Cab ride inside live xteam locomotive1/17/2023 ![]() The investigation also did show that the poor driver of Purple once he realized what was happening tried to get his train into reverse in a desperate attempt to move his train prior to the collision but sadly he didn't have enough time. It was later discovered also that the person who should have been in charge of operations at the TTC, was instead a few miles away having dinner. The driver of Pink being rather new didn't realize that he hadn't taken the switch and therefore was still on the Epcot beam and was backing directly into Monorail Purple waiting at the hold point just outside of the station for Pink to clear so that he could pull into the station and discharge his passengers. However, the yard failed to properly throw the switch for that move and the supervisor on duty at the TTC failed to properly ensure that the switch was thrown. That was such a rare sight I had to get out my video camera and record it for posterity's sake.Ĭlick to expand.The fatal accident in 2009 where the driver of Monorail Pink backed his train into the front of Monorail Purple, killing Purple's driver.Ī video showing the damage to the two monorail trains, after the driver of Pink pulled back into the TTC station of the Epcot loop.Īfter the accident it was learned that the driver of Pink was supposed to back his monorail onto the Magic Kingdom track, such that he could then take his train to the yard. A few years ago, when I was on a Cascades train, waiting at the Vancouver (WA) station, there was a BNSF train pulling through the yard with a caboose at the rear of the train. Sadly, that, too, is the product of a bygone era, with cabooses nowadays very rarely seen except in railroad museums or rusting away on sidings. For an elementary-school aged young lad, that was a lot of fun too. On other occasions, my friend and I were able to ride the caboose from our town to the next stop down the line, six miles away. Granted, it doesn't take much to be thrilling when you live in a town with a population of 500 :lol: but for me getting to blow the horn was indeed a thrill. I was even given the responsibility, a time or two, of blowing the horn as the train approached the crossing near the depot. On a few occasions, we were allowed to ride in the cab when the engineers would perform their necessary switching maneuvers while in our town. Given my life-long fascination/enjoyment of all things trains, I had the good sense as a kid to befriend the son of the local depot agent in our little town. I did volunteer as conductor many times and since there was no turn-around, the train went backwards for half the trip meaning the conductor had to direct the engineer for reverse motion as well as move the manual switches. At that time I was working long hours on my job and wanted to sleep in Saturdays. I could have become one of the engineers if I was interested in coming out early Saturday mornings as the engineers had to be there early to move cars each Saturday that blocked the tracks we use for rides. In Spain in 2000, I got to ride for a portion of a trip between cities after myself explaining to the engineer in my non-existent Spanish about being a museum volunteer.Īt the Southeastern Railway Museum, I got to run a 44 ton GE to move cars to the back of the museum. I was so awed, I forgot to take pictures! My wife helped explain to the Italian engineer in her limited Spanish that I was a railroad museum volunteer and he let me ride in the cab for about 4 stops including riding on the trestle that does a 360 degree turn. ![]() In Italy in 2001, I got to ride in the cab of the Bernina Express in off-season when it is just an ordinary train. I have twice talked myself into riding in the cab of European passenger trains - and in neither of the cases did the driver speak English or I speak their language. ![]()
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