I know EXACTLY what happened!!! Guess what??? I was the conductor on "The Dink", New-Canaan bound #6746, my second to last train of my day, and first train of my final round trip, when this happened!!!!
Goes a little something like this..........
My engineer reports just before he reaches Camp Avenue grade crossing, that a vehicle appeared to be on the tracks in front of us up to the north and possibly at the Hoyt Street crossing, and that he was bringing the train to a stop. At the speed we were traveling at, we were very much able to stop in time, and the train was stopped about a good car length (at least 85 feet) away from the vehicle, a minivan, which was stuck in the snow bank, fouling the track, but not quite on the tracks. Had the train continued, we certainly would have struck the vehicle. While the engineer called everything in, I was on my way up to front to assess the situation, and also to descend to the tracks, check the vehicle and communicate my findings to the RTC, District E. Upon coming up on the vehicle, I noticed an elderly man in the vehicle, seemingly very shaken but otherwise unhurt. I reassured him that everything was going to be okay and that help was on the way. As I said this, the Darien Police arrived on the scene, and then I spoke with the officer about our observations. The officer stated he would secure the scene, and at the same time await the arrival of MNR supervision and the MTA PD. The gentleman (driver) was fine, but was shaken up and I think he got spooked by a passing motorist, and veered off the road. While he should have put on his hazard lamps, the fact that he kept at least his headlights on was the biggest thing that prevented a possible tragedy, and the engineer's good eyes spotting that definitely was another big part in the prevention of a possible tragedy.
After returning to the train, District E wanted us to make a reverse move back to Springdale Station and wait there until further instructed. I went to the west end and backed us up west towards Springdale. Once in the station, I further informed the passengers to what had happened and what will be in store for us from there on out. and while a few did leave the train and have relatives or friends come pick them up at Springdale, quite a few remained on board, and many thanks for the handling of this situation went out from them to both me and most certainly my engineer, and especially upon our arrival in New Canaan!! A good set of eyes, both from my praise to the engineer, and from the praises of the passengers and the trainmaster on scene as we headed back east up the branch!! And once the wrecker truck arrived to remove the minivan, and the right of way was clear, we were instructed by District E to proceed to New Canaan, but they also issued us a Stop & Warn for both Camp Avenue and Hoyt Street (Camp Avenue just as a precaution due to the close proximity to Hoyt Street crossing), and we went about our way. Due to our length of time, we ended up running the 7:27 PM "Dink" back to Stamford as opposed to the 6:27, and got back to Stamford exactly to the minute an hour later than our regular off time (A little cha-ching!!), and upon our departure from New Canaan, District E had lifted the Stop & Warns and we continued westward as normal, and the scene was clear.
Another day done, all in a day's work!!
And mind you, as this was the end of my week (Sun/Mon off), this was one hell of an end to what was one hell of a crazy work week!!!
Railroading is not a career, it's a lifestyle! Railroading........what other life would I wanna live?
