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Update from the LA Times
Author: OPRRMS
Date: 11-05-2009 - 18:59
[latimesblogs.latimes.com]
Updated at 2:50 p.m.: The daughter and sister of the victims said today that Virgil and David Lamphier used their weekly late-night walks along the tracks as a way to reconnect after years of estrangement. They chose the train tracks for the walks because they were only a few blocks from their home and because “it was just to be in a quiet place where they could just talk,” said Summer Lamphier, 27.
“It was like their space, their time,” she said outside the family house where other relatives had gathered. “It had zero to do with the trains themselves.”
She said her father and brother never discussed trains and had no particular fascination with them that she knew of. But one of their habits was to place pennies on the tracks for the passing trains to crush. After the train had passed, they collected the flattened coins and kept them in a jar at home.
Although it may never be known exactly what happened, Summer Lamphier said she believes that her father and brother were simply walking along the tracks with their backs to the train. By the time they heard it, it was too late to get away, she said.
The tracks are about a mile from the family home, to which Virgil Lamphier had returned about six months ago after separating from his wife, Bobbie, about 15 years ago. The couple, who never divorced, also have another daughter, Jennifer.
Updated at 2:50 p.m.: The daughter and sister of the victims said today that Virgil and David Lamphier used their weekly late-night walks along the tracks as a way to reconnect after years of estrangement. They chose the train tracks for the walks because they were only a few blocks from their home and because “it was just to be in a quiet place where they could just talk,” said Summer Lamphier, 27.
“It was like their space, their time,” she said outside the family house where other relatives had gathered. “It had zero to do with the trains themselves.”
She said her father and brother never discussed trains and had no particular fascination with them that she knew of. But one of their habits was to place pennies on the tracks for the passing trains to crush. After the train had passed, they collected the flattened coins and kept them in a jar at home.
Although it may never be known exactly what happened, Summer Lamphier said she believes that her father and brother were simply walking along the tracks with their backs to the train. By the time they heard it, it was too late to get away, she said.
The tracks are about a mile from the family home, to which Virgil Lamphier had returned about six months ago after separating from his wife, Bobbie, about 15 years ago. The couple, who never divorced, also have another daughter, Jennifer.
