Passenger Trains > What About the Student Engineer?

We are all saddened about the passing of Glenn, but what about his student at the controls? Did I miss something, or has nothing been mentioned about him/her? I guess the student didn't get anything worse than a few bumps and bruises. R.I.P. Glenn.

Pretty much, just minor injuries. The student and the conductor were both released the day of the accident.

If the student and engineer were both in the cab at the time of the accident, why did one only receive minor injuries and the other injured so seriously that he passed away? Has there been an explanation? Was the conductor in the lead car or elsewhere on the train?

That will likely be answered by the NTSB sometime next year, however the severity of the immediate injuries isn't always the determining factor... What happens to the body as a result of the initial injury is sometimes a factor (Stroke, heart attack, failure of body parts not immediately related to the injury but were already damaged or simply old). Keeping that in mind, the student engineer was half the age of the engineer, meaning he also may have been better able to brace himself and his body may have been a bit more capable of standing up to the violence of the derailment.

There are a lot of questions which will be answered by the NTSB when they release their report, until then we can only ask them.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/04/15 11:53 by Jaanfo.

Not being familiar with the floorplan of said cab car, could it have been possible that the student was in the engineer's seat and the other gentleman was standing?

Happens in auto accidents, storms, explosions, etc. too. One person is fatality and others have nothing.

dcfbalcoS1 Wrote:
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> Happens in auto accidents, storms, explosions,
> etc. too. One person is fatality and others have
> nothing.

my railraod buddy's son died in an accident where that actually happened where his son died and his g/f had very minor injuries ... it all came down to his driving getting broadsided on the driver's side and his son's head hit the car frame sideways between the front door and rear door ... he sustained no other injuries ...

so yes it's all about where he was when the cab car impacted the vehicle ... if i were to guess i would say he ran back towards the interior of the car ... that seems to be the logical action of the crew that takes place in cab car, RDC type lead units ...

Posted from Android

According to the reports released so far, the student engineer was at the controls, which means he was in the seat.
It appears that the instructor was not in a seat and was thrown around the cab which is where he probably received the blunt force injuries to his chest that eventually killed him.

PHall Wrote:
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> According to the reports released so far, the
> student engineer was at the controls, which means
> he was in the seat.
> It appears that the instructor was not in a seat
> and was thrown around the cab which is where he
> probably received the blunt force injuries to his
> chest that eventually killed him.


There's only 1 seat in the cab and barely enough room for the engineer to sit. The rest of the cab is a solid top below the bottom of the window. If you want to teach or do anything else, you are standing behind the seated engineer. No doubt he was thrown around the inside of the car. I knew Glenn and talked to him on the radio many times when I was a maintainer. He was a classy engineer and will be sorely missed.

SP4360 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> PHall Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > According to the reports released so far, the
> > student engineer was at the controls, which
> means
> > he was in the seat.
> > It appears that the instructor was not in a
> seat
> > and was thrown around the cab which is where he
> > probably received the blunt force injuries to
> his
> > chest that eventually killed him.
>
>
> There's only 1 seat in the cab and barely enough
> room for the engineer to sit. The rest of the cab
> is a solid top below the bottom of the window. If
> you want to teach or do anything else, you are
> standing behind the seated engineer. No doubt he
> was thrown around the inside of the car. I knew
> Glenn and talked to him on the radio many times
> when I was a maintainer. He was a classy engineer
> and will be sorely missed.

It us probably true that he was standing behind the student and was thrown around pretty badly and there are reports that he even helped move others from the wreckage before he needed to be tsken care of --knowing nothing about his health/risk factors, he was 63', certainly adrenalin kicked in and may have masked pain/injuries and his efforts in the aftermath may have brought on stroke, heart attack etc---nothing is ever simple.

Carol Voss
Bakersfield, CA

Glenn Steele was a true hero. From
everything I have read about him,
he was an awesome human being --
a true gentleman, and a friend to
everyone, including his passengers.
He gave his life helping others, never
counting the cost.

I am glad the student engineer will
probably be OK.