In response to an earlier post regarding safety, I live close to Atlanta, Ga and
live approx. 1/2 mile from tracks that are used 20 -30 times every day. Several
crossings are clearly marked for NO TRUCKS (using the symbol of a truck
surrounded by a red circle with a diagonal straight line through the circle and
the truck symbol). Several months ago a cement truck must not have seen the sign
and of course he got stuck on the tracks. Needless to say, the truck got plowed
by a 2-mile long train that had traffic backed up for miles (which really isn't
that unusual around here). We have had approx. 3 accidents similar to this in
the 1 year I have lived in this house.

>>> Wirt Atmar <[log in to unmask]> 05/17 1:02 PM >>>
Howard harrumphs:

> I grabbed this little snippet from the MSNBC article:
>
>  "At one point, a police officer fired his revolver at the train, perhaps in
>  frustration, authorities said."
>
>  But, I suppose that would be a different OT thread.  As Bugs Bunny would
>  rather sarcastically say, "What a maroon."

Actually, the police officer (perhaps several along the way) were ordered to
fire at the train. Their intent was to punch holes in the train's diesel fuel
tanks and thus eventually bring the engine to a halt.

CSX, the train's owner, also tried to derail the engine, putting a mechanical
derailer on the track, but that didn't work either.

The question I asked, of course, was where was Jon Voight or some other
nearly equally famous Hollywood action star when you need one? If this had
been a movie, the hero would have dropped from a commandeered State
Police/television news helicopter onto the top of the semi-speeding train and
he would have surefootedly made his way to the front, jumping boxcars as he
went, entering the cab just seconds before the train entered "Dead-man's
tunnel" at 120 miles/hour.

Wirt Atmar

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