorry for the tangent.
Some of the stuff that I have heard of train vs are Ship (ship lost) A plane that was still in the air (steam train goes BOOM) A hot air balloon (the balloon was the one that hit the train) Two tanks ( the tanks were scrapped afterwards) And a helicopter (helicopter did a emergency landing on the track when there was no train, train come in later)
@@itsjustaviper The one about the plane and train goes BOOM happened a lot in WWII from planes strafing trains with machine-gun fire and/or bombs during the war.
The poor switch choochoo clean up off its wheels was nuts. Thank you for sharing, these sidelights on the industry are always fun. Also much appreciate the PSA, be safe out there everyone :)
Remember: A fully-loaded train can take upwards of a mile to stop. We've had a few people at the Valley Railroad attempt to 'beat the train', which was scary, and downright stupid. Sure, we're going slow, but at the same time, this is hundreds of tons that won't stop on a dime. The fastest we've stopped an engine at the speeds we run took 165 feet, and that was at a very slow speed due to poor conditions. "Use your head, don't end up dead." ~ Norman, the old-timer that I spoke to at Strasburg back in 2019.
Hoo boy do I have some stories about this stuff too lol. I only have three years at the railroad, but I've seen the aftermath from a couple train vs. car situations, two train vs. truck scenarios, a number of tree strikes, two or three deer/cows that got whacked, three smashed out draft gear pockets, one that got sideswiped, and even one that hit a grain silo. (and a partridge in a pear tree) One of the ones that sticks out was a straight body tanker truck loaded with water that hit a locomotive at a crossing. (Yes, the truck hit the locomotive) The crew was coming down a grade with an empty stone train and saw the truck coming. They blew for the crossing and everything, but when the engineer thought the truck wouldn't be able to stop, he dumped the train and the crew hunkered down in the cab. They said it looked like a Hollywood explosion out the engineer's side window. Just a fireball taller than the locomotive. The truck hit the side of the front truck on the lead locomotive hard enough to derail the locomotive. The momentum from the rest of the train managed to derail the second truck on that locomotive as well as the first truck on the next locomotive and the second truck on that locomotive had both wheelsets with their flanges up on the rail head. The lead locomotive got far enough off the track that the front pilot was buried up to the running boards. After the dust settled a bit, the crew got out and found the driver on fire running into a nearby creek and rolling around trying to put himself out. The driver ended up getting life flighted to a hospital and his truck sat at the crossing and burned up the side of the third locomotive in the consist. If I recall correctly, they found that the truck hit the lead engine going over 45mph, I'm honestly amazed that the driver survived. We also had one that hit a truck stuck on a grade crossing because the driver took the wrong road over the tracks and the front coupler hit the fuel tank on the side of the truck which popped like a balloon a covered the front half of the locomotive in diesel fuel. That driver ended up getting into a heap of trouble for reasons I won't get into here. One of the scarier ones was actually a tree strike. It was an SD40-2 that hit a large tree that had been blown down in a storm and one of the limbs managed to smash the window on the front door out and managed to make it all the way through the cab a left a 2in deep dent in the electrical cabinet door about a foot from where the conductor's head would have been if he was sitting. For those that don't know, front facing windows on a locomotive have to be able to withstand a 24lb (~11kg) cinder block at about 30mph (~50kph) so that was one heck of a tree limb to just smash right through. So yeah, I've seen some good ones too lol.
I was just about to get some sleep, working on that 3 railroads in a trench coat parody kept my adhd me up late, but aw heck sleep can wait a bit! Its SFS time!
As someone who does a lot of driving for my job. Something i have actually started doing is no matter what the circumstances are. i will always turn on my hazards, slow down, and treat every crossing as a road intersection so i can verify myself that it is all clear
This reminds me of a few stories. Many moons ago, I worked for a company called Renzenberger that was contracted by the railroads to transport their crews to and from their trains. Any time a crew went dead, a Renzenberger van took out a new crew and picked up the old crew. I was stationed at BNSF's MOBEST yard in Phoenix as the Yard Driver. As crews came in and went off duty, I'd drive them to the hotel, or pick up crews at the hotel coming on duty. One day, I got called to pick up a crew that had been in a collision. They had been coming in to town, doing 15mph, and hit a car that ran a red light trying to beat the train. (Obligatory PSA: Running a red light to beat a train is doubly stupid, don't do it). There was the usual damage to the loco, plus a car with a caved in side and coupler shaped hole in the door, but no driver. The driver had gotten out and run away. The police were standing around looking puzzled, until one saw a trail of blood. Last I saw, the officers were walking off following the trail. Another story is when, at a container loading/unloading facility, a container car had been ever so slightly derailed by a crane, but nobody noticed until it got pulled out of the facility, and went fully derailed and ripped up a quarter mile of track.
i distinctly remember seeing semi trucks with trailer liveries promoting train safety, because they all had a picture of a diesel loco with text along the lines of "trains will not stop for you" or something close to it
There’s a reason I always stop at grade crossings (aside from when I’m required to). This also illustrates why I treat any part of my bus getting hung up over tracks as an emergency (I have a red light in my city that can easily cause that).
Woo, a SFS episode! Am always astounded how many cars I see stopping in the crossing waiting on a red light or stop sign, pinned in by the car in front and behind. Or the crossing runners who put 5 minutes waiting on a train over their life (I actually like being stopped and watching the train go by, lol). I did see a car hauler trailer high centered on the track, but luckily no trains came by. Happy Thanksgiving all and stay safe!
I used to be a body-man, I dealt with more deer hits than I can count. As soon as you said hit a herd of cattle I just snapped back to power washing deer bits off of cars. Fun times lol.
Similar to Kenosha, most railroaders who bin it hard enough get stuck with a location named after them. We had “Caesar’s Scrapyard”, “Cory’s Corner”, and a spot called “The BBQ Pit”, where a very keen manager tried to take a cut of ‘splodey tank cars down a 1% grade with no air cut in. No-one was hurt too bad.
In regards to grade crossing accidents, I’m reminded all too much of an operation lifesaver poster my dad had: “When it’s a tie at the railroad crossing, you lose!”
Hi Mark, those pictures you shared were OMG, but also very interesting. I was absolutely amazed at how 3/4” thick steel snapped like glass and the immense force it took to make that happen. I have to admit I got a giggle at the cow episode (poor cows), like you said shocking once you realized…. I sympathize with you, Mark about the miss-matched AC unit, that so hurt my eyes! 🤣 Your message about railway safety was well said. Professor, another excellent SFS episode with great, detailed photos and beautiful storytelling. Mark, many thanks for this video and sharing your experiences, and as always cheers to you.
This far I’ve only hit a total of two deers as an engineer. But statistically I’ll hit at least two people in my career. Luckily hitting cars is very uncommon here in Sweden.
Was only on mechanical shortly on a shortline but spent two years on a class one as a conductor. Saw one of our engines drug back in after hitting a water truck. Basically everything on the outside of the engine was destroyed. Brake cylinders, handrails, pilot steps, etc were just destroyed. It ripped the fuel cap off the tank. That was a good day for our crew. They were not injured thankfully
LOL! I spent a couple of years of my military career doing physical security. The place I worked at leased a lot of the property to local ranchers who ran herds of cattle on some of the ground. One night one of my coworkers hit a cow as it stepped up out of a ditch onto the road. By the time I got there, Frank was at the back of his car spitting and coughing trying to clean out his mouth. Apparently, the cow had been spun by the collision, broken the passenger window, and sprayed the inside of the car.
Imagine being the CSX shop crew that had to repair the locomotives from the Paintsville UFO incident. The TLDR is CSX coal train in Kentucky hits a flying saucer, and wrecks the locomotives also causes damage to the supposed UFO.
Here in BC, Canada, they have at pedestrian crossings on the pavement, a few feet from the rails: Locomotive silhouette, "LOOK LISTEN LIVE"... the shame that people (usually young) have their focus on their phones playing games or texting... the railways hoping, while these same people are looking down, will see this bright yellow/orange sign on the pavement. John
The herd of cows story: my girlfriend told me about that one earlier and I could both visualize and smell it, having been a dairy farm kid who was forced to help whenever the veterinarian was called out plus had the displeasure of being around cannulated cows on occasion (dad had to as part of his degree so he was going to make sure I did as well even though I wasn't getting credit hours out of it )
One every 90 to 120 minutes... on one of the most avaidable accidents on Earth. As you said, the train is not going to go out of its way to hit you normally. I remember the Royal Gorge death, the famous one where the person jumped from the bridge into a train passing below, but any time a human and a train meet it is very upsetting, and almost universally unneccessary.
This reminds me of a story I was told. Many moons ago, I was at BNSF's MOBEST yard in Phoenix, and was talking to one of the engineers. He told a story of one time he hit a car on the tracks. The driver of the car tried to blame the train, saying it "swerved and hit her". The engineer told the police officer to climb into the cab of the engine, and if he found a steering wheel, the engineer would take the blame for the crash.
Once saw a Pendolino come into London Euston. Largely undamaged but the whole front was smeared in bits of deer. I guess they kinda just go poof when you hit them at a hundred miles per hour, but I had no envy for whoever had to clean that up.
10:01 this exact thing happened to two regional trains in germany a while back, if i recall correctly, was carrying passengers, thankfully no one got severely injured afaik.
Alright, worst animal story I have is the time a deer tried to jump over the spikey, parking lot fence (the historic one donated to CRRM by Union Station). I got a call from the HO Club President who was on-site for a meeting. In addition being impaled on the fence the poor animal had broken it's leg in multiple places. I actually cover the story (and several other horrible CRRM animal stories) in a video on my channel (I've had to personally help "remove" a few pests in my 20+ years) - ua-cam.com/users/liveHEunjNY9Pfo
And don't fib Mark, I know you have seen the photo of the Shop Rat that Dusty ran over with Pee Wee while Eric Roche was directing him (also covered in the above video). How the heck do you run a rat over with a switch-diesel?
Yiiiiikes. That's not a fun one. I've always heard the story that 4 was pulling 491 out, and the rat was sitting on the rail with its tail towards the engine. Eric didn't see it until it felt its tail being pinched and it tried to run away before it exploded...
@@Hyce777 accurate....the picture is ridiculous - I have it but you can't share that around publicly. I only heard the story after Eric said something along the lines of "did you see the Shop-Rat photo? You can see the liver."
@@Hyce777 Reminds me of a very flat mouse I once saw on the railhead while loading intermodal containers at Forrestfield. I wondered at what this weird brown thing on the railhead was. Then clocked the shape and the tail. And the red 'jelly' next to it. Turns out, 45 flat wagons of import shipping containers grossing some 1800 or so tonnes and small rodents do not play at all well together. Especially when your intermodal pad lives right next door to a big grain silo.... 😐 (On a happier note, the ducks show far more train sense. Even if they are slow to move)
Seriously Hyce, you should look up some of the UK's rail safety PSA's from 80's/90's especially the ones around the danger of overhead live wires. I personally know of an incident in my hometown in Nottinghamshire, UK where teen boys thought it funny to remove the wooden bottom of a railway bridge quite frequently. This carried on until an early morning jogger went missing and was found miles away dead inside a hopper car having fallen from the bridge into the car.
And those aren’t even the bad ones, those get loaded on a flat car with the trucks on another car, and waybilled directly to a backshop, sometimes sent back to the builder, or an off road repair shop.
I remember my dad told me a while ago about an incident he saw while he lived in Texas. While he was driving to work, he saw a train hit a cow, I’ll hide the details down further for those who don’t wish to hear what happened. The train hit the cow, and my dad told me that it literally exploded in a cloud of green and covered the front end of the locomotive. He also told me he’s seen a train hit a semi a couple of times, and when he was a kid working on a ranch, a train hit something (I don’t remember what it was) and derailed right in his back yard.
Trains hitting things is always.....not great. In my time on the railways I have only seen the aftermath of one coming to together...kinda..... Our carriage care team were shunting one morning and managed to push 5 Mk.1 coaches past one that was ever so slightly out of gauge as it hadn't been pushing into the loop it was in far enough. Expensive morning with 6 coaches out of use due to bodywork damage, torn off door handles and hand grabs plus broken windows....
i cant imagine who thinks its a good idea to let you near any kind of heavy equipment. you dont inspire enough confidence to let you near a shopping cart
I got a train on an Abe Lincoln class 1 once, the power was turned somewhere inroute due to a crossing accident. By the time I got it, the train has made over 700 miles since the accident. I went to inspect the power and the 3rd motor, the one involved in the crossing accident, had the front steps and supporting steel pushed all the way into the lead truck! I called mechanical to come out and look and they said hell no, that thing doesn't need to move another inch!
Trainacides, my ex-wife grow up in Springfield Colorado, and the 2 mile long trains would do about 70 to 75 mph through there, and a guy got back from desert storm and lost everything, so he put every rose has it thorn on repeat feeding his depression and drank more of a handle of Jim bean and stood on the tracks when the train came around the bind. he saluted the engineer as he vaporized. by the time the engineer could get back to talk to the emergency people the mortician already bagged the body. they think it's easy, but it is a selfish way to go. you effect other people, some very nice people. If you lose everything, it sucks, but tomorrow is a chance to find something better, tomorrow you can change your environment, prove to yourself, you are you, better then yesterday. I am my happiest starting over. I always need change. what do you need?
While I was living in Jefferson, TX, a deaf man was walking along the UP track away from a crossing when a train came from behind. The curve was a 10-degree so it had a 30 mph speed limit. The engineer blew the horn for the crossing and then kept blowing it at the man who couldn't hear it. Just as the train got to the man, he stepped onto the track in front of the train. Needless to say, the engineer put the train into emergency but the man did not have a chance just feet in front of the train even at 30 mph. I remember a news broadcast in the 1950s, where the cameraman was at a train station to cover an important person arriving and was taking a film of the train arriving. Just as the train got to some people, one of them jumped in front of the train committing suicide. A very bad day for all.
The picture of the SW that whacked the hoppers reminds me of a photo ive seen from the Pittsburg and Shawmut railroad in Brookville, PA. It was one of the P&S's earlier, smaller mikados, and the entire engineer's side of the cab was just gone, almost like a cutaway. A line of hoppers had broken loose and the engine was fouling a switch. The cars tore through the cab, i believe completely mashed the tender, and sadly the engineer was killed in the incident. Crazy stuff.
With regard to the carcass, I noticed my local landfill has a passage in their Q&A asking customers to call ahead so they can dig a hole for disposal of any larger ex-animals in an effort to discourage scavengers. There may be a way to have it picked up by one's usual waste hauler, but I suspect local laws may require a more specialized service.
as a heavy highway operator i know exactly what you mean by the story's that you don't want to talk about and why you try to make people think good job
Every Locomotive Shop has a pile of (damaged) Steps in some Corner. At least ours do, and I've involuntary contributed to the Pile lol. Being on the Locomotive in even a small crash isn't fun.
I’ve seen a train hit a truck it was going slow but the driver of the truck was still transported to a nearby hospital… (I was at a sports event at the time of witnessing it)
kinda a random question. my town lost power a while back, and do rail crossing get power from local grid or do they have there own lines / power. its a commuter line in NJ. last time we lost power i stopped and looked both ways since idk if the gate would work since the traffic light 200 feet away / all the houses around it had not power.
I remember back in the day on the VWvortex forums, a guy local to me hit a deer with his Mk3 Jetta. Damage was minimal but what happened on impact is that the headlight exploded and caved in, turning the edge of the hood and fender into a giant scoop that just yoinked out the entrails of the poor critter and spread it's last meal all over the engine bay!! Looking at pics of the carnage, it just looked like nice fresh cut grass, but was actually potential deer puke forcibly sprayed all about!! That warbonnet AC triggers me like road crews not putting in the manhole cover back in correctly when there's a line sprayed across it!!!
Regarding the self termination cases, I won't go into details, but even here in rural Norway, these cases are shocking and heartbreaking when it's someone you are on a first name basis with. They can happen out of the blue in your perspective, possibly be because of things that logically shouldn't result in such an outcome, or never be understood why that happened. But the most important thing we all can do if we notice someone who pull back or have lost some of their usual mood or calmness, is to be there for that person, not to solve every issue they have, but to be a human connection they can talk to. Because we humans are tribe animals, just having an another person who see them, that are open for talking or being there alongside the person who's struggling. Perhaps you are the reason they see that's enough to seek professional help?
I live by a active rail yard and Amtrak on the other side of my street. Ive seen people play chicken with these trains and they loose every time . There is a accident there every two to three days and that's including death by train. It's a sad thing to witness and makes it even sadder is when they or loved by many people in the town. Into the people they keep putting graffiti on these trains. Please stop it is awful.
@@Timerman765especially if its winter and the train is just rolling, snow dampens the Sound a lot (but also in the summer sometimes). even worse an electric train, modern ones you dont hear at all, i regulary take the electric commuter train here in germany, and sometimes you dont hear it till its right at the Platform.
@Timerman765 also if you're dealing with high speed rail, the train may be travelling at a non-trivial fraction of the speed of sound. Even 75 mph is about 1/10th of the speed and will reduce the time you have to react.
Waste not, want not is what I say about animal carcasses in vehicular accidents. If you can ensure that the animal is collected quickly enough after the collision, that's your kill, and you have the rights to the meat on the bones, at least in NY state.
One more thing, in addition to "be safe, be smart, please promote finding the blue sign with the phone number and crossing code. The FIRST thing to do if an incident of some sort is blocking the tracks. There is a always a train coming and dispatch can tell the train crew to stop the train which can make the incident not get a whole lot worse. None of my friends were aware of the signs.
Excellent point.
To all the German viewers, please call the authorities, either tell them where its located, or the number (usually on the hut next to the crossing with BÜ). call 112.
I finally googled this to see exactly what the signs look like and where they're located, I keep meaning to check out some local crossings for the signs to familiarize myself with them outside of an emergency situation.
In australia, look for yellow signs, they work the same way but are yellow.
This is a strange coincidence.
The day before this was uploaded, in Belgium, a line bus mostly carried middle and high schoolers to school when it suddenly broke down on a level crossing. The driver first did a thing to get get his bus restarted and get out of there and onwards or at least off the rails. Then evacuated the bus. 57 seconds after evacuation a train made contact. Bus was empty and only a couple of people got injured on the train.
I heard on the news the spokesman for the railway basicaly telling the driver off for not calling the dessicated number to get trains stopped. Now important to note, the bus was stopped for 2min 57sec when contact happend. The timeing of evacuation was taken from a kid who basically started filming when he got off. Now imagine you are that driver and your bus suddenly stops. You try to restart the thing, perhaps twice, then you have to think, crap this ain't moving, get up and make sure all passengers get off safely. By the time that is happend you have got to know what to do. I don't know details as I wasn't on the bus but I think sometimes there is wrong place wrong time. Also, bus was 19 years old, had over 600 000 miles on the clock. The main operating body uses crap like that, it had an inspection (like all motorised vehicles need ro have here) and was cleared for another year, but contractors who drive around 50% of the milage of lines and do so in name of the main company so to speak, get forced to either run even older stuff because hey, timetables changing in 3 weeks time and you get 4 more shifts you need to run or force them to constantly modify because a 15 year old bendy bus with only 150 000 miles on it (cus it only ran at peak hours) was to poor for their standards. In 5 and a half years the only thing I ever saw wrong with it was a speedo thar wasn't working, for some reason that was mounted via a hinge and a key and some guy had opend that door breaking contact, and the rear doors that weren't working for a couple of days.
I rode that beast nearly daily and I'm sad it didn't get preserved. Oh well, at least her younger sisters at the same depot got longer lives (due to bus shortages at the main company, they lone in the old crap of the contracters.)
Sorry for the tangent.
14:14 I have a sign on my bedroom door that says "Caution, trains have no brain, please use your own", and I absolutely love it
That picture of the SW1500 on its side could be straight out of Derail Valley... surreal. That's 115 tons of locomotive standing up on its side.
Sleepy
oh so eepy, just a sleebgy lil guy
Those front end collisions were definitely FENDER BENDERS!
Thank you for sharing your these phots and stories.
LIMES
@itsjustaviper My comment has been deemed "worthy" of LIMES, such an honor
"That's a fender bender!" - Lionel Train-Town
@Spudstered I still have those discs at home.
"Don't mess around at level crossings" certainly is good advice.
The train will win every time.
The train doesnt win, nobody does, the train just loses less
Some of the stuff that I have heard of train vs are
Ship (ship lost)
A plane that was still in the air (steam train goes BOOM)
A hot air balloon (the balloon was the one that hit the train)
Two tanks ( the tanks were scrapped afterwards)
And a helicopter (helicopter did a emergency landing on the track when there was no train, train come in later)
Imma need the stories for those first two... 😂
@@itsjustaviper The one about the plane and train goes BOOM happened a lot in WWII from planes strafing trains with machine-gun fire and/or bombs during the war.
Ah yes a history in the dark viewer.
Can we add train vs submarine? More accurately train vs submarine's scuttling charges, but still a very fun story where this train also went boom
@@loficampingguy9664USS Barb, the only Sub credited with sinking a train as I remember
The poor switch choochoo clean up off its wheels was nuts. Thank you for sharing, these sidelights on the industry are always fun. Also much appreciate the PSA, be safe out there everyone :)
Remember: A fully-loaded train can take upwards of a mile to stop.
We've had a few people at the Valley Railroad attempt to 'beat the train', which was scary, and downright stupid. Sure, we're going slow, but at the same time, this is hundreds of tons that won't stop on a dime. The fastest we've stopped an engine at the speeds we run took 165 feet, and that was at a very slow speed due to poor conditions.
"Use your head, don't end up dead." ~ Norman, the old-timer that I spoke to at Strasburg back in 2019.
7:39-9:21 As my dad phrased it well, “You can’t win an argument with a train, the train will win every time.”
Hoo boy do I have some stories about this stuff too lol. I only have three years at the railroad, but I've seen the aftermath from a couple train vs. car situations, two train vs. truck scenarios, a number of tree strikes, two or three deer/cows that got whacked, three smashed out draft gear pockets, one that got sideswiped, and even one that hit a grain silo. (and a partridge in a pear tree)
One of the ones that sticks out was a straight body tanker truck loaded with water that hit a locomotive at a crossing. (Yes, the truck hit the locomotive) The crew was coming down a grade with an empty stone train and saw the truck coming. They blew for the crossing and everything, but when the engineer thought the truck wouldn't be able to stop, he dumped the train and the crew hunkered down in the cab. They said it looked like a Hollywood explosion out the engineer's side window. Just a fireball taller than the locomotive. The truck hit the side of the front truck on the lead locomotive hard enough to derail the locomotive. The momentum from the rest of the train managed to derail the second truck on that locomotive as well as the first truck on the next locomotive and the second truck on that locomotive had both wheelsets with their flanges up on the rail head. The lead locomotive got far enough off the track that the front pilot was buried up to the running boards. After the dust settled a bit, the crew got out and found the driver on fire running into a nearby creek and rolling around trying to put himself out. The driver ended up getting life flighted to a hospital and his truck sat at the crossing and burned up the side of the third locomotive in the consist. If I recall correctly, they found that the truck hit the lead engine going over 45mph, I'm honestly amazed that the driver survived.
We also had one that hit a truck stuck on a grade crossing because the driver took the wrong road over the tracks and the front coupler hit the fuel tank on the side of the truck which popped like a balloon a covered the front half of the locomotive in diesel fuel. That driver ended up getting into a heap of trouble for reasons I won't get into here.
One of the scarier ones was actually a tree strike. It was an SD40-2 that hit a large tree that had been blown down in a storm and one of the limbs managed to smash the window on the front door out and managed to make it all the way through the cab a left a 2in deep dent in the electrical cabinet door about a foot from where the conductor's head would have been if he was sitting. For those that don't know, front facing windows on a locomotive have to be able to withstand a 24lb (~11kg) cinder block at about 30mph (~50kph) so that was one heck of a tree limb to just smash right through.
So yeah, I've seen some good ones too lol.
I was just about to get some sleep, working on that 3 railroads in a trench coat parody kept my adhd me up late, but aw heck sleep can wait a bit! Its SFS time!
I don't think this one is gonna get Monetized LOL
We shall see... Lol
As someone who does a lot of driving for my job. Something i have actually started doing is no matter what the circumstances are. i will always turn on my hazards, slow down, and treat every crossing as a road intersection so i can verify myself that it is all clear
idk hyce is looking a bit like qui gon jinn lol XD
love hearing these stories man, cant wait to hear more in the future :)
This reminds me of a few stories. Many moons ago, I worked for a company called Renzenberger that was contracted by the railroads to transport their crews to and from their trains. Any time a crew went dead, a Renzenberger van took out a new crew and picked up the old crew. I was stationed at BNSF's MOBEST yard in Phoenix as the Yard Driver. As crews came in and went off duty, I'd drive them to the hotel, or pick up crews at the hotel coming on duty. One day, I got called to pick up a crew that had been in a collision. They had been coming in to town, doing 15mph, and hit a car that ran a red light trying to beat the train. (Obligatory PSA: Running a red light to beat a train is doubly stupid, don't do it). There was the usual damage to the loco, plus a car with a caved in side and coupler shaped hole in the door, but no driver. The driver had gotten out and run away. The police were standing around looking puzzled, until one saw a trail of blood. Last I saw, the officers were walking off following the trail.
Another story is when, at a container loading/unloading facility, a container car had been ever so slightly derailed by a crane, but nobody noticed until it got pulled out of the facility, and went fully derailed and ripped up a quarter mile of track.
Never take a heavy piece if machinery or equipment for granted
i distinctly remember seeing semi trucks with trailer liveries promoting train safety, because they all had a picture of a diesel loco with text along the lines of "trains will not stop for you" or something close to it
A Hyce video in the background while playing Railroader. A good time! :)
Fastest I've ever been to a Hyce video, and it's an SFS! Love the content mate, happy Thanksgiving!
great vid as always Hyce, its always cool to be to see such big things get twisted in the most strange ways imaginable
There’s a reason I always stop at grade crossings (aside from when I’m required to). This also illustrates why I treat any part of my bus getting hung up over tracks as an emergency (I have a red light in my city that can easily cause that).
Polar was a bit rough this week - but we got it done! Enjoy your holiday buddy!
"Covered in grass", oh young and unwise Hyce back then. If only it was grass.
Woo, a SFS episode! Am always astounded how many cars I see stopping in the crossing waiting on a red light or stop sign, pinned in by the car in front and behind. Or the crossing runners who put 5 minutes waiting on a train over their life (I actually like being stopped and watching the train go by, lol). I did see a car hauler trailer high centered on the track, but luckily no trains came by. Happy Thanksgiving all and stay safe!
Remember folks, regardless of how big and jacked up of a vehicle you drive its an empty pop can compared to even a short train.
I used to be a body-man, I dealt with more deer hits than I can count. As soon as you said hit a herd of cattle I just snapped back to power washing deer bits off of cars. Fun times lol.
Similar to Kenosha, most railroaders who bin it hard enough get stuck with a location named after them. We had “Caesar’s Scrapyard”, “Cory’s Corner”, and a spot called “The BBQ Pit”, where a very keen manager tried to take a cut of ‘splodey tank cars down a 1% grade with no air cut in. No-one was hurt too bad.
In regards to grade crossing accidents, I’m reminded all too much of an operation lifesaver poster my dad had:
“When it’s a tie at the railroad crossing, you lose!”
Hi Mark, those pictures you shared were OMG, but also very interesting. I was absolutely amazed at how 3/4” thick steel snapped like glass and the immense force it took to make that happen. I have to admit I got a giggle at the cow episode (poor cows), like you said shocking once you realized…. I sympathize with you, Mark about the miss-matched AC unit, that so hurt my eyes! 🤣 Your message about railway safety was well said. Professor, another excellent SFS episode with great, detailed photos and beautiful storytelling. Mark, many thanks for this video and sharing your experiences, and as always cheers to you.
Hey Hyce happy Thanksgiving and to all my fellow railfans
This far I’ve only hit a total of two deers as an engineer. But statistically I’ll hit at least two people in my career. Luckily hitting cars is very uncommon here in Sweden.
"Its a train, its not gonna come get you" isn't something I've really thought about before
Was only on mechanical shortly on a shortline but spent two years on a class one as a conductor. Saw one of our engines drug back in after hitting a water truck. Basically everything on the outside of the engine was destroyed. Brake cylinders, handrails, pilot steps, etc were just destroyed. It ripped the fuel cap off the tank. That was a good day for our crew. They were not injured thankfully
Reminds me a bit of the old Top Gear PSA on running the lights at level crossings.
@@fetzie23 Always wear your hi-viz safety vest
LOL! I spent a couple of years of my military career doing physical security. The place I worked at leased a lot of the property to local ranchers who ran herds of cattle on some of the ground. One night one of my coworkers hit a cow as it stepped up out of a ditch onto the road. By the time I got there, Frank was at the back of his car spitting and coughing trying to clean out his mouth.
Apparently, the cow had been spun by the collision, broken the passenger window, and sprayed the inside of the car.
Imagine being the CSX shop crew that had to repair the locomotives from the Paintsville UFO incident.
The TLDR is CSX coal train in Kentucky hits a flying saucer, and wrecks the locomotives also causes damage to the supposed UFO.
A hyce video on thanksgiving? Oh its a great day! I hope you and yours have a fantastic thanksgiving!
Here in BC, Canada, they have at pedestrian crossings on the pavement, a few feet from the rails: Locomotive silhouette, "LOOK LISTEN LIVE"... the shame that people (usually young) have their focus on their phones playing games or texting... the railways hoping, while these same people are looking down, will see this bright yellow/orange sign on the pavement.
John
9:18 I am so glad I’m not the only one who’s really bugged by that mismatching A/C unit. It irritates me to no end lol.
Perfect opportunity for a pun - when it wrecks vehicles, there are different kinds of carcasses to haul off
Great video Mark!!❤
When a friend of mine was a running a delivery office for DHL when they did local delivery. He had a van driver hit an engine.
My favourite part is when the train hit stuff
I did find where 3444 ended up, its currently in the Deadline at BNSF's Northtown yard in Topeka Kansas
Northtown is in Minneapolis... but Topeka makes sense. That's the system locomotive backshop.
Hyce released a video on my birthday?! _Gasp_
Happy birthday there Mr. Sir!
Happy birthday!
The herd of cows story: my girlfriend told me about that one earlier and I could both visualize and smell it, having been a dairy farm kid who was forced to help whenever the veterinarian was called out plus had the displeasure of being around cannulated cows on occasion (dad had to as part of his degree so he was going to make sure I did as well even though I wasn't getting credit hours out of it )
One every 90 to 120 minutes... on one of the most avaidable accidents on Earth. As you said, the train is not going to go out of its way to hit you normally.
I remember the Royal Gorge death, the famous one where the person jumped from the bridge into a train passing below, but any time a human and a train meet it is very upsetting, and almost universally unneccessary.
Well said.
This reminds me of a story I was told. Many moons ago, I was at BNSF's MOBEST yard in Phoenix, and was talking to one of the engineers. He told a story of one time he hit a car on the tracks. The driver of the car tried to blame the train, saying it "swerved and hit her". The engineer told the police officer to climb into the cab of the engine, and if he found a steering wheel, the engineer would take the blame for the crash.
Once saw a Pendolino come into London Euston. Largely undamaged but the whole front was smeared in bits of deer. I guess they kinda just go poof when you hit them at a hundred miles per hour, but I had no envy for whoever had to clean that up.
Watching this on an Amtrak train with a gorgeous view of the Pacific Ocean
Yay!!!
10:01 this exact thing happened to two regional trains in germany a while back, if i recall correctly, was carrying passengers, thankfully no one got severely injured afaik.
Alright, worst animal story I have is the time a deer tried to jump over the spikey, parking lot fence (the historic one donated to CRRM by Union Station).
I got a call from the HO Club President who was on-site for a meeting. In addition being impaled on the fence the poor animal had broken it's leg in multiple places.
I actually cover the story (and several other horrible CRRM animal stories) in a video on my channel (I've had to personally help "remove" a few pests in my 20+ years) - ua-cam.com/users/liveHEunjNY9Pfo
And don't fib Mark, I know you have seen the photo of the Shop Rat that Dusty ran over with Pee Wee while Eric Roche was directing him (also covered in the above video). How the heck do you run a rat over with a switch-diesel?
Yiiiiikes. That's not a fun one.
I've always heard the story that 4 was pulling 491 out, and the rat was sitting on the rail with its tail towards the engine. Eric didn't see it until it felt its tail being pinched and it tried to run away before it exploded...
@@Hyce777 accurate....the picture is ridiculous - I have it but you can't share that around publicly. I only heard the story after Eric said something along the lines of "did you see the Shop-Rat photo? You can see the liver."
@@Hyce777 Reminds me of a very flat mouse I once saw on the railhead while loading intermodal containers at Forrestfield. I wondered at what this weird brown thing on the railhead was. Then clocked the shape and the tail. And the red 'jelly' next to it.
Turns out, 45 flat wagons of import shipping containers grossing some 1800 or so tonnes and small rodents do not play at all well together. Especially when your intermodal pad lives right next door to a big grain silo.... 😐
(On a happier note, the ducks show far more train sense. Even if they are slow to move)
Seriously Hyce, you should look up some of the UK's rail safety PSA's from 80's/90's especially the ones around the danger of overhead live wires. I personally know of an incident in my hometown in Nottinghamshire, UK where teen boys thought it funny to remove the wooden bottom of a railway bridge quite frequently. This carried on until an early morning jogger went missing and was found miles away dead inside a hopper car having fallen from the bridge into the car.
Great Video !!
And those aren’t even the bad ones, those get loaded on a flat car with the trucks on another car, and waybilled directly to a backshop, sometimes sent back to the builder, or an off road repair shop.
I remember my dad told me a while ago about an incident he saw while he lived in Texas. While he was driving to work, he saw a train hit a cow, I’ll hide the details down further for those who don’t wish to hear what happened.
The train hit the cow, and my dad told me that it literally exploded in a cloud of green and covered the front end of the locomotive. He also told me he’s seen a train hit a semi a couple of times, and when he was a kid working on a ranch, a train hit something (I don’t remember what it was) and derailed right in his back yard.
There are videos on YT of Indian express trains hitting cows and it's amazing the cloud of green that results.
Trains hitting things is always.....not great. In my time on the railways I have only seen the aftermath of one coming to together...kinda..... Our carriage care team were shunting one morning and managed to push 5 Mk.1 coaches past one that was ever so slightly out of gauge as it hadn't been pushing into the loop it was in far enough.
Expensive morning with 6 coaches out of use due to bodywork damage, torn off door handles and hand grabs plus broken windows....
Yikes. Yes, always not great.
8:04
As i always say:
"Don't pick fights with physics."
10:10 Ah, real life ES&DT in railroader. Someone didn't get their packing peanuts that day.
i cant imagine who thinks its a good idea to let you near any kind of heavy equipment. you dont inspire enough confidence to let you near a shopping cart
this story got me. must subscribe lol.
Soooooooo, you used to work at the "Brand New Santa Fe"? 🤔
I got a train on an Abe Lincoln class 1 once, the power was turned somewhere inroute due to a crossing accident. By the time I got it, the train has made over 700 miles since the accident. I went to inspect the power and the 3rd motor, the one involved in the crossing accident, had the front steps and supporting steel pushed all the way into the lead truck! I called mechanical to come out and look and they said hell no, that thing doesn't need to move another inch!
Been way too long since we got a SFS episode
Welcome to the ES&DT…
Wonderful video I love it
Surprised bnsf doesn't have incinerators for road kill. We have them at some of our DoTs maintenance sheds
New guy, trainee. We refer to them as the F.N.G.
F.N.G. indeed. I was a bad one too. Lol!
10:20 that definitely looks like the locomotive was there first and was backed into.
Did you see the Amtrak train that hit the fallen tree on the tracks near Stanwood, WA last week? The crew in the Cab got real lucky.
Better late than never I'm going to think of that when I have my railroad open...
I wish I could post pictures of the train wrecks that we’ve had here at the shop/yard😂
i discovered this yesterday in your SFS playlist, alas i am not a member
Trainacides, my ex-wife grow up in Springfield Colorado, and the 2 mile long trains would do about 70 to 75 mph through there, and a guy got back from desert storm and lost everything, so he put every rose has it thorn on repeat feeding his depression and drank more of a handle of Jim bean and stood on the tracks when the train came around the bind. he saluted the engineer as he vaporized. by the time the engineer could get back to talk to the emergency people the mortician already bagged the body. they think it's easy, but it is a selfish way to go. you effect other people, some very nice people. If you lose everything, it sucks, but tomorrow is a chance to find something better, tomorrow you can change your environment, prove to yourself, you are you, better then yesterday. I am my happiest starting over. I always need change. what do you need?
While I was living in Jefferson, TX, a deaf man was walking along the UP track away from a crossing when a train came from behind. The curve was a 10-degree so it had a 30 mph speed limit. The engineer blew the horn for the crossing and then kept blowing it at the man who couldn't hear it. Just as the train got to the man, he stepped onto the track in front of the train. Needless to say, the engineer put the train into emergency but the man did not have a chance just feet in front of the train even at 30 mph.
I remember a news broadcast in the 1950s, where the cameraman was at a train station to cover an important person arriving and was taking a film of the train arriving. Just as the train got to some people, one of them jumped in front of the train committing suicide. A very bad day for all.
Scrap mechanic taught me cows exploded into confetti. Apparently they explode into grass
Grass is just dark green confetti, no?
The picture of the SW that whacked the hoppers reminds me of a photo ive seen from the Pittsburg and Shawmut railroad in Brookville, PA. It was one of the P&S's earlier, smaller mikados, and the entire engineer's side of the cab was just gone, almost like a cutaway. A line of hoppers had broken loose and the engine was fouling a switch. The cars tore through the cab, i believe completely mashed the tender, and sadly the engineer was killed in the incident. Crazy stuff.
Crazy indeed.... Never fun when a fatality is involved.
With regard to the carcass, I noticed my local landfill has a passage in their Q&A asking customers to call ahead so they can dig a hole for disposal of any larger ex-animals in an effort to discourage scavengers. There may be a way to have it picked up by one's usual waste hauler, but I suspect local laws may require a more specialized service.
Verry good video m8
14:12 bending heavy gaige like its nothing. Ive moved some meaty stuff with some spreaders its amazing to see heavy duty metal move likr its a tin can
as a heavy highway operator i know exactly what you mean by the story's that you don't want to talk about and why you try to make people think good job
Every Locomotive Shop has a pile of (damaged) Steps in some Corner. At least ours do, and I've involuntary contributed to the Pile lol. Being on the Locomotive in even a small crash isn't fun.
I’ve seen a train hit a truck it was going slow but the driver of the truck was still transported to a nearby hospital… (I was at a sports event at the time of witnessing it)
Thank you, to whoever gifted me a membership!
kinda a random question. my town lost power a while back, and do rail crossing get power from local grid or do they have there own lines / power. its a commuter line in NJ.
last time we lost power i stopped and looked both ways since idk if the gate would work since the traffic light 200 feet away / all the houses around it had not power.
What's with the second hose coming off the gladhand or whatever that is called on a locomotive around 6 minutes in?
this gonna be good
Question, how figure out the weights on the drive wheel on the steam engine ?
Hyce I Loved Watching This Video Can You Please Do More Videos On Past Stuff That Happened For Your Subscribers Including Me
I remember back in the day on the VWvortex forums, a guy local to me hit a deer with his Mk3 Jetta. Damage was minimal but what happened on impact is that the headlight exploded and caved in, turning the edge of the hood and fender into a giant scoop that just yoinked out the entrails of the poor critter and spread it's last meal all over the engine bay!! Looking at pics of the carnage, it just looked like nice fresh cut grass, but was actually potential deer puke forcibly sprayed all about!!
That warbonnet AC triggers me like road crews not putting in the manhole cover back in correctly when there's a line sprayed across it!!!
Road marking before manhole removed: ------------
Road marking after manhole replaced: ------ / ---
@@Ronald.Golleher GAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!
eesh.. that poor deer
also the poor jetta too :<
i hope the driver wasnt hurt
If it's supposed to move and doesn't, WD40, if it moves and isn't supposed to, duck tape
Can we get the song used for the shots with the 3444?
Hey look another SFS video I can watch (42to the power of 7) times.
Regarding the self termination cases, I won't go into details, but even here in rural Norway, these cases are shocking and heartbreaking when it's someone you are on a first name basis with.
They can happen out of the blue in your perspective, possibly be because of things that logically shouldn't result in such an outcome, or never be understood why that happened.
But the most important thing we all can do if we notice someone who pull back or have lost some of their usual mood or calmness, is to be there for that person, not to solve every issue they have, but to be a human connection they can talk to.
Because we humans are tribe animals, just having an another person who see them, that are open for talking or being there alongside the person who's struggling.
Perhaps you are the reason they see that's enough to seek professional help?
I've been in a few trains that hit a few things
I live by a active rail yard and Amtrak on the other side of my street. Ive seen people play chicken with these trains and they loose every time . There is a accident there every two to three days and that's including death by train. It's a sad thing to witness and makes it even sadder is when they or loved by many people in the town. Into the people they keep putting graffiti on these trains. Please stop it is awful.
whats the "GN" text under 3444's road number for?
Great Northern. The switchers were registered under the heritage lines still for whatever reason.
@@Hyce777 oh ok
Google says every three hours someone gets hit by a train
To be honest have i walked on railroad track. Yes im not going to deny it at all. I was smart about it by seeing if any trains were coming though
The challenging thing to remember is that in some settings trains can be surprisingly quiet - please keep that in mind. :)
@Hyce777 mark...to be honest can you help me understand this?
@@Timerman765especially if its winter and the train is just rolling, snow dampens the Sound a lot (but also in the summer sometimes). even worse an electric train, modern ones you dont hear at all, i regulary take the electric commuter train here in germany, and sometimes you dont hear it till its right at the Platform.
@@SimonBauer7 thanks man
@Timerman765 also if you're dealing with high speed rail, the train may be travelling at a non-trivial fraction of the speed of sound. Even 75 mph is about 1/10th of the speed and will reduce the time you have to react.
Waste not, want not is what I say about animal carcasses in vehicular accidents.
If you can ensure that the animal is collected quickly enough after the collision, that's your kill, and you have the rights to the meat on the bones, at least in NY state.
so why did bnsf show you the door?