Train hits truck hauling jet fuel
HERMISTON, Ore. - A big rig hauling 10,000 gallons of jet fuel in two cargo tankers collided with a train Monday, Oregon State Police said.
No one was seriously hurt.
The truck crashed first, overturning off Highway 730 south of the Oregon/Washington border.
The rig and trailers came to rest on their sides, on the railroad tracks, at the bottom of an embankment.
One train in the area stopped.
Another couldn't.
"The major damage occurred to the truck," state police report.
The 72-year-old trucker from Texas got an ambulance ride for possible injuries but got clear of the truck before the train hit.
What I am not understanding is the way the article says, one train stopped and another one couldn't. There is no double track there and if there is a switch close by and a meet was scheduled 1 train HAD to stop anyway. Just seems odd.
Back in the day when picking up hitch hikers was seen as a good thing for the truck driver (to keep the driver engaged and alert on a long journey), a friend of mine got picked up by an old guy (owner operator) hauling nitro in his sub-zero liquid nitrogen? freezer truck.
Only after my friend arrived at his destination 16 hours later, did the truck driver tell him what he was hauling. Because of the driver's age and experience my friend was statistically safer in that rig than most any where else along I-5. But, my friend still nearly wet himself when he found out.
I really wonder what pulled this elderly driver's rig into a train. I suspect some sort of foul play or negligence by the mechanic; a blown tire coming around the shelf; or sudden land erosion from all the weight and vibration of both the train and truck . Perhaps, the driver's age and experience was able to prevent a far worse accident.
BTW, I am certain that those tanks are capped off full to help prevent an explosion, but is the fuel encapsulated by freezing temperatures like the nitro truck story?Â
BAD WEEK FOR TRUCKS
probably better hang up long haul trucking. Â 72 is probably past time for driving a truck, (sort of obviously)
@Jason Marks ---statistically, the old man has a better chance of living to see the next day than you do. Gospel Truth.
His Heroism in this story proves that. You would have panicked and queer steered the whole rig into the train, when met with such unforeseen circumstance.
@peace Naw, I live in the country... wanna know how many times I reached for something and found myself half way into a 5 foot deep ditch.. Both hands on the wheel, it keeps you from over correcting because your one hand won't let what your other one wants desperately to do.Â
@Jason Marks @peace ---fair enough, I think now I would rather be a passenger in your rig. And live to brag about this geezer some other day. Â
@Jason Marks heyI couldn't disagree with you more, compared to the young drivers out here these days I would trust a 72 year old a hell of alot more than these younger wanabe drivers!
@native @Jason Marks ---I will bet that the old man moved his sunny side away from that truck faster than a college sprinter too
@IAMHIGH @peace @native @Jason Marks ---an old man always thinks ahead, so he was wearing adult diapers, before, during, and after the accident. When duty calls, he is/was still at the wheel.
Just wait until you have to fly NORTHWEsT/Delta on a 16 hour flight from Bombay, and all the latrines are full of mothers and their screaming infants. "I shat, therefore I am".
@peace @native @Jason Marks And most likely needed to change his shorts after this.