Hi Brooke,
Well, this hasn't been a pretty search by any stretch of the
imagination. I just hope you're looking for this information as a
basis for your novel!
From what I've read, being hit by a train can result in anything
including: broken arms and legs (from which victims survive); being
crushed under the train wheels and spread along the rails; being
"rolled" up underneath the train; and being struck and flung into the
air for several hundred feet.
The actual result would depend on the speed of the train and the
location and position of the person being struck. For example, a
standing person would more likely be flung, and sitting person would
more likely be rolled.
Regarding how long a train would take to stop; that too depends on
several factors – primarily the speed of the train and the number of
cars it's pulling (actually the weight of the train).
Here are some examples of stopping distances --
150-car freight train approximate stopping distance
30 mph = 3,500 feet or 2/3 of a mile
50 mph = 8,000 feet or 1 1/2 miles
8-car passenger train approximate stopping distance
60 mph = 3,500 feet or 2/3 of a mile
79 mph = 6,000 feet or 1 1/8 miles
TRAIN CROSSING SAFETY
http://esf.uvm.edu/sirippt/posters/train/train.html
In general, the scene of a person being hit by a train would unfold as
follows:
The train engineer spots a person on the tracks. He blows the whistle
and applies the brakes. The train can't stop in time and strikes the
person. The train then takes another 3 or 4 minutes to stop, sometimes
dragging the person along with it, sometimes passing over the person
with all wheels, or sometimes leaving the person's body cast off into
the field or woods a couple hundred feet away.
The train stops. Crew gets out and assess damage. Look for blood and
body parts on front of train. Police, ambulance, fire vehicles, and
coroner arrive. Train sits for 15 minutes to 3 hours while
investigation takes place. Body (or body parts) are examined and
gathered by coroner and ambulance staff. Shaken train crew is
questioned.
Train trip resumes. At next stop engine crew cleans up front of train
and assesses any damage to load due to emergency stop. (Freight loads
may shift or become damaged) Engineer may get a couple of days off to
recover.
========================================
DESCRIPTIONS OF HIT-BY-TRAIN VICTIMS
========================================
The train hit Robinson and knocked him about 30 feet from the impact
site. Robinson was pronounced dead at the scene by Dale County Corner
Earl Bankston
http://www.wiregrass.com/ozark/news146.html
-----------------
"About a year or so ago a women was killed by a train and part of her
body dragged down the track.
http://glo.bmwe.org/public/journal/1999/12dec/b05j.htm
-----------------------
"The third event which deserves the relevant classification, was one
where the plaintiff [Detective Senior Constable] was required to
attend on a railway line where two people had been killed by a train
and parts of their bodies spread over a long distance. The plaintiff
had to help in collecting those body parts."
http://countycourt.vic.gov.au/judgments/wilson_state.htm
---------------------------
"Ferdinand Scheller departed last Thursday night to Etlah, (Franklin
Co.) Missouri, the place where his father, August Scheller, had been
run over by a train. On arriving at the scene young Scheller found…
his body was terribly mangled, both legs having been broken and many
bruises were located over the victim's body. It was found impossible
to remove the remains and interment was carried out at the place where
the poor fellow had been killed."
http://216.239.57.100/search?q=cache:w4zanFicfBMJ:www.viehweg.org/surnames/data/n_82.htm++%22killed+by+a+train%22++body+condition&hl=en&ie=UTF-8
-----------------
"The train dragged one man's body several hundred feet. The other was
knocked away from the train.
Two men working near railroad tracks were killed by an Amtrak train
http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/West/04/02/train.deaths.ap/
-------------------------
"The boy's left leg was severed by the train, and he suffered a grave
head injury and fractures of his legs and pelvis. … The Twilight
Shoreliner from Boston to Newport News, Va., struck the family as they
crossed a trestle over a two-lane street …
The front of the train was splattered with blood. Lying amid the
shattered bodies were books, backpacks, a small tennis shoe and a
Sesame Street figurine.
http://www.s-t.com/daily/05-99/05-26-99/a02wn018.htm
---------------------
Greg Washington Crooks, 34, died Sunday about one mile from his home
when he was hit by a train going about 65 mph, Oconee County Coroner
Karl Addis said. Mr. Crooks was knocked about 65 feet from the point
of impact, said his father, Horace O. Crooks.
http://www.augustachronicle.com/stories/082002/met_172-3776.000.shtml
----------------------------
" Halfway across, the mother and daughter stopped, but Elizabeth
continued into the path of the train, which hit her and carried her
body 100 yards down the track."
"In March, another pedestrian was struck and killed by a train at that
same crossing. A 25-year-old man was thrown 200 feet by a southbound
Amtrak train after he apparently ignored warning bells and a lowered
crossing arm."
UTU NEWS DIGEST
http://www.utu.org/DEPTS/PR-DEPT/NEWS/NDigest/2000/May2m/525/5250002.htm
-------------------
CAPTION: Randy Anderson, right, a special agent with Union Pacific,
watches as a Shasta County coroner's official tends to the body of
16-year-old Cody Cox of Redding, who was struck and killed by a train
while he was drunk. Red-ding police and paramedics also re-sponded to
the scene.
PHOTO: http://www.redding.com/specials/special_teen_drinking/stories/043000_01.jpg
ARTICLE: http://www.redding.com/specials/special_teen_drinking/stories/partyon.htm
-----------------------
Godwin died of multiple blunt-force injuries, said Mike Feiler, an
investigator with the Ventura County Medical Examiner-Coroner's
Office. "The trauma was significant," Feiler said.
Man hit by train
http://web.insidevc.com/getlocal/ventura/372836.shtml
----------------------
The train struck the eight-grader, knocking him more than 100 feet
through the air. Estiv died of massive trauma, Fire Rescue Division
Chief Stephen McInerny said.
http://www.utu.org/DEPTS/PR-DEPT/NEWS/NDigest/2000/March2m/ND3-17a.HTM
-------------------
The paramedics involved with Children of Hope say it provides closure,
a way to resolve the inner emotional turmoil that keeps eating away as
they rush from pumping the chest of the crumpled child at a car
accident, to picking up the pieces after a "suicide by train," to
clutching the hand of a moribund gunshot victim begging not to die.
http://www.amtchildrenofhope.com/press5.htm
------------
"Someone decided to commit suicide by train today, and they chose my
train to do it on. (Or else the moron thought he could walk in front
of the train with impunity.)
It's now about 3 minutes before I usually walk into the house, and
we're still at least 15 minutes from my stop. NOW, we have to wait for
the coroner to release us."
http://www.rois.org/arc/102000.html
------------------------
"..the crew had to walk back to the scene to check for the
possibility that someone had survived; no one had - pieces everywhere
after lots and lots of steel wheels rolled over them…"
http://groups.google.com/groups?q=%22suicide+by+train%22&start=10&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&selm=36E4BD6F.41D91C81%40hotmail.com&rnum=11
----------------
Read these threads – some fairly graphic descriptions and feedback
from train engineers:
GOOGLE GROUPS - Newsgroups: misc.transport.rail.americas
http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&threadm=8sk79i%24n2i%241%40nnrp1.deja.com&rnum=38&prev=/groups%3Fq%3D%2522suicide%2Bby%2Btrain%2522%26start%3D30%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26ie%3DUTF-8%26selm%3D8sk79i%2524n2i%25241%2540nnrp1.deja.com%26rnum%3D38
GOOGLE GROUPS - Newsgroups: misc.transport.rail.americas
http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&threadm=weyand.2500.0002450E%40mcs.com&rnum=1&prev=/groups%3Fq%3D%2522suicide%2Bby%2Btrain%2522%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26ie%3DUTF-8%26selm%3Dweyand.2500.0002450E%2540mcs.com%26rnum%3D1
So I think that should give you many descriptions of train induced
trauma and an idea of what occurs at the scene of a train-person
collision. I hope that helps –
--K~
search terms - numerous combinations of :
"hit by a train"
"struck by a train"
"killed by a train"
"killed by an Amtrak"
" … by the train"
trauma body condition
forensic
coroner
"suicide by train" |
