Near death experience! (Tr. #4, Mendota IL, 7/5)

At least it wasn't mine! While trainwatching in Mendota IL yesterday, my brother and I were observing the arrival of #4 (already over 2.5 hours late) from the far end of the platforms (about 300' from the waiting passengers) and watched (in horror) as a lady with no regard for the approaching train wandered out onto the track, bag in tow. Horn blasts did not phase her and I think the sound of the train going into emergency finally made her turn around (looked like at the last second!)

I had camera in hand ready to shoot the power, but I hesitated at photographing what most certainly would have been a most gruesome site.

Of course, the E stop added more lost time to the station stop, but at least no blood was spilled!

Anyone else involved with #4 yesterday?
TT

btw a E stop is an Employee stop by timetable, not Emergengy stop.

btw a E stop is an Employee stop by timetable, not Emergengy stop. onfurtunatly as passenger engineer, these things happen sometimes daily and sometimes only weekly but they are a regular adrenaline booster.

thanks for correcting my abbrev., I can't imagine what that crew was going through, let alone doing it several times a month! I just hope the conductor took her aside when on board and stressed the "don't cross the tracks/look both ways" lecture. During the 'normal' station stop, a crew member in one of the lead sleepers opened his dutch door and asked us what we knew. I proceeded to give him the lady's discription and commented the engine crew saved her life.

I was also wondering, while awaiting the restart, what the crew has to perform to recover from an Emergency stop? I know he has to get his air back, but are there other saftey protocols to perform, was an automated signal sent out? Maybe check with the conductor to see if a dozen or so standing passengers awaiting the station stop are now piled up upon one another in the vestibules....

I belive that once they get thier air back up, they have to preform a break test.

only if no reason was found for the Emergency stop.
If its known that Engineer big holed it , there would be no reason to give brake test.

As an engineer, this is the procedure:

1) ABV initiated
A. Full emergency brake effort must be allowed to apply.
B. Leave handle in emergency until stopped.
C. Move throttle to idle.
D. NOTE: It is acceptable to regulate locomotive brake cylinder pressure
from an undesired emergency (UDE) brake application.

2) When equipped with Two-Way-End-Of-Train device, engineer or other train crew members must activate the Two-Way-End-Of-Train device using the "emergency" toggle switch when any emergency application occurs.

3) Recovery from emergency after stopping
A. Move ABV handle to release.
B. Inspect ENTIRE train for derailed cars, shifted loads, etc.
C. Make a Road Test / Class II brake test.

4) After proceeding, a running test of brakes must be made.

Happy Railfanning!

That sounds like a lot of extra work for a crew already under the gun! I did expect to see one of the engine crew dismount and do a walk around, but no one was seen from my vantage point. I noted after he passed a good cut of Roadrailers in tow, glad none of those jumped off. But again, he was within 300' or so from his station stop at the time of the application.

Great place to watch, Mendota. Big sweeping S-curve with the station in the middle. Bad place for a crew to get a good look at potential obstructions down the line...

Also worthy of note is that when one says "near-death experience", such experiences mean "near one's own death" and not witnessing the death of someone else.