Stop, look & listen, it may save a train conductor’s life!

As a railfan, it’s exciting to see trains running on tracks that get used on a less-than-daily basis. When I worked at Caterpillar’s Morton facility, I would frequently see a Toledo, Peoria & Western Railway train come into town to service customers. Since I moved to a new position at Peoria in September 2005, I hadn’t seen a train in Morton. So catching a Morton-bound train in East Peoria today was a treat!

The train went to Morton today to deliver five loaded herbicide tank cars to Fort Transfer Company (today’s train is shown above after crossing Jackson Street). Two empty cars were ready to take back to East Peoria.

When in Morton, the train had to cross E. Main, Jackson and Jefferson Streets to serve the customer. Unfortunately, Morton motorists have a habit of being oblvious to trains, even though cantilever-style (overhead) flashers work perfectly. Since switching is performed by the train close to these busy streets, the train’s conductor is on the ground flagging motorists to cross the track when it is safe.

The last switching performed at Morton today was to couple onto the two empty tank cars and push them out of town. After flashers activated, the conductor flagged E. Main Street traffic across the track when the train was still at a safe distance. As the train approached, the conductor prepared to walk across the street with his train, but just as the train hit the street, one motorist nearly hit the conductor! S/He had to swerve to miss him!

The conductor wondered if I had caught the incident on video, but unfortunately I had to tell him that I did not. He said they had asked the Morton Police Dept. to help but were told their trains moved too slowly to be of any concern. But it isn’t the train that would get hurt, nor the motorist; it’s the train’s conductor!

Trains are not rare visitors to Morton; TP&W serves two customers - Fort Transfer Company and Morton Buildings, and business generally requires two or three trains a week.

Since the flashers protecting the railroad crossings function properly, having the conductor flag traffic across the tracks when it is safe seems nothing more than a courtesy. If this kind of recklessness on the part of motorists continues, I say the conductor should stay on the train. If motorists get hit, it is their own fault. After all, it’s not them that’s going to get killed by a slow-moving train; it’s a member of the train crew that could be killed by uncaring motorists!