JohnE Nobody is looking for a scapegoat in someone beyond defending themselves. The driver in fact has been described as a very diligent and 12 year experienced engineer. The young people involved came forward, no small bearing of possible responsibility for this tragedy. They have text messages and a photo of the engineer drivng past posted on their blog- a blog he contributed to. It MAY BE he had a momentary lapse of his usual attentiveness. How many of us have done something REALLY DUMB in an automobile?

KNOWING how something happened and understanding WHY are two different things.

I remember an interview with Colonel Olds, a Vietnam USAF fighter pilot who downed 4 Migs before being pullled off the line.Olds had flown P51s in WW2, F 86s Korea and finished pushing a big old THUD over Hanoi.In the interview he was asked what he did differently. Olds immediately replied that on the tarmac waiting to take off he would start switching OFF all kinds of systems that were more distraction than aid.

I can bet easy money cellphones and other personal communications will be banned from the engine compartment.

Cellphone usage is already against the rules for Metrolink engineers.

My point was that Metrolink is laying the blame on the engineer without benefit of an investigation. Doesn't matter who came forward, who posted to what blog or who's picture is posted anywhere. There is NO POSSIBLE WAY that the brain trust at the MTA can state with certainty that it was the engineer's fault this soon after the accident. Yet that's what they've already done. The how and the why should come AFTER the investigation, wouldn't you agree?

The engineer is a contracted worker, by blaming him, and by extension, the company that employs him, the MTA is most likely simply laying the groundwork for a legal defense against the inevitable lawsuits that will be filed. Unlike them, I don't know that to be the case so I won't state it as a fact.

Even if the engineer ends up being the guy who make an awful mistake, hell even if he is proven to be the worst engineer in train operating history, he deserves the absolute minimum of presumed innocence before being publicly pilloried by a mouthpiece from the MTA.

Kudos to all the rescuers. That must have been a horrible event to witness.

John E

Thanks for the report, and more importantly, for getting involved, Chris.

On a weekend day, I'd often lounge at a small park next to the train tracks and watch a number of Metrolink trains rumble by in either direction. Kind of addicting waiting for them, actually.

Like the Metrolink derailment a few years ago where the guy who parked his SUV on the tracks to kill himself but chicken'd out at the last minute and ran away, leaving his vehicle to derail...two trains, was it? Anyway, this incident may revive the debate about the push-pull trains, if that's the correct term.

That is, the locomotive would pull the train when heading in one direction, but for the return trip, the locomotive would push the train from the rear. In yesterday's horrific accident, the locomotive was in front. I would image that the carnage would have been even greater had the oncoming freight train smashed straight into a passenger car rather than the Metrolink's locomotive.

Many people who ride commuter trains tend to sit in the same place day after day. They often become friends with other passengers who also tend to sit in the same area. Kind of a hard habit to break if you're already used to sitting in the first car, and your commuting buddies sit there, too. But that's a couple really bad Metrolink accidents in recent memory where sitting anywhere besides the first car would have probably saved your life.

Outstanding.

Perhaps the quick expenditure of your available blankets points toward a good use for the Mylar 'space blankets'. They are very light, compact and fairly inexpensive. All of which would allow you to easily carry a good number of them as an adjunct to thicker blankets.

They reflect heat and block wind but aren't very good at all at stopping heat loss by conduction. But for covering a body or adding insulation to a person with some clothing already on they work pretty well.

Generally multiple casualty situations highlight the need for depth in a first-aid kit. IMHO it is better to have a great many of a few basic types and sizes of bandaging materials rather than just one or two of each and a wider selection. Larger is generally more useful than smaller because larger units can be cut or folded to fit. The smaller ones are hard to stretch.

And that's why I always in a rear-facing seat in the back-section of the train.

JIM, why would you want rear-facing?

I ride in a 40 person sleeper bus several times a year going on backpack trips out of Dallas, Tx, and can't help but think how bad it would be in an accident with nobody belted in. Everyone is lying flat in upper and lower bunks with a center isle.

You done good Chris. Very good.

The back of the train is a great place to be, unless the train gets hit from behind by another.

That's because when the train crashes and you're in a rear-facing seat, you get pushed into your seat instead of beeing thrown out of it. This results in less damage from being thrown out and less chance of a C-spine injury.


Ever wondered why on an airplane, the flight-attendants have rear-facing seats

Not a problem. I realize that not all in uniform use common sense all the time, or ever in some cases...

"...The how and the why should come AFTER the investigation, wouldn't you agree?..."

Yup...