Western Railroad Discussion > I Shut Down the Railroad Last Night

Some of you might recall I've developed an interest in night photography using an array of remotely triggered
flash units. That's what I was doing last night near MP25 of UP's Glidden sub in Sugar Land, TX. One train,
Amtrak #1 had gone by me about 7:35 PM, and I was adjusting my flash units in anticipation of another
westbound train which my ATCS screen showed to be at West Junction, about 13 miles east of my location.

I was pretty focused on my chores when I noticed an odd, persistent sound behind me, one that I'd never
heard before. It was kind of a medium pitched whine along with the sound of flying rocks.
I turned to see what was the cause of this sound was. Image #1 is what I saw.

To say that I was shocked would be an understatement!

After a few double takes to comprehend what had just happened, I ran over to the driver's door to check on
the driver. It was an elderly Asian fellow who told me that he turned onto what he thought was the street.
He then asked if I would help him push his, very stuck in the ballast on the passenger side, and high centered
on the rail head on the drivers side, car.

I told him there was no way we could push the car free and that he needed to get out of the car because a
train was on the way. As he got out of his car, I called UP's Terminal Dispatcher #2 to advise him that there
was a car stuck on main #1 at MP 24.56. After answering a few questions for him, he told me that he was putting
a block on both mains at my location.

I then told the dispatcher that I would call 911 to get police and wrecker assistance to our location.

Image #2 shows the ATCS screen once the police had arrived. Note the two blue segments near Sugar Land Yard.
Blue denotes a dispatcher track block. Note the red segment to the right. That's KCS 4002 which was stopped
after my call to the dispatcher just a bit over 5 miles from the location of the stuck car.

Not to be overly dramatic, but had I not been taking night pictures at that spot, there might have been a
very different ending to this story.

Long story short, police arrived to the scene promptly, a wrecker shortly thereafter, and the car was pulled
off the track by 8:35 PM. Trains didn't start moving again until 9:40 PM account the time needed for a UP
track inspector to reach the scene to ensure the track was not damaged.

Image #1 - Car stuck on tracks at MP 25 of UP's Glidden sub. Note my SUV in background. If you look closely
you can see the lightstands I was using to support the remote flash units.

Image #2 - ATCS screen showing location of track block (blue segments at bottom) and where the approaching
train was stopped by dispatcher (red segment to the right, near Missouri City)

Robert Pierce
Sugar Land, TX
SWRails.com



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/24/17 20:52 by TexBob.

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Since I had a camera and remote flashes handy, I figured I'd use them to document the recovery effort...

Robert Pierce
Sugar Land, TX
SWRails.com

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Two more...

Robert Pierce
Sugar Land, TX
SWRails.com

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Great job of keeping a potential disaster from happening.

Steve

Well if the train had been closer, at least you were set-up to really catch the action.

Glad everything got stopped, and you got some unique photos out of it.

Good job,

Gary

ps: you mean there is actually sugar in Sugar Land?

Very interesting series! Glad everything turned out OK. I hope the fellow in the car thanked you.

Larry

Nice work, Robert! Someone went home (in one piece) because of your actions... Same feeling happened in police work occasionally.

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

mojaveflyer Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Nice work, Robert! Someone went home (in one
> piece) because of your actions... Same feeling
> happened in police work occasionally.

Dittos!!

Kicking ass and taking names, man you were on it. Great job.

It was a great job that you did.

And yet we can read other threads where railfans say they can be eyes and ears on the ground and railroaders come in and poo-poo the idea. Saying it's all a big hassle when people call the dispatcher, etc.

It seemed to work fine this night.

You're the man!

Good work on your part. You saved the RR and the driver from what could have been a lot messier situation. Nice photo coverage.
Brian Stevens

Asian man: "I seen James Bond do this in Octopussy".

Posted from Android

To do a good deed to help someone is noble and will be rewarded when it counts the most.

To tell others about the good deed you have done is bragging, with only a short lived yet empty pat on the back as your only reward.

Good deeds are to be quietly stored up in a bank to be drawn upon in times of need.

"Not to be overly dramatic, but had I not been taking night pictures at that spot, there might have been a
very different ending to this story."

Says ut all!

jst3751 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> To do a good deed to help someone is noble and
> will be rewarded when it counts the most.
>
> To tell others about the good deed you have
> done is bragging, with only a short lived yet
> empty pat on the back as your only reward.
>
> Good deeds are to be quietly stored up in a bank
> to be drawn upon in times of need.

????????

Bob did the right thing to prevent a possible catastrophe using his railfan knowledge and sityational awareness to get the right people involved.

The driver's insurance company could easily send Bob a check for $1000 and be way ahead.

God bless you,Texbob. You were at the right place at the right time.

SantaFeRuss

Posted from Android

Great work ! You did the right thing. Notify the dispatcher using the toll free number. This action will notify the correct DS. The time from the call to a train receiving the message could be maybe 20 to 30 minutes to be on the safe side. If you see or hear a train coming remove yourself and any other parties away from the site of the incident. If you dial 911 the local law enforcement agency will have an emergency number for the RR. Carry flares in your car and be sure to light them. Remember keep yourselves safe and use a flare ( swung at the ground back and forth). Again great work!!!

Posted from Android

Thank you for the post ...

An excellent job in documenting a potentially scary, life-threatening situation ...
I for one certainly do not agree with comments posted by jst3751 ... your actions and
intent are clearly not in "bragging" ... but are focused on recognizing a serious
threat to the life of the vehicle passengers and crew/passengers on the approaching
trains ... and then showing what steps should be taken to insure a positive outcome ...
Every potential "accident" is unique ... but knowing some of the basics to warn and get
assistance from the appropriate authorities is truly important to pass on ... thank you
for sharing!

Odyssey
Evergreen, CO