Which M3 caught fire @ Brentwood

Well Crabman, what I think we're hearing from the railroad employees on here is their continuing frustration with these tragedies that just don't have to happen. And the fact that people are killed and the engineers involved are forever scarred by the experience. They may be further stressed out by the seeming lack of regard for their experiences by the media, the indifferent public and some railfans.

Just glad the engineer and two crewman are unscathed, and I hope they recover from this incident.

I thought the train car's number was 9878.

Also the car was struck at the Second Avenue grade crossing.

There are reports that the driver was on a cell phone when they went around the fully lowered gates.

I would say that M3 will be scrapped because the front was melted away and the lower bumper was wedged into the car.

Let this be a lesson to all teenagers to obey the grade crossing signals, these trains go up to 80 MPH but can travel at up to it's maximum of 100!

My hearts and prayers go out to the families of the two occupants killed in what I think is the most violent LIRR Crossing accident since Executive Drive in Deer Park on May 17th, 2011.

I have a lot of empathy for the engineer and other crew. I know it is a traumatic event. But I agree with Head End View. I understand a railroader getting fed up with this crap. That's understandable. But you don't have to be a railroader to understand these things. I served eleven months in Viet-Nam and I dealt with violent death on a regular basis. Yes it scars you but you go on. The helicopter pilots in Nam used to say any landing you walk away from is a good landing.

I think it also helps if you realize many people have to deal with these things, some have it much worse. Heck I know cops and firefighters that were at WTC on 9/11. One of the ones I know is still working as a detective. This guy just doesn't understand what the word retire means.

Nobody ever seems to mention this but I also feel sorry for the poor passenger in the private car. They have no control. Have you ever been in a car with a friend who turns out to be an absolute idiot when they're behind the wheel? I had my heart in my mouth more than once. The worst feeling was, knowing if we get killed doing this people are going to call us morons. And rightfully so!

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Where do you get that the railfans are unsympathetic with the trauma a crew goes through? When ever a report of a train striking something comes across most of us think about what happened to the engineer. Sure we may never experience the ending of someones else life, but we know that someone just did. Out of all the of the public that use the railroad we are the most sympathetic with the conditions that you work under. We may not know all the terms nor understand all the technology, but we do care what happens to those that operate the railroad.

From RailPictures.net Taken by Chris J Allen

Gentlemen, before this conversation gets out of hand just relax and be civil with each other. Otherwise we'll have to lock what can be a good thread.

Dear LIengineerBob,
Someone asked a question and I simply wrote what I heard on the news and read in the newspaper. No need to get yourself all upset over something innocently posted. I f I offended you and the masses, I apologize. This ends here as I am not going to get into an immature fight over something stupid. Thank you.

mjd13076, everything was settling down. The ONLY "stupid" and "immature" thing in any of this was the last half of your remark.

Not to make light to a very somber situation, but look at the expression of the lady on the ad poster from the above photo - as if to be reacting to what she is seeing in front of her. A bit of irony!

Frankie

Hope the crew is doing Ok, But, Its a little absurd I think that this photo is even online knowing there is 2 people in that car...Yeah its there own fault, but still.

When a car is struck and dragged, is the third rail shut down automatically when it detects a short?

That photo should be shown at every driver's ed class on Long Island. And it may well be. You drive recklessly, you take chances, sometimes the odds catch up with you.

But we all see some of the really reckless drivers out there. Nothing is going to get through to them. It's a waste of time. Sad to say, but that's when Darwin's Law kicks in.

BobLI wrote:When a car is struck and dragged, is the third rail shut down automatically when it detects a short?

There are 3rd rail fuse boxes that may trip, but procedure is to notify the power director to isolate affected track and any other nearby tracks in the area to permit emergency crew access without worrying about other rail traffic.

It may be early in the year, but we have our first contestant for the 2013 Darwin Awards

Dauntless wrote,

"Hope the crew is doing Ok, But, Its a little absurd I think that this photo is even online knowing there is 2 people in that car...Yeah its there own fault, but still."


This is the age of social media were everybody has a camera. That stuff will only grow worse with time. You can bet if there was a security camera or someone videod the accident at crossing it would be all over news and eventually on one of those shows on the "Speed Network."