ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Silver Star No. 91 screamed as it hurtled the tracks from Jacksonville to Tampa one day last fall. One and a half thousand tons of smooth, silver metal moving at freeway velocity, 79 mph, 6,952 feet per minute, a football field every 2 1/2 seconds. The shrubs that lined the rail bed shivered as it tore past.
Inside the locomotive, engineer Billy Parker worked the controls. He wore pressed slacks and a Polo shirt.
Less than a quarter mile from the N 62nd Street crossing at CSX Intermodal in east Tampa, Parker pressed the button that blows the horn. It was an ordinary act, on an ordinary stretch of track. Two long blasts, a short one and another long.
Then he saw it, straddling the tracks, a semitrailer truck. He threw his hand on the emergency brake lever, radioed a warning to the conductor and dove into a corner, arms wrapped around his head.
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Thanks for sharing this article.....the headline is a bit tabloid-esque but it pretty well expresses what so many engineers deal with. It had never occurred to me before but with the sheer population density of Florida, someone operating passenger trains there is far more likely to be involved in repeated fatal incidents than someone who regularly runs more rural areas.
Years ago.....mid-90's......there was a monthly column in the original Passenger Train Journal Magazine written by Doug Riddell. Initially a radio broadcaster in Richmond, VA, he was able to break into railroading and eventually became an Amtrak engineer who spent most of his career working CSX lines north of Florence, SC. His columns covered the usual railroader subjects... working holidays, sleeping in cheap hotels, funny mishaps on the road etc, but one of them dealt with the issue of fatal grade crossing accidents and how different engineers coped with the liklihood that sooner or later someone is going to die as a result of trespassing in front of your train. That particular column may have been his very best.
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