On March 8, a portion of a manufactured home being shipped through Temple, Ga., became stuck on a grade crossing at milepost 675.6 along Norfolk Southern’s busy Atlanta-to-Birmingham, Ala., mainline. Approaching westbound NS freight train 187 was able to stop just short of striking the stranded home, coming just feet from plowing through the structure.
Temple Police Lt. James Hollowood tells Trains that GPS routing is to blame for the incident.
Hollowood says the home was being shipped in two sections using routing orders from the Georgia Department of Transportation. The first section cleared the crossing at Ringer Crossroad with no issues, but it was the second section that became lodged on the crossing due to the weight of the structure being distributed more forward of center. Hollowood says when the train approached at just more than 20 m.p.h., the crew spotted the obstruction on the crossing and made an emergency brake application in order to stop just short of the unconventional collision.
“He was able to stop with about four feet of space left before colliding with the house,” Hollowood says. “We had a crossing collision with a truck last year at that crossing, so we are very well-versed in that type of event. But I can say that in 21 years (of police work), this is the first time with a manufactured home being stuck on the tracks.”
Norfolk Southern’s Atlanta-to-Birmingham line is busy, with an average of about one train per hour passing across the line. Hollowood says the crossing at Ringer Crossroad has been troublesome in the past, particularly last year when a NS freight train struck a tractor-trailer which had also became stuck on the tracks. The driver in that collision was cited for ignoring warning signs about the crossing. Hollowood says that after consulting with NS Police, the driver in the March 8 incident was not cited since the incident resulted from his routing orders from the state.
“DOT is usually pretty strict about routing, so we did not cite the driver this time,” Hollowood says. “I did speak with DOT about the crossing this week, and they added that road to their restricted list, and they also added seven more roads, so we shouldn’t have this issue again due to DOT routing. Driver error could still occur, so this is bound to happen again at some point … .”
Hollowood said NS 187 was stopped for about two hours due to the incident but was able to proceed westbound after the crew completed an inspection of their train. Norfolk Southern did not respond to numerous requests for comment from Trains.
I was going to make a smart-aleck comment about the house on the tracks until I discover the house really was on the tracks!
Interesting story about the Rutland railroad. In the early 1950’s they were shutting down stations. The stations were offered for sale and one local trainman bought the station. He planned on moving it several hundred yards to the opposite side of the tracks. He waited for a freight to pass by which normally would not return for at least 4 hours. The crew got to the next station and was stopped for new orders. A NYC train they were supposed to swap cars with had derailed so they were told to return to their home yard. As the story goes the station was half way across the tracks when the early returning freight came around a blind corner at 40 MPH and as those there observed “The engine came in the front door and went out the back without slowing down.”
A similar event occurred on CSX’s former B&O Chicago line in Nappanee, Indiana around the turn of the century, except for the fact that the train could not stop short. An eastbound UPS train running at 60 MPH splintered the modular home crossing the track and damaged the MU receptacle on the lead unit disabling the locomotive. Rail traffic was held for several hours while the power was changed and the train and track were inspected. By the time that trains were permitted to move again, the congestion had backed up at least 50 miles in both directions. I was lucky. My westbound train was stopped only 4 deep in the parade.
A couple of years back, there was a house move that went very wrong on the BNSF main in Auburn WA, just south of Seattle. A house was being moved one Sunday afternoon, a time when there were no scheduled rail movements on the line. The movers were slowly jockeying the house around/under the fixed overhead crossing lights, with two men up on the roof as spotters.
Unfortunately, no one had checked for extra trains. A Seahawks Special train carrying fans back south after the game plowed through the house, turning it into a large pile of kindling. Fortunately for the guys on the roof, the impact detached the roof from the house more or less intact, and tossed it to the side, along with the two spotters. No one was hurt, but I bet it was an interesting insurance claim.
Wonder what happened to the cab video from that little mishap?
Recall it was a couple of years ago,(?) when an AMTRAK took out a large load at a crossing in South Carolina? It was laid at the feet of the agency who had routed the load and the State Police who were escorting the wide load. When the load got stuck on the crossing…apparently, no one called the railroad for a heads-up….
What? No jokes for Georgia, Rednecks, and their moveable housing? This whole situation has country song written all over it.
When I was a kid I DID see where a train hit a house. Like this one, it was being moved. House got stuck on the tracks, train came through, and there was an earth shattering KABOOM. Tinder everywhere. This was on the old Pasadena sub.
The above comments are general in nature and do not form the basis for an attorney/client relationship. They do not constitute legal advice. I am not your attorney. Find your own damn lawyer.
The railroad comes through the middle of the house
The railroad comes through the middle of the house
The trains all come through the middle of the house
Since the company bought the land
They let us live in the front of the house
They let us live in the back
But there ain’t no livin’ in the middle of the house
‘Cause that’s the railroad track
Seems like the road alignment needs to be changed.
Special highway moves under permit is an inexact science. Sometimes the only way the highway department can learn of a new factor is when something goes blooey.
It has become clear that there are categories of grade crossings and not all are equally suitable. Here in Waukesha County, Wisconsin, there are a number of unsignalized private crossings (i.e. driveways) on CN’s main line, once the Soo Line. One of those private driveways is used for heavy equipment moves in and out of a yard owned by a highway construction contractor. That I know of the only way an equipment operator knows when to cross the tracks is by visual flight rules. It may be that the contractor has a line open to the CN dispatcher. I wouldn’t know.
I can assure you that no consumer grade GPS mapping application contains grade crossing vertical profile information. If the driver used such they should be liable.
Sounds like the Georgia DOT has a realignment project. Doubt whether NS would re-grade a half mile of track to lower the grade at the crossing by a couple of feet.