You watch, nothing will happen.

I think it was back in the 80s, the San Joaquin SP engineers had to give the SP Coast engineers the "Gaviota" ghost. They had to run off a big mileage debt owed to the Coast.

I was the BLE Local Chairman at the time so I made sure I was dead headed down the first day the Coast had it. It was interesting and I was "bumped" by Tony Emanuel, a Coast hoghead after 4 days. I came back to SLO and Tony was awarded the job.

Not long after I received a phone call from the operator in Oxnard. Tony and the Conductor had been killed by some run away cars on the Ventura Branch at Nitroshell, MP 401.4

It turned out some kids were playing on some tank cars of LPG and knocked some hand brakes loose. The cars rolled over the derail (a Buda type, worthless) and started down the hill on a 1.0% grade. The local was on its way up with some empties and knew nothing of what was coming.


The head & rear brakeman were riding on the front of the engine and saw the cars and they jumped. They were in a deep cut and so they ran up to the top. By then, the conductor and engineer saw the tank cars but it was too late. The cars ripped open on the engine but for some reason, there were no sparks. The LPG burned/froze Tony and the Conductor to death. If a spark had been involved, you would be reading about the town of Ventura that was blown off the map.

The reason for this info is that the kids that did this, walked away. The judge would not let "ANYONE" in the court room. Even the SP Attorneys and the attorneys for the families were not allowed. THose kids HAD KILLED TWO PEOPLE and got a slap on the wrist. Don't expect anyone to be held responsible.





Nudge