Very sad for all concerned. Also, if this was a case of a railfan doing something stupid, it will sadly lead to more difficulties for the rest of us.
There is a drone video of it on YouTube. It was literally a case of a guy standing right next to the rail with his camera, nothing the train could do to stop. So that will not go well with future excursions.
Before you ask (or make comment) I didn’t post the video here on purpose for the obvious reason. Search 844 Accident on YT if you want to see it.
Chris Kieffer said:
…I didn’t post the video here…
Thank you for that.
Whenever there is a tragedy like this, aside from feeling bad for the people involved, I struggle with the language. It may seems stupid or even inappropriate given the gravity of people losing their lives, but it bugs me just a little.
A man, car, truck, etc was hit by a train. Or, a train hits a man, car, etc. It always sounds like the train somehow is as fault, like it went out of its way to hit something. A couple of weeks ago I was driving and a bird flew in front of my car’s grill. My daughter says, “You just hit a bird!!” I didn’t hit anything! I couldn’t do anything about it!
I don’t have an answer. Maybe the headlines should read, “Truck pulls out in front of moving train,” or “Man stands in path of train,” or “Bird flies directly into moving car.” I don’t know. I feel sort of bad even bringing this up.
Yea, its an avoidable tragedy. Its no secret where the train will be going, it is going to follow the rails. Its no secret that the train can’t swerve to miss someone or something. Its no secret that it cant stop on a dime. And a rail-fan should know enough about these non secrets to stay clear of the danger area.
I feel bad for all involved. The engineer must be really upset, even though there want much he could do except lay on the whistle.
John Passaro said:
Chris Kieffer said:
…I didn’t post the video here…
Thank you for that.
John yea. Even though its a long overhead shot, it looked rather…painful.
As someone who operates steam locomotives from time to time, I did watch the video.
The woman was using her cell phone to photo or record the 844. While she was outside the rails she was at the edge of the ties. In the UK with its narrow loading gauge she might have survived but the 844 is quite a bit wider and she was hit by the side of the pilot beam.
To me it looks like she lost situation awareness of just how close she was. But she was not alone. Another man and woman on the other side were between the rails of a parallel track looking in the direction of the 844.
My heart goes out to the family of the woman killed and also to the crew.
While I dislike drones following train excursions, it this case it likely saved UP a great deal of litigation expense. Hopefully tragedies such as this will not lead to less excursions but also hopefully will also lead to everyone who watches excursions being more aware or others so that future events such as this can be avoided.
Stan
Chris Kieffer said:
There is a drone video of it on YouTube. It was literally a case of a guy standing right next to the rail with his camera, nothing the train could do to stop. So that will not go well with future excursions.
Before you ask (or make comment) I didn’t post the video here on purpose for the obvious reason. Search 844 Accident on YT if you want to see it.
I’ve seen it, Holy cow, I have in the past photographed 844 at full speed and I cannot believe how unbelievably, ridiculously close to the tracks she was! She was practically on the tracks, it looks like she never took her eyes out of the camera viewfinder. It’s like the old National Geographic film of a pride of lions charging the cameraman, who never stopped rolling and never looked up from the camera to realize it looked so good on the camera because they were charging straight at him, needless to say, like this lady, he also didn’t survive. 
Its a shame it happened but folks now days are just plain stupid. And the down side is it will make it harder for the real rail fans to do what they like to do. Later RJD
After watching that video several times, two things are evident to me. First off, the railfan was inside the hazard zone. It looks to me like the left foot was on the tie between the end of the tie and the rail. Second, the railfan was on the fireman;s side of the loco, out of the engineer’s line of sight. Regardless of being a railfan, if that video were presented to me in a court, I would not be able to find UP at fault. Negligence on the part of the railfan does not constitute guilt on the part of UP.
As railfans and hobbyists we need to send letters in support of UP, to UP, declaring our support and condemning the foolishness of the railfan. Maybe if enough of the good railfans speak up we can make a difference.
My tuppence.
John, I was thinking the same thing, but I didn’t say so, because I didn’t want to be too rude.
I had to watch the video and I can’t believe that she just stood there. How could a person have no clue to the power of a train and any railfan would know that you never stand that close to a moving train in case there is something sticking out. Her own stupidity cost her her life and that is really sad for her family.
I went on a steam excursion years ago and the train stopped several times along the route to let us out then backed up for a run by. The train personnel were constantly telling people to get back and in a few spots they had a rope that they held to keep people at a safe distance.
844 was moving along pretty good. I wonder if it is possible she didn’t realize how fast it was going? It looked like she made no attempt to get out of the way.
Everyone wants the cool shot of the train going by but it is not worth risking your life and limb to get it.
Todd, sometime there is a disconnect when looking through a camera viewfinder. The person filming the shot gets so caught up in getting a good shot that they loose situational awareness.
When I was at a tourist railroad, an announcement was made over the loudspeaker, to keep clear of the track past the road crossing because they were going to spot some freight cars there. As soon as the train stopped and started letting passengers off, a man and his teenage son went straight to were we just told not to go, to set up their camera equipment for that “perfect shot”. 2 others followed suit. The conductor yelled to then to get out of there, but the man and his son didn’t move, so the conductor had to go and personally escort them from that section of track.
Some rail-fans don’t appear to know much about trains. Just watch a group of them the next time you are around them. How many step on the top of the rail? One never steps on the top of the rail to cross the tracks, it could be greasy and slippery, and cause a person to loose their footing and fall. One always steps over the rail.
David Maynard said:
John, I was thinking the same thing, but I didn’t say so, because I didn’t want to be too rude.
Are you implying I was?
Some folks do cull themselves …
Not at all. Its just sometimes my humor is misinterpreted…quite often my humor is misinterpreted, and somebody takes a fence. So I am trying to reign in my humor a bit, so certain folks don’t get a fender.
I have said for years that “ya can’t fix stupid, but ya can hit it with a car.” Here in da burgh, I saw a gentleman fail to safely cross a one lane, one way street, because he didn’t look the proper way and stepped out in front of a moving car. Now I can say “Ya can’t fix stupid, but ya can hit it with a train.”
David Maynard said:
Not at all. Its just sometimes my humor is misinterpreted…quite often my humor is misinterpreted, and somebody takes a fence. So I am trying to reign in my humor a bit, so certain folks don’t get a fender.
I have said for years that “ya can’t fix stupid, but ya can hit it with a car.” Here in da burgh, I saw a gentleman fail to safely cross a one lane, one way street, because he didn’t look the proper way and stepped out in front of a moving car. Now I can say “Ya can’t fix stupid, but ya can hit it with a train.”
Don’t worry pal, I’ll take the load off.
I don’t think she was offended either…
David said:
“Not at all. Its just sometimes my humor is misinterpreted…quite often my humor is misinterpreted, and somebody takes a fence. So I am trying to reign in my humor a bit, so certain folks don’t get a fender.”
One of the big newspapers (WaPo?) ran a contest where a letter was added to a word, to make an appropriate new definition…
I only remember this one, go figure, but I think it mimics life vs the Internet.
Sarcasm and online we face a Sarchasm, the deep void between us when we go sarcastic.