Western Railroad Discussion > Man Killed by Boxcar Door on UP

A man standing in the doorway of a boxcar on a moving UP train was killed when the door suddenly closed on him. A contractor working near the tracks in Osawatomie, KS spotted the trapped man and called 911. But the man was found to be dead upon arrival.

https://www.kctv5.com/news/local_news/union-pacific-boxcar-door-crushes-kills-man-in-rural-miami-county/article_1eba4562-7694-11eb-b587-7fc617e26eae.html

Ted Curphey
Ontario, OR



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 02/24/21 10:31 by funnelfan.

Amateurs riding trains need to get advice from veterans in the field about how to use hardwood wedges to secure these doors from movement during slack action.

fbe Wrote:
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> Amateurs riding trains need to get advice from
> veterans in the field about how to use hardwood
> wedges to secure these doors from movement during
> slack action.

Or people need to know not to trespass on railroad property and ride freight trains.
JC

Posted from Android

Not that it makes any difference , but was it a plug door or a sliding door 🤔....
(I'm qualified on both...as a retired RRer)

Posted from Android

Plug doors need to be locked into place before moving, so this was far more likely a sliding door. Reminds me of a SP crew kicking cars in Salem back in the early 1990's. Some freshly rebuilt boxcars had the sliding doors zipping back and forth with the slack action. It's easy to see why they get beat up so quickly.

Ted Curphey
Ontario, OR

On my road we refuse to pull cars from industry with open doors....and yes...they will pay demurrage until the doors are closed and latched. Even if MTY.

Conrail was very tough on open doors for a while. DS would direct a train to stop so car Department could close them.

Posted from Android

Sadly, the RR will most likely be sued and will pay out a large settlement.

There's a reason plug door cars have "Close and lock doors before moving car" stenciled on their doors...

engineerinvirginia Wrote:
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> On my road we refuse to pull cars from industry
> with open doors....and yes...they will pay
> demurrage until the doors are closed and latched.
> Even if MTY.

Well I rode box cars in the 70's and never had a door slam close.  You don't see many open.
My thought is he could have been in process of opening one and trying to squeez

Bob Jordan

Most railroads have a policy of not pulling cars with open doors. Unfortunately the doors are not sealed when empty and can easily be opened by virtually anyone. I have pulled into yards to make a pick up and found every single door opened. This occurred often at various yards adjacent to poorer neighborhoods or unprotected sidings when people went "shopping" for whatever they could find.

i did that too in the late 70's, mostly SP coast and overland routes. Usually gons and open ended auto racks, as they were open ended at the time. If an open door box could be found, you'd put a spike in the slot on the bottom track to keep it from closing, but the rr police were always checking those so I avioided them pretty much. The rider who was killed may have been trying to get out when it slammed shut, or maybe someone else in the car was arguing with him and after doing the dirty deed, put him in a position so it looked like an accident then left the scene. I had that happen to me too, just the argument, not the dirty deed. We both walked away from the scene alive.

funnelfan Wrote:
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> Plug doors need to be locked into place before
> moving, so this was far more likely a sliding
> door. Reminds me of a SP crew kicking cars in
> Salem back in the early 1990's. Some freshly
> rebuilt boxcars had the sliding doors zipping back
> and forth with the slack action. It's easy to see
> why they get beat up so quickly.

I will add my vote to the story as I saw the Lompoc switcher (back in the late 70's ) kick a car loose in the Lompoc Yard and it had enough momentum that when it slammed into another car (yes, I believe the speed was a little more than 4 MPH) the door slid all the way closed. And in a related vein, when I worked at Kerr McGee in Trona (the 80's), there was a report of a boxcar door that had fallen off its track on onto the ground. Don't exactly know what the cause was, but does prove the "danger" aspect of rolling stock.

         Egads!  Now someone wants to educate law breakers so they can break the law safely. Obviously forgetting the law breaker is a moron in the first place.

It is getting to be a long time ago, but it was not unusual to see carmen working with long pry-bars to close the doors on empty boxcars on outbound trains on the U.P. in Los Angeles.

Now and then I saw holes punched in box car doors.  Evidently the shipper or consignee had been attempting to open or close boxcar doors with a fork lift, and something had slipped. 

Eugene Crowner

It couldn't have been Hobo Shoetring. He always makes sure he plugs the door when riding an open box car.