Teen Killed When Hit By Freight Train in WESTHAMPTON

Here is the WNBC Link
http://www.wnbc.com/traffic/3381217/detail.html

The story should read "Person goes in front of train and is struck", not "Freight train strikes person"....the implication of that is the train somehow wanted to run someone over on that run. That's the same as saying a cop went to work in his precinct in the ghetto and wanted to whack someone. All to often it's the "victims" who create these situations through their own actions.

any follow-up news?

this may have been seven years ago, and i may have just activated an account, but how dare you. how dare you make common, misconceptions about someone you never knew. This person you were discussing these years ago was, and still IS my eldest brother, Patrick. How dare you make news about him as if he was something that was to last a day and a half by word of mouth, as if you even knew him or where he came from. I was twelve years old when I lost that amazing young man who took care of me, fed me, nourished me, taught me, and most importantly, loved me. WHAT has happened to the human race that they can so nonchalantly talk about the pain of others with no gratitude or empathy, bet none of you thought you would ever receive this notification. take care. Rest in peace Patrick, your death was not in vein, I still live by your morals..I love you.

Drohans:

I am very sorry for the loss of your brother Patrick. Please accept my condolences. I'm sure even seven years later the loss is still fresh in your mind.

Generally, these topics don't last too long because of the reactions they generate, such as the reaction here. Railroaders and railfans often have jaded reactions to such incidents based on their perspective, and often, we neglect to remember that those lost had families and friends. The perspective is often born out of the fact that such incidents are also traumatic for train crews and witnesses, and the circumstances of the accident, which often are not known in the immediate aftermath.

I don't believe the users who posted back when this happened are still active, with the exception of the first poster who posted the news. I or the moderator of the thread will generally ask that the topic retain a respectful tone. Unfortunately, we don't often get to see each and every thread.

Whatever the circumstances of the accident, please accept my apologies for the impersonal nature of the response, and my condolences for your loss.

Jeff Smith
Site Administrator

I work as a freight train conductor. There is nothing we can do in that locomotive cab to avoid a collision with a person or vehicle. You would not believe how many times during a tour of duty my train comes close to ending a person life. After 13 years of being a railroader i have had hundreds of close calls, but luckily i have not been involved in a fatality. From a train crew stand point, every time we come near any pedestrian it goes through your head; our they paying attention, due they know there to close to the tracks, due they realize we are moving at authorized track speed and appear further away and slower then we are really traveling. Due the understand it takes me a mile to stop. I have had nightmares about tragic situations because we are so helpless in that cab to avoid tragedy, and i only have had close calls. IMAGINE the nightmares i am going to have when i am actually involved in a fatality. The only thing we can do as a train crew is apply the emergency brake and hope for the best. It is a horrible experience to have no control of your destiny, but that is exactly what happens. We cant steer around a person, we cant stop on a dime. We just slam on the brakes and slide for a good mile.

And as a Freight train conductor we have it the worst. We don't ride in passenger cars taking tickets, we don't sit in cabooses anymore. We ride up front in the locomotive cab with the engineer. The freight train conductor not only happens to watch this unfold before their eyes, we also have to walk back and take care of the aftermath after the collisions happens. My engineer stays with the train inside the locomotive cab, when i have to walk back and try to help this person, if their still alive, who i just saw 10 seconds ago alive and breathing. I have to go back and find out who they are, where they are , can i help, can i drag them out of the wreckage. I am the last person they are going to see alive if their still breathing, their going to die in my arms, a person they don't even know. As a freight train conductor i get to see the before, middle, and aftermath of a tragic situation. I am the one that has to walk my train looking for body parts, so i can direct the first responders on the scene.

This is why we have nightmares as train crews, this is why every time we come to a crossing a thousand things run through our heads. We are helpless.

Just last week, my train came up to a crossing, and their is a pretty young girl with a friend of hers. We where only doing 10 miles per hour, and we go through the crossing just fine, and then i hear the screaming!!! Its her friend screaming at her to get of the train!!! She is trying to board the steps of our 2nd locomotive between the locomotive and the first rail car. And I turned back to my engineer because she was on my side of the train, told him to put the train into emergency, i look back and she is gone. Now i have to walk back and find out if she went under my train. Do you know how HORRABLE that feeling is walking back and looking under your train for body parts, or do see if that person is still alive. Nobody thinks of my feelings in this tragedy. Nobody realizes what i have to go through because i just saw this girl alive a min. ago and now i am searching for her body. Luckily i found nothing, she most likely fell off hit the ground and took off running. But you can imagine the pain in my heart walking this train realizing this is someones daughter, sister, best friend, girlfriend etc. And now i have to find her and pray she is still alive. It sucks..............

And Jeff Smith, we are not insensitive. We are angry. We are agree people don't realize we suffer, people don't realize what we have to live with the rest of our lives. We are victims too. I had one conductor friend off mine who had to carry an arm back to the engine to put it in the refrigerator because that was the only thing that was cold enough to keep it fresh until first responders arrived. He lives with that image of that person in his head everyday struggling on the ground being him to save his life. I had another engineer tell me when she was working as a conductor, she walked back after a pedestrian was hit by her train to find the gentleman severed in half still breathing begging her to save his life. She told me she can never get that image out of her head, that she saw this person walking and smiling, not paying attention however, just a second ago, and now there begging for there life. We are victims too, please remember this people......

Chicagorail1 wrote:And Jeff Smith, we are not insensitive. We are angry. We are agree people don't realize we suffer, people don't realize what we have to live with the rest of our lives. We are victims too. I had one conductor friend off mine who had to carry an arm back to the engine to put it in the refrigerator because that was the only thing that was cold enough to keep it fresh until first responders arrived. He lives with that image of that person in his head everyday struggling on the ground being him to save his life. I had another engineer tell me when she was working as a conductor, she walked back after a pedestrian was hit by her train to find the gentleman severed in half still breathing begging her to save his life. She told me she can never get that image out of her head, that she saw this person walking and smiling, not paying attention however, just a second ago, and now there begging for there life. We are victims too, please remember this people......

Jeff Smith wrote:Generally, these topics don't last too long because of the reactions they generate, such as the reaction here. Railroaders and railfans often have jaded reactions to such incidents based on their perspective, and often, we neglect to remember that those lost had families and friends. The perspective is often born out of the fact that such incidents are also traumatic for train crews and witnesses, and the circumstances of the accident, which often are not known in the immediate aftermath.

Chicagorail, I appreciate your perspective, which is entirely valid, of course, but you've taken my post out of context. I never called anyone insensitive (I did use the term jaded to refer to some of the responses we get on here), I merely mentioned that reactions on here come from a different perspective, and we often forget that those killed in collisions (which could also include passengers and crew) have families, whether it's a pedestrian, car or truck driver, or crew member.

If you notice the highlighted portion of my original post, I mention that such incidents are also traumatic for crews and witnesses. No one has forgotten the crews here. Your stories are a poignant reminder of the stress on train crews, even if they haven't personally experienced such an accident.

Please, keep in mind that my post addresses some of the callous posts that take place on here. Almost every such post offers sympathy for the crew and responders, and no one begrudges them an ounce of sympathy. I don't think we should begrudge sympathy to the family of the boy in this incident, or to the wife and children of the truck driver killed in a crossing accident (see the Downeaster accident thread in Amtrak), even if the truck driver was "at fault" due to inattention.

My intent is to offer sympathy to all those involved.