Western Railroad Discussion > Will This Person Behave Badly?

Will the guy behave badly? Of course he will, otherwise there would be no story here!


On my way home from work Sunday late afternoon, I went home via Highway 4 to go through Franklin Canyon along the BNSF Stockton Sub (CA). I stopped off at Christie and waited a few minutes. I had turned my scanner on but had not heard anything. After about 5 minutes, the westbound signal flipped green, indicating a westbound was past West Maltby (about 10-15 min). I waited here to shoot the westbound which turned out to be a Z-Train. Just after the head end went by me, they were blowing the horn more than usual. I looked back that away and there was this rough looking homeless drifter walking up the road. I believe he had been walking down the center of the rails. He didn’t approach the car, but as he went by, he did ask if I had water and the time. There was a certain growling sound to his voice and he looked out of it to a certain extent, so I was not going to invite him over to have a conversation. He kept walking down the road, and as many who know the area, the road leads just to ranches and the tracks turn toward Tunnel #3. I watched for a couple minutes to see which way he was going to go. He chose to follow the tracks around the curve.


I expected that when he saw the tunnel he would turn back. I waited a few minutes to allow him time to get closer to the tunnel before I went to take a closer look. By now he was really close to the tunnel entrance, but he was too far away to easily tell if he was still headed for the tunnel or was walking back. I hopped out to take a photo with my big lens to get a better look. Nope, he had his head down and looked to have no fear of heading inside.
But would he have a chance to make it all the way through before the next train? I did not know.



#1) 04/23/17 1707 hours – BNSF 4024 West coasts downhill as it has just exited tunnel #3 with a Z train. Train had what looked like containers for the Port of Oakland up front, but most of the train was UPS containers. About 10 seconds from now, the crew would blow the horn for the guy on the tracks.


#2) 04/23/17 1721 hours – The intrepid drifter with his head down doesn’t look like he is going to give the tunnel a second thought.


#3) 04/23/17 1722 hours – You can just barely make out his ghostly image as he is about to be fully enveloped in the darkness.


<< Tunnel #3 is 5,595.6 feet long with the summit of Franklin (or Cumming’s) pass about halfway through. Info from an old AT&SF track chart shows that the grade is 0.2% up then 0.8% down. The main thing is you really can’t see the other end of the tunnel. From what I have been told, this tunnel also has a constant stream of water dripping down from above, so it is not a pleasant environment.>>

continued......

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Well, damn, that guy was crazier than I thought!


At the time, I could not remember the length of the tunnel off the top of my head, but I knew he was going to be in there for quite a long time. I wasn’t aware of any other trains coming, but it was not going to be a good bet. I called BNSF Police to report the guy and was told that they would pass it on to the train dispatcher. I almost choked a couple minutes later when the DS called an eastbound train to warn them of the trespasser. I had turned my scanner on a little too late earlier, after all the track warrants had been handed out. The westbound Z train was meeting two east bounds at Collier and the first eastbound was now only 10 minutes away. Both trains would now do a restricted speed track inspection through the tunnel.


I did the math in my head and I knew the first train should encounter the person about mid-way through. It was not going to be a pleasant experience, even at 10 or 15 mph. I wanted to hear the outcome, so I waited close to the west end of the tunnel until the first train made it a fair distance inside. By now the second train had crept up close behind. I headed up over the hill to the other end. I was about halfway there when the first train called the DS to report that they did encounter the subject in the tunnel toward the east end. He had been laying down in the shadows, but jumped up against the wall at the last second and just missed getting hit. By the time that the first train cleared the entire tunnel and before the second train crawled on through, the subject came walking around the curve on the Glen Frazier side. Looking a lot dirtier than before (if you can believe that), he just continued on his way down the right of way, still with the same crazed look. At least he probably got some of the water he was asking for earlier.

To add to the delay of having too try to avoid hitting this idiot, by the time the first train got to Maltby, it had to stop for PTC problems.


Gary



#4) 04/23/17 1735 hours – The first eastbound train BNSF 4809 East eases up the hill through Christie. This was only about 14 minutes since the idiot entered the tunnel and the train was only about a mile away from entering the tunnel itself.



#5) 04/23/17 1803 hours – at Glen Frazier the drifter had already had his close encounter in the tunnel and was definitely now dirtier, but undeteered in his continuing journey. The second train would pass him a couple minutes later. My estimate was that it took him 38 minutes to clear the tunnel, but that also included the time that he was probably kissing the wall as the train passed slowly in the pitch-blackness a few inches away.



#6) Totally unrelated, but too good to pass up. You never know who or what you are going to encounter out along the tracks. Taken 3 days earlier, at the exact same location as photo #1, but facing over the edge of the roadway retaining wall, we look down on what I believe was a young fox resting in the bushes. Maybe waiting for its lunch to walk by. He or she saw me, but paid no attention.


Gary



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/28/17 19:05 by SN711.

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Think the tunnel is a mile long. Nice that you called it in, that could have ended very badly.

Nathan

Just like in my first railroad from the bookfair in Elementary school--Freight Train by Donald Crews--he's also "going, going, gone..."

Posted from Android

Kind of like the guy I saw while shooting the UP 844 today. He parked on the eastbound shoulder of I-80, ran across to the center divide and then crossed the westbound lanes of the freeway to get a shot of the train... Social Darwinism waiting to occur.

James Nelson
Thornton, CO
www.flickr.com/mojaveflyer

maybe not; just stupid.

Great story. I should have those numbers for BNSF and UP Police if you could share. Thanks.

Although we get a bad rap by some railroad personnel, I wonder how many lives and/or equipment have been saved by people like yourself who are willing to take the time to contact the railroad.

People on that side of humanity will sometimes do things that so-called "normal" folks would not engage in.

God bless the intrepid wonderer in that somehow someway he can turn himself around (it does happen sometimes). And God bless you for making the call to BNSF that very well could have saved that his life.

The guy walking in the tunnel has likely done it before.

What's the speed limit through that area? How many trains travel through there daily?

SantaFeRuss

Posted from Android

qwikdick Wrote: > ...  I should have those numbers for BNSF and UP Police if you could share ...

Here's what I would suggest: Just mosey up to any public crossing involving the RR's. Each public RR crossing has a "hotline" telephone, along with a unique crossing identification designation number for reporting accidents & incidents. This info is posted right on the crossbucks or crossing apparatus. I've entered both the BNSF & UP numbers into my cell phone. Luckily I've never had to use either number. And by sheer safety habit from 32 years in train service I'll give every train I see or shoot a "roll-by" watching out for mechanical defects that would endanger the safe passage of the train, other train crews (at meets) or the general public. I'm quite sure these numbers could be used to report obviously dangerous trespassing incidents like that idiot above walking into a tunnel. That's NOT to say you should get crazy and report every little whip-stitch person walking across some track to get from point A to point B. Common sense judgment should be liberally applied. Those numbers are posted so major incidents can be called in to the RR quickly.

Lance/199  

Reading through this thread about that guy that chanced his life got me to thinking about a few things.

Back when I was younger I called in a non working EOT-at night. The light on it was not blinking, and I had a coal train sitting on the Toledo Line with an Ex Conrail unit up front. I caled that in purely for safety reasons only. Not 20 minutes later, the dispacher was talking to the crew about that EOT.

Another I called in was a man walking down the middle of track two in Toledo, Ohio. I made that clear that I did not want him arrested, just off the tracks for his own safety.

I also called in a stuck brake on a railcar on a northbound manifest. Saw the smoke coming from the car and looked closer, sure enough a stuck brake. Called that one in for safety reasons.

These all were on the NS Chicago and Detroit lines. I seesomething, I call it in and yes I to this day do roll by on every passing train I see while im trackside.

Michael Fair
Royal Oak, MI

The tunnel speed limit is 35 mph. Trains with the excess height articulated AutoMax style autoracks are restricted to 13 mph because they have a tendency to scrape the side of the tunnel at higher speeds. Likely due to some uneven track conditions from the constant flow of water.

There are about 15 trains per day (+\-). Also not too unusual to have two or more trains running in a fleet 10-20 minutes apart.

Gary

Gary

Posted from iPhone

mojaveflyer Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Kind of like the guy I saw while shooting the UP
> 844 today. He parked on the eastbound shoulder of
> I-80, ran across to the center divide and then
> crossed the westbound lanes of the freeway to get
> a shot of the train... Social Darwinism waiting to
> occur.

That is utter stupidity, especially since I-80's like I-5, tons and tons of trucks!

ProAmtrak Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> mojaveflyer Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Kind of like the guy I saw while shooting the
> UP
> > 844 today. He parked on the eastbound shoulder
> of
> > I-80, ran across to the center divide and then
> > crossed the westbound lanes of the freeway to
> get
> > a shot of the train... Social Darwinism waiting
> to
> > occur.
>
> That is utter stupidity, especially since I-80's
> like I-5, tons and tons of trucks!

If I-80 were 16 lanes ( 8 southbound, 8 northbound )as I-85/75 is in downtown Atlanta with traffic running at 70mph or more......he wouldn't get past the first six before his camera would be in pieces and so would he.