Western Railroad Discussion > Car runs off 101 hits train.

This evening per KFI radio a car crashed off US101 at Refugio CA and hit a train. Most likely an Amtrak unknown at this time.

Posted from Android

Sounds like the Starlight was the train involved.
 

Jerry Martin
Los Angeles, CA
Central Coast Railroad Festival

There’s a roadwork project going on right there on 101. Possibly part of what went wrong…
SR

There is a bad history around that stretch of 101, including when trucks have run off the road and hit the track hard enough to knock it out of line.  (That one was not a derailment because the Highway Patrol notified the SP and we inspected it.)

That area has always been problematic. The highway used to follow the tracks around the point. There was a sharp curve, and the road was narrow.

These conditions lasted for several years after the highway was rebuilt into it's present state. The land in the area was owned by the Rutherford family, and it wasn't until the state was about to negotiate the purchase of their land that the were able to straighten out the highway by way of the major cut. If you look up on the hill to the washer of the highway cut you can see some buildings that used to be their home and barn.

My grandparents managed Refugio before it was a state beach

Amtrak loco 353 was involved. Minor paint scratch front left corner. Passengers looked OK in pics car totaled.

There's a Personal Accident lawyer somewhere trying to figure out how to make this Amtrak's fault because they think that they'll just settle instead of going to court.

spohnsl Wrote:

> If you look up on the hill to the washer of the highway cut you can see some buildings that used to be their home and barn.

What's a "washer of the highway  cut?"
 

chp

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Sorry, that should have been 'west of the highway cut' :)