Head-on collision in Amarillo, TX

[Gilbert B Norman]

Colonel, there have been reports that the second track was either occupied or out of service.

Look carefully at this photo; that locomotive to the left looks unscathed. Same cannot be said regarding the locomotive(s) to the right.

Safe assumption; a head on. Why? IAW your instructions, I defer to the NTSB and await the Preliminary Report.

[Z31SPL]

Colonel, there have been reports that the second track was either occupied or out of service.

Look carefully at the several videos posted by the news outlets that have been linked here. You will note two locomotives relatively unscathed.

Safe assumption; a head on. Why? IAW your instructions, I defer to the NTSB and await the Preliminary Report.

I have read unconfirmed reports that one train was entering a 40mph siding at about 38mph and the other train had blown through 3 red signals traveling about 66mph at the time of the impact.

[GP40MC1118]

Those two unscathed engines were reportedly on a siding from a previous grade crossing incident.

D

[ExCon90]

WRT double track:
Has the on-center minimum spacing between tracks changed since the late steam era (1930)???

I believe the standard for many years was 13 feet between track centers and that many roads have been expanding that to 15 feet when rehabbing track, and space permits, and often providing a service road for off-rail maintenance vehicles.

[Gilbert B Norman]

Messrs. Ex-Con, Col. Perkowski. and myself, how we all say to stand down until the Board releases their Preliminary in this matter. I'm certain such will be public domain before the end of this month.

[Roscoe P. Coaltrain]

Plenty of similarities between this one and the Goodwell Ok one on UP back in 2012, right down to the time of the year (UP's was June 24), and the one guy jumping being the lone survivor.

BNSF's Amarillo to Wellington corridor sure has had its share of mishaps lately. A few years ago there was a 3-train mess out by the Amarillo airport, with a rear-ender sideswiping a passing train. Something is definitely in the water, as they say. Is it local management, or cowboy (literally) crews?

The newspaper website Amarillo Globe-News seems to be the only media outlet that has the crew's names. http://amarillo.com/news/latest-news/20 ... y-outdoors" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Rockingham Racer]

How about lack of rest? A much more plausible theory.

[scoostraw]

It definitely fits. I will be very interested in the NTSB findings.

[Roscoe P. Coaltrain]

Oddly, the train assessed preliminary fault here was the eastbound, which had just departed it's terminal. A hot Z train was given main 2, so the eastbound was to be held on Main 1 for the westbound on Main 1 to duck into the siding north of the 2MT. Which is just like Goodwell also, as the train that held the main and did not diverge ran the far end signal. 20 minutes out of your originating terminal and you already are asleep?

The earlier accident out near the airport happened in darkness and was blamed on a dark signal that the crew missed and they had mistaken the dim headlight on the DPU of the train ahead as a yellow approach. That train was also eastbound and just out of its originating terminal. I guess they don't make signal infrastructure as durable as it was in our grandfather's days.

[scoostraw]

20 minutes out of your originating terminal and you already are asleep?

Right. It doesn't really add up.

And this was in daylight, so no passing dark signals at night either.

Do we know which train the surviving crew member was on?

[JimBoylan]

Has there been any NTSB.gov attention? I can't even find a press release about investigators being sent. Could it be that Positive Train Control is installed at this location?

[Roscoe P. Coaltrain]

Third crew member identified. Remains probably won't be found.

http://amarillo.com/news/latest-news/20 ... er-athlete" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Roscoe P. Coaltrain]

Interesting little twist in that the deceased 45 y.o. female had recently (6 mos ago) lost her 47 y.o. companion due to illness back in Dec 2015. Evidently he had worked at Pantex, which is a nuclear weapons assembly/disassembly facility located halfway between Amarillo and Panhandle with a long cancer history among 1300+ former employees. This funeral home page contains some photos of both of the deceased together.

http://www.schoolerfuneralhome.com/obit ... -Inguanti/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


Article on the hazards of working at Pantex (the name itself a concatenation of Panhandle and Texas).

http://www.star-telegram.com/news/state ... 00030.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Gilbert B Norman]

Has there been any NTSB.gov attention?

Mr.Boylan, they're on the scene:

http://www.newschannel10.com/story/3233 ... rain-crash" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[JimBoylan]

Did these locomotives have cab cameras and microphones? Does the line have Positive train Control?