Passenger Trains > SUV Gets Stuck in SF Muni Tunnel, Service Suspended

Another one for Ripley's Believe It or Not:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/01/19/BAOS1MRKES.DTL

Suspend drivers license assuming they have one in the first place. People like this shouldn't be driving in the first place.

In some circles that is referred to as DWHUA (Driving With Head Up A**). But the driver will say that is what my GPS said to do...

Bruce

BCutter Wrote:
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> In some circles that is referred to as DWHUA
> (Driving With Head Up A**). But the driver will
> say that is what my GPS said to do...

Slavishly following GPS = DWHUA.

Driving INTO the Muni tunnels is not uncommon...especially into the Twin Peaks Tunnel at West Portal.

But A MILE INTO IT?????

"Breathe into the little tube, right here, sir..."

As of 830am, KCBS reports that underground Metro operations have resumed.

Some years ago, a transit industry trade publication had an article about a similar incident in Philadelphia. A woman got lost in West Philadelphia, and decided she'd follow a "bus" (a PCC car) that looked like it was headed the right direction. The "bus" turned left and went down a ramp into a tunnel, so the woman followed it.

When she got to the first station platform, she concluded something was wrong. So she got out of her car (leaving it on the track), locked it, and went looking for a pay phone (this was before cell phones). Meanwhile, the next PCC car encountered the parked car, stopped, and the driver called for help. Some MOW guys chained the car to the front of the PCC and backed the PCC car and the auto out of the tunnel onto the street.

Meantime, the woman returned to find her car gone. She called police, who were very interested to learn where the car had been "stolen" from -- a trolley subway station!

There's one born every minute, apparently.

Having driven a hyrail many times down that same entrance it amazes me that he could get that far. it is a steep ramp with a sharp turn at the bottom. I am amazed that he didn't hit the wall at the switch at the bottom of the ramp. Then it is a down hill after the switch. I guess that he got caught in the crossovers outside Van Ness.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/01/19/BAOS1MRKES.DTL#ixzz1jwPc6JYd

KF6MXK Wrote:
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> Having driven a hyrail many times down that same entrance it amazes me that he could get that far.
> it is a steep ramp with a sharp turn at the bottom. I am amazed that he didn't hit the wall at
> the switch at the bottom of the ramp. Then it is a down hill after the switch.


Just watch...some SUV commercial will now show just that, as a claim of their vehicles' capabilities. <G>

The movie "Flim Flam Man" had a scene where George Scott needed a quick getaway from the local cops, so he put his pickup on the tracks and deflated the tires just a bit so they sagged on the rail. Off to the boondocks but 'here comes a train!' - he scooted off the rails at a (lucky for him) grade crossing a second or two before impact.

You can do that in the movies, but in real life it totally sucks.

http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?11,1376013,1377199#msg-1377199
Here's your believe it or not. Trespasser? This was before GPS.

John

There's classic photo from the days of nothing but PCC cars showing a 1955 Chevy squeezed between two 1016-class PCCs at the end of the Muni "J" line.

Here's a question for Southern California old-timers: Did anyone ever try to drive into the PE subway tunnel?

Did anybody drive into the PE subway tunnel? Yes, probably more than once.

jack london square in oakland ifo cost plus is about a weekly occurrence for having a vehicle fouling one of the mains. NASCAR can show you who can drive.