The power of a locomotive is beyond the comprehension of many folks, I believe, otherwise why do we hear of people foolishly attempting to drive across the tracks in front of an approaching train? All of us have waited for the mighty train to pass uncomfortably close to the front of our cars, crossing gate blocking the road with red lights blinking the warning of danger. At times I have been very uncomfortable with the closeness of the noise, vibration and visually crowded feeling of the mighty beast, yet it was a very slow moving train that demonstrated to me the unbelievable forces at work.

It was a rather cold day in a very busy time of the year when I approached a railroad track under repair with several workers on either side of the rails doing whatever they were there to do. A few car lengths beyond on the far side of the tracks was an intersection with a red light stopping cars traveling in the direction I was going. The change from green to red apparently caught the driver of a car in the lane next to me unaware for she stopped immediately behind the car in front of her, leaving her car on the track, a fact that obviously did not register with her. From my vantage point I could see her talking with her passenger and not seeing the approaching train, which was creeping through the work zone at probably ten miles an hour.

Workers were banging on her car trying to alert her, the blare of the diesel's horn was deafening, the screech of the brakes was terrifying and the horrifi ed look I saw on the driver's face when she saw the engine not thirty feet away as it came toward her in slow motion indelibly engraved the moment in my mind. The car's windows were up because of the cold weather and an obviously engaging conversation prevented her from seeing or hearing the train. The force, even at ten miles an hour, pushed the car with the two ladies a long distance before stopping. They were hospitalized with non life threatening injuries. Their car did not survive.

If ever I needed a lesson in power that was it. A train in motion, at any speed, is far too much to take on.

© 2015 Roy Faubion