At the request of our Friar Fred, an interesting link on the subject…
What I find interesting in that article is that the engineer gave a statement that he was not on his cell phone. The NTSB confirms his story as being just as he said it was. Then in an absolute need to villianize the engineer the article goes on to show all the ways he could still be lying about it. All the way down to buying a burner phone and then in the midst of wreckage,carnage, and severe personal injury , ditched said burner. Why can’t the guy be telling the truth? I guess the stroy would be to short if they said “engineer’s testimony about cell phone was proven true”.
I am not saying the guy was not negligent in some way but why do we have to automatically assume that he is and then continue to do so after the evidence stacks up in his favor. Frustrating that this guy is guilty until proven innocent.
The whole premise of this guys argument is that there is no situation on Earth that this guy is not guilty because he couldn’t control the speed of the train. He list all the ways that the engineer should have done so. Rock through the windshield report it and control the speed, even if it hits you in the head remain conscious long enough to control the speed.
I don’t know what happened but the point is neither does tis guy. Let the NTSB do their job. They will find a way to hang this guy given enough time. Yes I am cynical. Wonder how much Amtrak paid this guy.
Frustrating that this guy is guilty until proven innocent.
Yes Devon, been there, done that.
This “guy” was in control of the train. Has anyone read any statement from/timeline from him? He is innocent until proven guilty, but in that race, he is in first place with a eight lap lead. Why was the train not thrown into emergency? Even the conductor, (qualified on territory??)" should have known something was wrong and “dropped the air” Just what was the engineer doing as the train accelerated, and why did he not do something besides a late brake application?? "That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it.
Like I said am not defending the guy, but I am not condemning him either. We just simply do not know what happened. We weren’t there Lets not string him up just yet.
Ed Halo said:
This “guy” was in control of the train. Has anyone read any statement from/timeline from him? He is innocent until proven guilty, but in that race, he is in first place with a eight lap lead. Why was the train not thrown into emergency? Even the conductor, (qualified on territory??)" should have known something was wrong and “dropped the air” Just what was the engineer doing as the train accelerated, and why did he not do something besides a late brake application?? "That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it.
Well for one most conductors don’t know every single speed board, heck it was even tough for me as a freight conductor to memorize all the speed boards and the locations prior to entering engineer school. Secondly, it takes time to throw the train into emergency. The conductor doesn’t walk around with a special button in his pocket (remember it’s 1 person in the cab) that magically can dump the air. He has to walk at least 1/2 length of the car to emergency valve, then pull it.
As for why the engineer didn’t do something, remember how fast these electric locomotives excelerate. It doesn’t take much with you have a high HPT rating…
I still think that something happened to the cab (rocks, etc) that caused the engineer to duck, or momentary lose focus.