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The Journal Star reported on the runaway train today, a full five days after the incident occurred:
Runaway locomotive injures rail worker
PEORIA — An employee of Central Illinois Railway suffered minor injuries Saturday after he jumped from a shuttle locomotive that was out of control shortly before it crashed into three train cars, police said.
Thomas Stower, 64, of Peoria suffered abrasions but declined medical treatment, police said.
Allen Brown, the field operations manager for the railroad, told police the accident happened about 7:40 p.m. as he, Stower and two other employees were trying to move two rail cars loaded with lumber from near Caroline Street to Carver Lumber, 8700 N. University St.
The employees were using a shuttle locomotive that has less power than a regular locomotive because the regular locomotive was on a section of track that couldn’t be reached. They got as far as Vine Street and decided the track wasn’t passable because of weeds growing across the tracks.Â
They decided to back the locomotive down the track, and three of the employees went to train crossings to make sure no cars were crossing the tracks as the train was in reverse, police said.
Stower remained on the shuttle locomotive, but it started going too fast and the wheels locked up. He put on the emergency brake, but the train remained out of control. Stower jumped off the moving train after it crossed Adams Street, and it continued south, hitting three train cars that were parked on the tracks.
The accident didn’t damage the cars or the lumber but caused about $5,000 damage to the rail bed, police said.Â
This is basically a recap of the police report that was filed on the incident with no independent investigative reporting. There are several questionable items.Â
First, an eye-witness only saw two crew members on the train going up the line, not four. So that’s a bit fishy.Â
Second, the police report says that rail workers checked the line first with a Ford Bronco equipped to run on rails and deemed the track safe. (This was not reported by the Journal Star.) So why did they only notice the treacherous weeds when they took the train up the line? Did the weeds grow over the tracks suddenly? And since when do a few weeds render a track impassable? This is a spurious excuse.
Third, the “regular locomotive” that couldn’t be reached is the one that’s on the western spur that apparently isn’t yet connected to the Kellar Branch. I thought this was supposed to be completed by now since Pioneer moved it’s cars and vacated the line. I wonder what the holdup is.
Fourth, this bit of fiction: “three of the employees went to train crossings to make sure no cars were crossing the tracks as the train was in reverse.” The crossings have signals, so if the train is going at a reasonable speed, there is no need for workers to go to the train crossings to warn cars of oncoming train traffic — unless the train is out of control. But when the train went out of control it started barrelling along at 30 miles per hour! Between Vine Street and Caroline, there are seven grade crossings. Are we to believe that three workers ran ahead of a runaway train going 30 mph and kept automobiles off of seven crossings? Sign them up for the Olympics!
Fifth, regarding the wheels locking up and the emergency brake not working: railroad cars are equipped with air brakes which are powered by the locomotive. The experts I’ve consulted all say that if the air brakes were properly connected and tested, this train would have been able to stop. It sounds the air brakes were not hooked up, or not hooked up properly, and they were trying to stop two loaded train cars using only the brakes of the trackmobile (“shuttle locomotive”). Thus, the trackmoblile was dragged down the line with the cars — across seven grade crossings where they could have hit and even killed people driving through Peoria.
Now, just imagine for a moment that Pioneer did something boneheaded like this and caused a major public safety problem. Do you think it would have been swept under the rug by the city and underreported in the Journal Star? Nah. More likely, it would have been on the front page of the Sunday paper and a vitriolic editorial would have appeared by Tuesday, complete with quotes from the director of public works decrying the railroad’s safety violations.
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