Dr Zarkoff Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

>
> It's a tricky business because if the E had not
> used emergency and this clown had been killed, the
> E could be charged (and possibly convicted of)
> manslaughter because he didn't employ all means at
> his disposal to avoid the mishap. Like it or not
> that's the way the legal system operates here in
> the States.
>
> Applying the brakes in service and/or emergency,
> and how you do it, depends on the type of train
> you are operating.

Yes Dr Zarkoff, I guessed at that being the reason, Santa Fe man beaten down by the system, but being all drama calling suicide?
I wonder if I was charged the same if I could use that as a defense after spilling my train onto the opposing track and killing, maiming Passengers?

My only close call of the chicken game, one that has stuck with me for 35+ years, was on a Friday(or Saturday) night down in the surburban area North of our capital Wellington. Having just dropped out of Dynamics, drifting, through S-curves and rounding on to a tangent with surburban platforms, this is double line.

An EMU is coming at me fast, I snap off the brights, running on dim, he does the same, then as he is almost on me he goes back to bright, dazzling the crap out of me, so I do same, no love between the busdrivers and us freighters. No ditchlights in them days.

In the glare of my headlights I make out 3 teenagers standing on the opposite track in front of the Units and as usual at the last moment, they jump clear, onto my track. Clearly they weren't expecting nor hearing me, I hang on the horns and they jump up onto the platform on my side. The 3rd, smaller kid fails to mount the platform and dropped backwards across my track, and just rolled out clear behind the Unit as it has passed me; that numpty was that close to my cowcatcher that he almost disappeared from my forward view.

I never touched the Brake: words echoed in my head from my mentor about panic braking, I'm drifting in Idle, who knows where the slack was on that 1600ton Goods train around those level curves, and the likelihood of the mixed makeup of 40ft containers jacknifing less than 20ton 4-Wheelers into the path of that EMU loaded with late-night shoppers flashed across my mind.

The surburban Units speed at the time would have been 80kmh(50mph) and my speed was 55kmh(35mph).

Those EMU's didn't have to stop at Mana unlike this video of the same place that night, from the Unit driver's perspective. Mana's Chicken Zone on youtube

Chris
in New Zealand