Passenger Trains > Foamer hit/killed by Amtrak train

Buffalo Grove teacher killed by Amtrak train Teacher killed after being struck by

By Rhonda Sciarra Daily Herald Staff Writer
Posted March 08, 2003

A Buffalo Grove teacher was struck and killed by an Amtrak train Friday morning in Gurnee.

Kent Desormey, who taught physical education at Tripp Elementary School, was hit about 8:45 a.m. on the Canadian-Pacific tracks just north of Route 41, Gurnee police said.

Desormey, a 51-year-old railroad enthusiast from Gurnee, had climbed the embankment and was on the rails as the train headed to Chicago from Milwaukee approached at 78 mph, police said.

The engineer sounded the horn prior to impact, authorities said. Police said it was snowing heavily at the time and the accident occurred at a curve in the track. Desormey was pronounced dead at the scene.

"We are definitely going to miss this man," said school principal Julie Vroman-Brua. "He was a very integral part of the school community."

Douglas Parks, superintendent of Aptakisic-Tripp School District 102, said the community is hurting because of the loss of a dedicated and kind educator.

Desormey had taught in the district for more than 20 years and had been at Tripp, 850 Highland Grove, since the school\'s opening.

"Essentially, everyone in the school district knew Kent," Parks said. "He has had most of our kids in class. It is extremely emotional."

Outside of teaching, Desormey coached and officiated junior high school sports and was a fan of University of Illinois basketball.

He also had a passion for watching and filming trains, Parks said.

"He took pictures of them all of the time," Parks said. "It was not uncommon for him on a lunch break to go watch the trains go by."

Parks said Desormey took a personal day from work Friday but did not know circumstances of the crash.

Desormey leaves behind a wife and children. Jane Desormey said she received an outpour of support Friday night.

"I appreciate everyone\'s thoughts and prayers," his wife said.

Counselors and social workers will be at the school Monday to help children and co-workers with Desormey\'s death.

Among many phone calls Parks said he fielded Friday, one stood out.

"The parent said the child was upset and that Kent Desormey was his favorite teacher," Parks said. "I think we will be hearing lots of that."

Mr. DeSorney participated at several Forums at our site.

Deepest regrets to his survivors.

I note that many Members over here seem to be active "railfans"; PLEASE be careful out there.

GBN
Moderator, Amtrak Forum
Railroad.net

This is very sad. If the reports are correct, he\'s a guy who knows about railroads and their unique safety issues.

Trying to estimate the speed of an oncoming train is an impossible task, I wouldn\'t risk my life trying to do it. An 80 mph train is covering about 6,500 feet per MINUTE, or more than 100 feet per second.

My condolences to the family, the train crew, and the many people this guy impressed over the years.

See thread below also: Amtrak vs Trespasserhttp://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?f=4&i=68515&t=68515

Sad to see something like this. Illustrates again why you MUST stay off the tracks. Period.

I\'ve seen a lot of railfans in the gauge in my time, luckily I\'ve yet to hit one. Been a couple close calls. Please stay off. Nobody in a cab wants to hit someone.

Rick

locoengineer wrote:
> I\'ve seen a lot of railfans in the gauge in my time, luckily
> I\'ve yet to hit one. Been a couple close calls. Please stay
> off. Nobody in a cab wants to hit someone.
>

Agreed. When I was a teenager, I\'d walk in the gauge all the time, but I know better now. Even then, though, I always stayed alert and always knew the speed limit on any given stretch of track. I never walked the gauge near a curve or over a bridge, or where a slight hill might limit visibilty. I never had a problem. I was always well aware of trains approaching with at least a mile or two to spare.

I always stayed off the tracks on high speed routes, like Amtrak\'s Northeast Corridor. I remember walking along the line near Princeton Junction when I was in high school, but we stayed on the access road adjacent to the tracks.

I don\'t think we have the whole story. Wait for the accident report. Bob

Forwarded from the IlliniRail e-mail list:

To: IlliniRail@yahoogroups.com (IlliniRail list)
Wrom: VLMHAALPTCXLYRW
Date: Sat, 08 Mar 2003 19:49:04 +0000
Subject: [IlliniRail] Railfan Fatality

Yesterday I was stunned and deeply saddened to learn that my good friend Kent Desormey died.

Kent was struck by Amtrak train 332 on the Canadian Pacific Railway at Gurnee, IL, at 8:45 a.m. Friday, March 7, 2003. The accident happened about 250 feet north of the bridge over Rte. 41, right around Milepost 39. Evidently Kent was trying to get some good winter photos or video in the fresh snow. The train was traveling at 78 mph; the engineer reported that he saw Kent on the tracks and sounded his horn.

This is a very easy spot for a train to sneak up on you. There is a curve just north of there that obstructs vision. The nearest grade crossing is Wadsworth Road, almost four miles away. The snow pack on the tracks would have muffled the sound of the approaching train, and judging by the newspaper photos, the train was led by a control car (90208). Most accidents are an accumulation of contributing factors, which clearly happened here.

This accident was reported on the front page of today\'s Waukegan News-Sun, and on page 16 of today\'s Chicago Tribune.

Kent was an absolute prince of a guy. He was a loyal and generous friend, a loving husband and father, and an outstanding teacher. You couldn\'t find a better person for working (or playing) with kids. He had a great gift for that.

Kent was a big GM&O fan; he grew up in Pontiac, IL, and went to school in Jackson, TN. He had many adventures on the C&NW\'s business car fleet in those glorious days when they were roaming the rails. The IC was also one of his favorites, and I figured out some years ago that if I didn\'t want to get skunked on the IC, I had to make sure Kent came along.

I knew Kent for about 20 years, and he was a safety-minded railfan; I never saw him take any foolish chances with a train, or with anything else, for that matter. I don\'t understand how this happened. Right now I have lots of questions and no answers.

It\'s futile to search for a reason why this happened. And I need to emphasize that I don\'t know all the circumstances. But this is a good time for all of us to reflect that while trains are fun to watch, ride and enjoy, we must never forget the unforgiving and lethal kinetic energy that every moving train possesses. None of us can afford to drop our guard for even a second.

Please remember Kent\'s wife, Jane, his daughter Dana and son Keith, and his parents in your prayers. Please also remember the Amtrak engineer who will be haunted by this for the rest of his days. Please remember that we must all find our own way to get right with God, for we never know when we will meet Him.

Kent will be sorely missed by everybody who had the privilege of knowing him. Let us all resolve to be extra safe anytime we\'re around the railroad, for our sake and the sake of our family and friends, and for the memory of my fine friend, Kent Desormey.

Bill Christopher
March 8, 2003

What was his handle when on the internet? Maybe some here have chatted with him and have not realized which railfan is gone. Condolences to his friends and family. It is very clear he had many.

Mr. Desormey\'s e-mail address wes:

<KD9039@aol.com>

Please be gentle if you choose to communicate; his survivors had nothing to do with whatever happened trackside.

Without taking anything away from what a great man he was.........funny how there are none of the usual messages about what a clutz this bloke was and how it is helping the gene pool etc etc etc.

How about we all take stock and accept that this happens to railfans and non railfans and we need to be more accepting and less critical of the people (usually deceased) who are involved in these incidents. You may feel the need to vent about idiotic happenings, but not here thanks.

Thanks
Matt

Matt;

Accidents happen when one least expects it. I surmise that he may have been preoccupied with several things at once, or the blowing snow could have obscurred vision. He may have fallen, too.

I know of an instance where a crossing signal failed during either a snowstorm or zero visibility fog. If the person had not been alert, they would have been toast through no part of their own.

The Missouri Pacific in the 1970\'s here in Omaha,NE had freight cars runaway down the Belt Line several miles through 20+ crossings. My father, who worked at a business along the tracks witnessed this and called it in. Miraculously, NO one was hit. Several crossings were crossbuck only (no lights), so only due to being alert, motorists avoided the runaway cars (at 50MPH!).There were no horns to hear!

Lastly, I called in frozen crossing gates at Avery,NE only the reverse. A slow moving freight took 10-15 minutes to cross the road. By then, the gates were so coated with ice, they couldn\'t go back up and were hanging down to the street!
I called "911" who called the UP signal maintainer, who I knew anyway. He thanked me for calling it in and staying till he got there to make sure they weren\'t vandalized or run over. This was a ZERO visibility ice storm, and you wouldn\'t see a train 10 feet away!


matt wrote:

> Without taking anything away from what a great man he
> was.........funny how there are none of the usual messages
> about what a clutz this bloke was and how it is helping the
> gene pool etc etc etc.
>
> How about we all take stock and accept that this happens to
> railfans and non railfans and we need to be more accepting and
> less critical of the people (usually deceased) who are involved
> in these incidents. You may feel the need to vent about idiotic
> happenings, but not here thanks.
>
> Thanks
> Matt
>
> [%sig%]

I know you meant well, but why post the guy\'s personal email address? The last thing the family needs is a bunch of email from complete strangers. Especially when some of it is bound to be less than positive.

Thr e-mail address came from a public web page, Mr. KevinK; I would like to think that we have the decency around here to be a source of support, as distinct from derision, to a grieving family.

However, the Daily Herald sponsors a "Guest Book" for deceased families, and presumably know how to filter any "trash talk":

http://www.legacy.com/DailyHerald/LegacySubPage2.asp?Page=GuestBook&amp;PersonID=850226

Moderator/Webmaster: please kill my 03-09-03 15:03 posting of Mr. Desormey\'s e-mail address at your earliest convenience.

GBNorman wrote:

(snip)
> Moderator/Webmaster: please kill my 03-09-03 15:03 posting of
> Mr. Desormey\'s e-mail address at your earliest convenience.


Todd doesn\'t read every thread. Best to e-mail him.

--
Steve Holmes