Near Collision Between Train, Cars in (Peabody) Square

[butts260]

When looking at http://news.google.com under "train collision" this evening I read the following (from Peabody Patch):

Detail Officer Witnesses Near Collision Between Train, Cars in Square.
An officer working a detail in Peabody Square early Friday morning witnessed a near collision between a train chuffing through the intersection and some cars.
The officer reported at 1:56 a.m. that the train went through the square without using crossing lights and while the traffic light was green. He said as a result, two motor vehicles almost hit the train.
The railroad company was notified and said it would send someone out to look at the crossing. Generally a flagman in a neon vest comes down from the train to make sure the tracks are clear to proceed. The are no crossing signals or lights, otherwise, notifying motorists and pedestrians.

1. I am not certain they are talking about Peabody, MA, but there were maps of the area, which included Salem, vaguely associated with the above.

2. Am I posting this in the right place?

3.What sort of railroad activity is going on at 1:56 a.m. in Peabody?

[theseaandalifesaver]

This would probably be better in the New England railroad forum, as the tracks that run through Peabody have nothing to do with the MBTA.

Also, I'm pretty sure the crossing that runs through Peabody square doesn't have lights, as it's rarely used.

Freight trains are generally run at night so they don't disrupt scheduled passenger service.

[BostonUrbEx]

There is a signal box which the conductor has a key too. They always change the lights to solid red to stop traffic. I'm not sure what happened here, but it sounds like an unfamiliar crew may have completely slipped up on procedure thru Peabody Square.

[ferroequinarchaeologist]

Folks,

You've missed the most important point:

>>a train chuffing through the intersection and some cars.<<

There are still steam engines working this line!

PBM

[theseaandalifesaver]

The article also says that this was a "near collision". Which doesn't seem very newsworthy to me.

[MEC407]

This was a Pan Am train, was it not? Is there any particular reason why I shouldn't move this to the Pan Am forum?

[GP40MC 1116]

The article also says that this was a "near collision". Which doesn't seem very newsworthy to me.

Perhaps... but having a blind shoving move into a unprotected crossing under darkness isn 't exactly the safest thing.

[csrrfan86]

This is nothing new. Even with the lights turned red, bell ringing and horn blasting people still run the crossing to get in front of the train. A few years ago BO-1 was about to cross the Square and some guy parked in front of them (as they throttled up) on the tracks and went into Bank of America. The engineer laid on the horn and the guy didnt think he did anything wrong! Simply amazing.....

-Wayne J.

[Badandy]

I've seen the train wait for police escorts to cross the square twice. Also, I've experienced coming from
the North Shore Mall into the sq. right up to the tracks. The traffic light was GREEN! I know 'cause I almost went into the train
that was crossing. So when the conductor goes to the box to turn the traffic lights to red, the set of lights
at the Dunkin' Donuts is not included! Strange. Andy

[jr145]

Peabody square is a disaster, theres no real way to mitigate it short of full crossing protection with flashers and gates. Thats why for major intersections I light a fusee. As an older conductor once said to me "People don't understand a lot of things, but they understand fire and smoke" And they do, and it usually gets their attention enough to stop.

[highrail]

"So when the conductor goes to the box to turn the traffic lights to red, the set of lights
at the Dunkin' Donuts is not included!"

The irony is that the lights at Dunkin Donuts were for the crossing at Dunkin Donuts, not the square. Even though the crossing at Dunkin Donuts has been out of service for close to 20 years (maybe less) the lights are still flashing...I wonder who pays the bill. If you look at that old crossing you will see the switch box that controls that set. The other set at the square has a separate box switch.

[Badandy]

While we're at it, why are the tracks still, there crossing Central St., heading to Danvers? None of these
tracks were pulled. And also, have you noticed that further down this branch,in Danvers, on tracks that were abandoned,
the state of Mass. has just finished building a new bridge on Rte. 128. Seems to me to be a huge waste of money
to put a new bridge over tracks that the MBTA got rid of years ago. Actually this is the second NEW bridge
bridge for this branch, the first one built in Peabody on Rte. 114. Is the T planning something we don't know?
Andy

[Badandy]

Also, I forgot to say, both the Danvers and South Reading Branches are owned
by the MBTA, not Pan Am. Andy

[csor2010]

The line is probably railbanked, so the rails could come back at some point, plus I'm pretty sure that an area group wants to put a rail-trail on that line. It's easier to replace an existing bridge than to remove it and have to install a bike tunnel later.