Western Railroad Discussion > the fence and lights at Cajon

I'm sure that no one reading this isn't dismayed with the fence that now obscures one of the most photographed and photogenic spots in North America.

I've heard so many theories and suppositions about why Santa Fe did this. I've heard things like the Immigration Service searches trains for illegals, FBI looks for "wanted" persons, etc., etc.

While looking through the NTSB site, I came upon a listing of wreck reports available through the site. The final report of the wreck at Cajon Junction on 1 February 1996 of ATSF H-BALT1-31 is available in .pdf form. You'll need Adobe Acrobat to open and read. Get it from Adobe's site if you haven't already.

The report resides at http://www.ntsb.gov/Publictn/1996/RAR9605.pdf

Note the report page numbers do not match the PDF page numbers.

Look particularly at PDF page number 46 & 47 which explains what ATSF has done since the derailment.

Look at PDF page 53, second paragraph, and there is the biggest reason for the fence and lights. They are there for good it seems.

The engineer survived the derailment. His account of the frightening ride past Cajon summit is included.

Interesting reading and a reminder of how trackside, we all need to be mindful of safety, follow the rules so there will be another day to go out and do what we enjoy.

Be Careful,

Daniel

> Interesting reading and a reminder of how trackside, we all
> need to be mindful of safety, follow the rules so there will be
> another day to go out and do what we enjoy.
>
> Be Careful,
>
> Daniel

None of us had anything to do with this derailment. The fence and guards are BNSF's way of trying to get out of fault of an accident that happened purely because of a mechanical defect. No body with a Nikon, camcorder or a scanner had anything to do with the derailment. This is not the only fence they have put up. I believe there are 3 more at accident sites BNSF claims were questionable.

>>>Flatwheel wrote, "None of us had anything to do with this derailment. The fence and guards are BNSF's way of trying to get out of fault of an accident that happened purely because of a mechanical defect. No body with a Nikon, camcorder or a scanner had anything to do with the derailment."

I don't think that the implication, of either the FRA or BNSF, is that a rail-fan caused the accident. They do believe that one possible causes of the accident is a closed angle-cock on one of the cars.

It is possible that someone closed the angle-cock while the train was stopped. The fence and lights may make it less likely that someone would attempt to do it again.

Yes, there are mechanical problems which could have been the cause, and those are being addressed as well. At least BNSF is taking reasonable steps to make things safer for its trains and crews. I'm sure that keeping the FRA happy has something to do with it, too.

Too bad it might ruin someone's picture. There are still 33,000 miles of their railroad left that you can take a picture of, without the fence. I'm sure that no time was spent, by BNSF, to consider the implications of their actions to rail fans.