Photos of 1987 Amtrak Chase, MD accident

The Heritage cars held up better then the Amfleet.

Keep in mind the Heritage coach was the second last car in the train and the AEM7s and first few Amfleets took most of the impact.

The first three cars suffered the most damage. The first Amfleet was empty (being reserved for passengers at Philadelphia and points north) and was completely crushed by the second and third cars. The passenger fatalities occured in the second car, which landed on its side, perpendicular to the tracks.

You know what's really creepy... just image what was going thru the ATK's motorman's mind. You come around a corner at 125mph and there are a bunch of CR loocs stopped right in front of you. You hit the brakes and know in 10 seconds you are going to be dead. It must have been sheer terror.

I'm assuming the fatalities were due to blunt force trama in the 2nd pax car. Its amazing how there were no other fatalities even in the rear car. To go from 125mph to 0mph in a few seconds peole must have been flying flying forward in the pax cars and boom right into the forward walls.

carajul wrote:... just image what was going thru the ATK's motorman's mind.

Someone else used this term previously but the people who operate Amtrak trains are locomotive engineers not motormen.

Btw, Ricky Gates sure did post some messages on the Internet, in the Trains Magazine forum in a thread about the wreck. It was a thread I had been following and it was a stunning surprise. A CSX engineer challenged him, saying "You're not Ricky Gates," but Gates provided his old employee number and that seemed to satisfy everyone.

He said about what you'd expect. Not a day goes by that he doesn't think about the wreck. He mentioned a young woman who was killed, mentioned reading about how promising her life was, seeing her parents in court, and said her death especially haunts him. Also the Amtrak engineer who died. A fellow railroader who was doing his job, trusting that his fellow railroaders would be doing their jobs the right way, then lost his life because of the mistakes he (Gates) made.

He wrote that he regrets the events of that day with all his heart and would gladly give up his life if the clock could be turned back but it can't be turned back.

He blames his poor judgement in part on his use of alcohol and marijuana while on the job. Back then, Gates said, many of the Conrail crews he worked with got high on the job. In fact, he said, if you wouldn't get high you were shunned. The CSX guys really got on him for saying that.

He also said several facts entered into evidence were actually wrong. He and his conductor did not damage the alerter on the lead unit, it was damaged when they boarded. He also said there was no TV (supposedly they were watching or trying to watch an NFL playoff game) on the locomotive and he could not imagine where that allegation came from.

He said even his relatively short term in prison had been horrendous, very hard to deal with. After getting out he found work as a substance abuse counselor, in Baltimore I think.

I remember that thread, and it was quite surprising to see him post. I believe it was him, and not someone impersonating him (that would be a pretty sick joke, but im sure some people felt it wasn't him). It was interesting to see/read his side of the story.

It was surprising to see the backlash he got from the other railroaders. I can see where they were coming from, but at the same time, he was right. Thats just "how it was". Ive been told stories that would make your hair stand on end. No, I won't repeat them

Lots of things changed in railroading that day, and the closest comparison would be Chatsworth. Lots of things in railroading changed that day too. Its just that they haven't all been implemented yet.

There is a huge amount of trust that you have to have in your fellow railroaders to do THEIR jobs correctly, so that it doesnt' affect YOU. (in whatever sense, but a head on collsion/major rules violation/stop signal, etc) And when it does, like that UP video a few years ago with the crew that blew the stop signal at the siding for a meet because they were sleeping, gives a first hand view in a sense, of how fast things can go bad, and how sometimes things are just totally out of your control, and you really are a victim of being in teh wrong place at the wrong time and didn't do ANYTHING wrong. Its scary at times to think that.

But one thing that is of comfort, is that there are so many different levels of safeguards, that nearly every "oh S***" incident gets stopped before it becomes an "oh F***" incident. But sometimes all those stars align. And bad things happen, very bad things.

A few spoil the whole bunch and in this case it was Gates. This unfortunate accident like a number of others did not have to happen and simply did because somebody or maybe more than one somebody was not doing his or her job to the best of their ability. The one at Chatsworth is another bad one, the one at Back Bay was another although in this case fortunately there was not a loss of life but it was fully preventable. There have been other minor mishaps that for the most part have resulted in more damage and delay than anything else but again needless, they did not have to happen either. These events hurt all railroaders even if they work nowhere near where they happen. I knew a couple of people involved in these things and I have to admit I thought differently of some of them after I found out the facts behind the event. Conrail took a black mark on the Chase, Maryland incident while Amtrak took a black mark on the Back Bay incident and other operators have taken black marks as well over a long period of time. Railroaders can NEVER EVER let their guard down even for a minute, dangerous consequnces can and will occur if they do. Unfortunately there have been a few over the years who did not chose to follow this policy and the consequences were very unpleasant. As for Gates, I have NO sympathy for him, he should have thought of the potential consequences of his action or should I say in-action beforehand but obviously he did not.
I wish we could all put this stuff behind us but we can't, at least the good ones can't. Every time I had to "pee in the bottle" or blow in the tube I remembered Ricky Gates and every other railroader should too.
Noel Weaver

I remember reading the thread on Trains between Ricky and the CSX engineer who shunned him for "selling out" his brother railroaders who got high on the job. But as has been proven before, it was "the thing to do" those days, so more or less it was an accident just waiting to happen somewhere, some day, and Ricky's number just happened to come up that day.

The incident was really an eye-opener on the dangers and consequences of substance abuse, and the choices (NOT mistakes) people have to make throughout their lives and their careers. Just imagine what railroading would be like today if the crash never took place and railroaders continued that kind of lifestyle today. Railroading has always been an inherently dangerous profession, and it always will be; Even today more mishaps take place on the job somewhere at any time than we always hear about, and when an employee is not fully coherent due to being under the influence it just puts more lives in potential jeopardy.

Noel Weaver wrote:A few spoil the whole bunch and in this case it was Gates. This unfortunate accident like a number of others did not happen and simply did because somebody or maybe more than one somebody was not doing his or her job to the best of their ability. The one at Chatsworth is another bad one, the one at Back Bay was another although in this case fortunately there was not a loss of life but it was fully preventable. There have been other minor mishaps that for the most part have resulted in more damage and delay than anything else but again needless, they did not have to happen either. These events hurt all railroaders even if they work nowhere near where they happen. I knew a couple of people involved in these things and I have to admit I thought differently of some of them after I found out the facts behind the event. Conrail took a black mark on the Chase, Maryland incident while Amtrak took a black mark on the Back Bay incident and other operators have taken black marks as well over a long period of time. Railroaders can NEVER EVER let their guard down even for a minute, dangerous consequnces can and will occur if they do. Unfortunately there have been a few over the years who did not chose to follow this policy and the consequences were very unpleasant. As for Gates, I have NO sympathy for him, he should have thought of the potential consequences of his action or should I say in-action beforehand but obviously he did not.
I wish we could all put this stuff behind us but we can't, at least the good ones can't. Every time I had to "pee in the bottle" or blow in the tube I remembered Ricky Gates and every other railroader should too.
Noel Weaver

AMEN to that brother! Funny the topic came up at work last thurday and someone said that the Amtrak engineer jumped out the locomotive in the accident and that was the first time ive ever herd that, has anyone else herd the same? I don't recall seeing that in any of the accident reports

someone said that the Amtrak engineer jumped out the locomotive in the accident and that was the first time ive ever herd that, has anyone else herd the same? I don't recall seeing that in any of the accident reports

I heard it in one of the early rumors at the time, and don't know the source or truth of it.
A different culture was tolerated back then. Some officials admired men who could drink or do drugs and still perform their jobs, considering them to be stronger and better "he-men" than others who were abstainers. Sometimes, that wishful thinking wasn't correct all the time.

Jtgshu wrote:Lots of things changed in railroading that day...

In the early 1990s I worked on a loading dock, loading and unloading tractor-trailers, many of them long haul trucks. I was surprised how many truck drivers knew who Ricky Gates was. They had a lot of the same problems in their industry. It wasn't just railroading.

To give some perspective, I was shocked to read an American Trucking Association survey several years ago that showed long-haul truckers had a much higher accident rate than any other class of driver, including private car drivers. The ATA called it the trucking industry's "dirty little secret." (ATA helped bring it way down.)

Then you read about the airlines. Remember the commercial airline pilot who was arrested for DWI on his way TO the airport?

Tommy Meehan wrote:

Jtgshu wrote:Lots of things changed in railroading that day...

Then you read about the airlines. Remember the commercial airline pilot who was arrested for DWI on his way TO the airport?

Another ROTTEN APPLE in the bunch.
Noel Weaver

today most drugs are no longer around in transportation same with most cases of Alcohol abuse.
I have my doubts about some of these 5 hour energy drinks however and have seen how it affects some of my co-workers.
I am waiting how these little deathtraps will effect the next set of accidents.

DutchRailnut wrote:today most drugs are no longer around in transportation same with most cases of Alcohol abuse.

True, but the significant increase in prescription psychotropic use (with their benefits and side effects) by mainstream society has increased greatly. http://breggin.com "coffee, tea or prozac?"

in transportation industry the use of over counter and prescription medication is subject to approval by Medical Department.
If you come up dirty on Pee test youdon't get the over the counter or I have a prescription excuuse.
your just getting put out on street.