Passenger Trains > Royal Gorge Route Railroad Conductor Death

http://www.denverpost.com/2016/05/29/royal-gorge-train-closed-sunday-after-conductor-dies-from-fall/[Royal Gorge conductor run over, killed by train, sheriff’s office says 
Leslie Cacy, 28, died 4 miles from station on return tripA conductor for the Royal Gorge was killed when she was run over by the train Saturday night, the Fremont County Sheriff’s Office said Sunday.By Katy Canada | kcanada@denverpost.com    May 29, 2016 | UPDATED: 5/29/2016 11:00 AMA conductor for the Royal Gorge Railroad was killed when she was run over by the train Saturday night, the Fremont County Sheriff’s Office said Sunday.Leslie Cacy, 28, fell from a moving train car about 5 p.m. Saturday and died at the scene near Cañon City, sheriff’s office spokeswoman Sgt. Megan Richards said in a news release.Richards said the train was on its way back to the station and “about 4 miles from the station, Cacy was at the rear of the train, as it was backing up to the station, standing in the door opening when she fell off the rear of the train and was run over.”There were about 200 people on the train, the news release said. The line remains closed, and the train is being transported from the bottom of the Royal Gorge canyon for examination. The National Transportation Safety Board has been notified.Cacy, a Corpus Christi, Texas native, met her husband, Devon Cacy, aboard the Royal Gorge Railroad about eight years ago, according to the Corpus Christi Caller Times. The couple worked together at the railroad, where Devon was the operations manager. They were married in October 2015.“They are a young couple being happily married for only seven months,” a GoFundMe page created by Cacy’s brother, Daniel Padilla, said. “Leslie is one of those people who always lit up a room with her unwavering smile and never shied away from lending a helping hand to anyone. The kind of person who loved incredibly deeply and saw the very best in everyone.”Leslie Cacy, 28, fell from a moving Royal Gorge rail car and died on the scene near Cañon City.On its Facebook page, Royal Gorge Route Railroad officials posted Sunday their sorrow and said the line would be closed “for the next few days.”The post said: “We are absolutely devastated by the loss of our team member who died yesterday in an accident on the train. We have been working around the clock with authorities to figure out exactly what happened. Right now, our focus is on helping the Fremont County Sheriff’s office do its job, and taking care of our team.“We will not be running the train for the next few days, and anyone with reservations will be refunded or may reschedule. We are a family-run business, and our team members are like family to us. Our hearts are broken. We will share more information as soon as we have it.”An autopsy is planned, and foul play is not expected, said Fremont County authorities.Investigator Randy Keller said Devon Casey was very upset and asked that people “keep him in their thoughts and prayers.”The Royal Gorge bridge and park remained open Sunday.]

Very, Very Sad.  May she rest in peace, and condolences to her husband and the rest of her family.  This just proves once again that railroading can be deadly at times and everyone must be so careful.

Why on Earth were the passengers held captive on the train for over 4 hours as one news story reported. They had nothing to do with her unfortunate death.

A little more in-depth discussion on this over on the Steam & Excursion forum... http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?10,4040429

That would be for an investigation, the train happened to be the part of the picture. Don't you ever get this when there is an accident involving a train? Takes time to get a coroner, takes time for the police to do their job. What don't you understand?

andersonb109 Wrote:
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> Why on Earth were the passengers held captive on
> the train for over 4 hours as one news story
> reported. They had nothing to do with her
> unfortunate death.

andersonb109 Wrote:
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> Why on Earth were the passengers held captive on
> the train for over 4 hours as one news story
> reported. They had nothing to do with her
> unfortunate death.

They may have been in a place inaccessable to vehicles and they might have seen what happened so they would need to give a statement.
 

they brought another train to evacuate, when a death occurs they have to investigate, noy sure if u want px treking 

Backing a train up in passenger excursion service is stone age. There should be a cab car, 2nd locomotive or a run around 
track. But no that might cost money. So let's back up at 10 or 15 mph. This kind of operation is going on in many parts of the country.
If you can't run an excursion train with some degree of efficiency it shouldn't be run. I would be ashamed to offer this kind of
service to the passenger. Falling off equipment is nothing new. Being coupled-up is nothing new. It was a horrible accident as are
these carnival rides that sometimes go amok.
But backing up is half-ass and don't tell me there is no alternative.

They had a car equipped for the back up moves with a door (with a window) in the vestibule end along with windows on both sides, locomotive headlights, ditch lights, three chime horn and rear view mirrors on both sides for the conductor to look back over the train. I moved away last year so I don't know why this car was apparently not being used on this trip. In regards to the question of why the passengers were on board for so long, the area where the accident occured is not accessable by road. They had to put a special train together to go out and pick up the passengers as apparently the body was under the train, so nothing could be moved until the authorities where finished and the body removed.

Charlie

ValvePilot Wrote:
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> Backing a train up in passenger excursion service
> is stone age. There should be a cab car, 2nd
> locomotive or a run around 
> track. But no that might cost money. So let's back
> up at 10 or 15 mph. This kind of operation is
> going on in many parts of the country.
> If you can't run an excursion train with some
> degree of efficiency it shouldn't be run. I would
> be ashamed to offer this kind of
> service to the passenger. Falling off equipment is
> nothing new. Being coupled-up is nothing new. It
> was a horrible accident as are
> these carnival rides that sometimes go amok.
> But backing up is half-ass and don't tell me there
> is no alternative.

How would the engineer know to stop the train, that she had fallen off?

I believe the Royal Gorge RR used to run the power around the train at each end.  The back and forth is obviouly considered more efficient.
When I last saw it, they had an ex-CN/VIA steam generator car converted to an HEP car, and had wndows, a headlight, horn and pilot
on the east end for leading the train back in to Canon City.No idea if it had any kind of controls in the cab. Seemed to work just fine 
for a slow speed operation with maybe one or two grade crossings total.

The ex-Via car is on the downhill side of the train and is staffed in the return trip on the first train of the day.. The railroad runs multiple trips each day with dining cars added. The ex-VIA now is in the consist. A locomotive is on the downhill side now and the train returns to Canon City with the engineer in that locomotive.
​  As I stated  in posts on other boards no story pinpointed where she was or what she was doing when she fell. When I rode the train last October, the conductor, probably the same person, was moving about the train, like passenger conductors do.
 

Tominde Wrote:
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> How would the engineer know to stop the train,
> that she had fallen off?


The engineer must stop within half the distance given by the Conductor. Hear nothing, train stops.