Western Railroad Discussion > Messy Incident near Cameron, Texas

My news home page has a "breaking news" story about a "tanker" train that hit a truck near Cameron, Texas this morning. Lots of flames.
The sketchy article says that the truck driver and the "conductor" both escaped injury. No word about an "engineer" but the media frequently confuses the two.

TJY



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/23/21 07:44 by icancmp193.

No word on the railroad involved.

https://www.kvue.com/article/news/local/breaking-authorities-responding-to-explosion-after-train-collides-with-18-wheeler-in-cameron/500-f0ab8386-d14a-4dfa-9272-f95804501127

Lkirts Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> No word on the railroad involved.
>
> https://www.kvue.com/article/news/local/breaking-a
> uthorities-responding-to-explosion-after-train-col
> lides-with-18-wheeler-in-cameron/500-f0ab8386-d14a
> -4dfa-9272-f95804501127

That would be the BNSF....

Accident location...

https://www.google.com/maps/@30.8304312,-96.9307679,119m/data=!3m1!1e3



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/23/21 08:11 by Txhighballer.

Gotta love the local sheriff who said the train was carrying coal and oil in its front compartments, but the hazardous stuff was further back.

Posted from iPhone

https://www.wvlt.tv/2021/02/23/evacuations-underway-after-train-vs-18-wheeler-crash-causes-explosion-fire-in-cameron/

Yes, you’re right, the sheriff said coal and gasoline. Thank you for the correction.

Was the train actually carrying coal and gasoline in its “front compartments?”

Posted from iPhone

This type of reporting is indicative of how degraded our journalism has become. In the not so distant past a good editor would of caught these types of poorly worded headlines and told the reporter to bring it back with a thoroughly written statement.  Such is not the case today, in the rush to get ahead of other sources these statements are not looked at closely.

As a long-time reporter, editor, publisher, etc. I have found that many industries try to educate members of the media about their industries.
We railfans (one since about 1940) are a minority and reporters cannot be expected to know everything about the industry.
I have sent emails to some reporters who made such errors and all responded with appreciation.
 

Bill Deaver
Tehachapi, CA

SooGuy64 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> This type of reporting is indicative of how
> degraded our journalism has become. In the not so
> distant past a good editor would of caught these
> types of poorly worded headlines and told the
> reporter to bring it back with a thoroughly
> written statement.  Such is not the case today,
> in the rush to get ahead of other sources these
> statements are not looked at closely.
There was a serious grade crossing accident down here in West Australia yesterday.Media reported thus......''The two crewmen that were at the wheel of the train were seriously injured and airlifted to Perth hospital''.
Good editing seems to be a thing of the past.Also some appauling reporting down here on the recent United 777 engine incident.
Regards,DK

I watched this as well this morning and somebody please help the reporter.  He stated that they didn't know who was at fault.  How can the train be at fault at the crossing?

I'm surprised some dumbass from the sheriff's office or the news media make a statement like "The Train ran out infront of the truck!!"

The KVUE article mentions there was one vehicle waiting at the crossing as the truck approached. That suggests the warning equipment was functioning as intended. The truck swerved out of the way and into the train.  Would it have been dark in the area of the accident at 6.40 am local time?

I recently I saw a story about a fire on a pier in San Francisco. Next to the fire was a ship called "battleship" so I wrote the reporter and got a reply. She told me that since it was 2 or 3 am in San Francisco she was given the assignment to write the story. She was in London England and she was going to forward my comments to the NY office.
Second comment I wrot our local newspaper to ask why they just take governments comments without checking. Well I got a scathing reply from the newspaper and he told me that the newspaper had laid off hundreds of people and just that morning they had fired more leaving just 4 people to cover the bay area.
Patrick

SooGuy64 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> This type of reporting is indicative of how
> degraded our journalism has become. In the not so
> distant past a good editor would of caught these
> types of poorly worded headlines and told the
> reporter to bring it back with a thoroughly
> written statement.  Such is not the case today,
> in the rush to get ahead of other sources these
> statements are not looked at closely.

Posted from Android

SooGuy64 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> This type of reporting is indicative of how
> degraded our journalism has become. In the not so
> distant past a good editor would of caught these
> types of poorly worded headlines and told the
> reporter to bring it back with a thoroughly
> written statement.  Such is not the case today,
> in the rush to get ahead of other sources these
> statements are not looked at closely.


When I worked in the newspaper business, the reporter, photographer and editor were all separate people. Now it's all one person does everything sadly.

Lackawanna484 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The KVUE article mentions there was one vehicle
> waiting at the crossing as the truck approached.
> That suggests the warning equipment was
> functioning as intended. The truck swerved out of
> the way and into the train.  Would it have been
> dark in the area of the accident at 6.40 am local
> time?

Looking at the Big Sandy webcam this morning at 6:40am, just twilight.  Sun rose there around 6:55am.  Figure that Cameron being a little further west would be a couple of minutes darker than Big Sandy.