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Without deemphasizing the major public safety problem with CIRY (see previous post), I have to tell you that the scene is actually a bit comical.Â
Here’s a quote from an eye-witness (all grammatical/spelling/punctuation errors are the witness’s):
my parents live next to the keller branch on rock island. saturday i was there visiting sitting in the back yard and saw the trackmobile(with 2 crew members) heading to carver lumber with the centerbeam and one boxcar.it sounded like it was working hard just to reach park street.after about 15 to 20 minutes i heard a rummbeling noise so i went to the alley and saw the two cars heading back at a high rate of speed, when it went by at around 30 to 40 mph and only 1 crew member i knew something was wrong. when it was out of my site i was still able to hear it,within a minute i heard aloud bang.while standing in the alley discussing what just happend, i looked up the tracks and saw a man limping badly towards mh equipment.since i was parked in the alley i drove up and meet him at park st. to my surprise he wasnt hurt but handicaped so i picked him up and took him back to caroline st where it had slammed into the parked cars that were left behind.it appears the engineer bailed out near madison and abington.i never heard it blow its horn at any point during the runnaway, luckly it crossed adams and jefferson without hitting anyone or anybody getting hurt. when it hit all the equipment stayed upright but damaged and derailed, the tracks receiving the most damage.[The witness provided this additional information later:]when i saw the runnaway the 2 cars were dragging the trackmobile with them. I noticed a week ago the swither was sitting next to the old I.P. plant near industrial drive, barely visible through the bushes.
Ha ha ha! This is like something you would see on an old comedy reel!  Train cars rolling backwards down a hill, dragging the “engine” with them! All this scene needs is Snidely Whiplash tying Belle to the tracks somewhere near Park Street where the train finally lost traction and slid backwards.
The silly thing is that CIRY actually does have an engine — sitting up at the old International Paper plant near Industrial Drive. Why didn’t they use it? Why would they even attempt to pull loaded cars up the Kellar Branch with a trackmobile? The lack of judgement here is astounding.
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