Perhaps it was the Labor Day Weekend that kept the local media from noticing, although they did manage to report some boating mishaps and so on.

I just happened to be parked across the Trent Highway from the incident when it happened. I'll refrain from calling it a suicide because I didn't witness what the crew saw from the cab. However, I'm told that there have been some comments on Facebook or elsewhere which indicate the young woman may have been dealing with some issues.

We were on our way home from Spokane that evening and stopped at the Moab (Newman Lake) mini mart for a quick snack, and to wait for an eastbound (which had just left Parkwater) to catch up with us so we'd have something to drive alongside of the rest of the way into Idaho. Turns out that a westbound coal load reached us first. He let out a horn blast directly across from the Newman Lake post office, which seemed odd considering there's no Xing nearby and nobody appeared to be near the track waving at him. As mentioned earlier, the crew radioed they were in emergency, had stuck someone, etc.

I immediately got out of the van, grabbed a flashlight, told my wife to call 911, and headed off into the dark to see if there was anything I could do to help, or to save a life, until EMS arrived. Let's just say that after a check of vital signs, and a general look at things, there was no way that I would be saving a life that night. It seemed like nearly all of the police and fire/EMS personnel in the Spokane Valley came on scene, which really makes you wonder why this didn't end up in the local news.

After the intial responders left, the entire scene was marked off by police tape, which was even attached to the nearby railcars, awaiting arrival of detectives, I suppose. There was a purse and a small bag nearby, which might have yielded some clues about the woman's state of mind at the time.

Spoke with the special agent, but not before catching a glimpse of the crew member who had walked back from the head end, saw the outcome, and walked away with a stunned look on his face that said it all. Like Bruce Butler said, the RR personnel who have to deal with this stuff need our thoughts and prayers every bit as much as the deceased and their surviving family members.