A sad day on the rails!

Students at Ironton Junior High are in mourning today after learning two of their classmates were killed after being hit by a train.
It happened around 4:00 pm Wednesday afternoon near the McPherson street crossing. This is a section of railroad tracks that run along U.S. 52 about a half mile east of Hanging Rock.
if (self['plpm'] && plpm['Mid-Story Ad']) document.write('');if (self['plpm'] && plpm['Mid-Story Ad']){ document.write(plpm['Mid-Story Ad']);} else { if(self['plurp'] && plurp['97']){} else {document.write(''); } }if (self['plpm'] && plpm['Mid-Story Ad']) document.write('');Police say three girls were walking along the tracks as the Norfolk & Southern coal train approached. One of the girls was able to jump out of the way. The two students killed are identified as 13-year old Lacy Parnell, and 14-year old Jamie Barker.
 
i always wondered how people can be hit by a train in this type of case... a freght train would sound like.... well a freght train comming
 
ozzy said:
i always wondered how people can be hit by a train in this type of case... a freght train would sound like.... well a freght train comming
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Ipod or the like????? :(
 
What's even sadder is that kids don't have the common sense to stay at least off the tracks, or ballast in the first place! :curse: By the side, in the ditch, or along an access road or path, but NEVER on the rails, unless you're on level ground, or can see for at least 1/2 a mile down the ROW. They shouldn't even have been there, and NO iPod could have drowned out the intense vibration and roar of Diesels with a coal train in tow.....unless it was a string of empties, but even then, I'd imagine everyone has heard diesels across your town at night to prove how far sound can travel! I used to hear them over 2 or 3 miles away from my old house! Their horns are 120Db at 90 feet! :eek: I have absolutely no idea how in the #$@% world anybody could be killed by a freight train. It makes me wonder, was the kid stuck on the tracks? Was it chicken? Ignorance couldn't be the cause of this! :curse:
 
I always walked right down the middle of the tracks when I was a kid. We all did. We would have considered anyone who insisted on walking in the ditch 'weird.' Kids are kids. They take chances. They always have, and they always will.

Several of us got caught out on a long trestle over a river when I was 10 or 11. We all survived unscathed, but it got rather interesting for a bit. :eek: We took risks that we thought were manageable. In that case the risk turned out to be barely manageable, and had we panicked, it probably would have been fatal, but it all worked out, and we came away wiser for it.

Hard to say why these particular kids didn't realize the train was upon them. Unless there is some sort of revelation in the press, we will probably never know.
 
The sounds of a fast moving train can be silent especially on a slight down grade like the track that runs between Kenova and Portsmouth-I am well acquainted with this area having railfanned it back in the late 70s .However the rumble would be felt in the track and the surviving girl said she heard the train.
The why for may never be known.
 
brakie said:
The sounds of a fast moving train can be silent especially on a slight down grade like the track that runs between Kenova and Portsmouth-I am well acquainted with this area having railfanned it back in the late 70s .However the rumble would be felt in the track and the surviving girl said she heard the train.
The why for may never be known.
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I remember walking alongside a set of tracks that narrowed down to a cut. When I looked back to see if I was clear, I saw a 100+ car train pulled by 4 units was no less than 50 yards behind. Scared the pants off me and I was safe. I go nowhere near the rails now after that.
 
well looking at the picture they give, the train may have been coming around a curve so you couldnt see it until its right on top of you.
also, i dont know if this is just a thing in subway tunnels, but you really cant hear a train if its coming around a curve. its almost dead silent.
another thing is they may have frozen up. right now its easy to say that you would have jumped out of the way, but when a freight train turns a corner coming right at you, you tend to panic. the adrenaline dump will either force you to react quickly and jump out of the way or will just almost paralize you. depends on the person.
 
Five years ago my wife and I were living in San Juan Capistrano, about 60 miles north of San Diego. One of the Amtrac stations was in San Juan Cap. Many of the areas of track between the two cities is right along the beach and if you were between crossings [no diesel horn], with the sound of the surf and wind, the train made no noise at all. I have stood within 6 feet of the rails until time to step back out of the way and not heard a sound other than a slight rush of air. Just makes sense to stay off the tracks-----
 
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