Death on a train (not the Orient Express)

VentureForth said:

I wonder if a train ever wyed back to return to a station that was closer. I would think logistically, it's probably almost always more efficient to get to the next stop. But, I think that meeting EMS is probably the preferred method.

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It would take a nimble dispatcher to pull that off. If there is a freight following for example, that would have to be moved ouit of the way too and as fast as possible. There would also have to be a suitable wye nearby (which isn't that likely) and lots of other ifs.

Sending an ambulance trainside is probably easier in most cases.

FormerOBS said:

Turn the entire train and send it back? Probably not in this lifetime. For one thing, there aren't very many conveniently located wyes. More importantly, can you imagine the chaos that could create for the dispatcher?

I can imagine a backup move to avoid a stretch of track that has become impassable due to an accident or weather factors. In such a situation, the whole railroad line would be essentially shut down for a period of time.

Tom

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cirdan said:

It would take a nimble dispatcher to pull that off. If there is a freight following for example, that would have to be moved ouit of the way too and as fast as possible. There would also have to be a suitable wye nearby (which isn't that likely) and lots of other ifs.

Sending an ambulance trainside is probably easier in most cases.

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I would like to clarify that this would probably never happen in the East - my though was on some of those long, lonley stretched of the West.

My very 1st train trip was close to 30 years ago. (I have been in love since) My mom & I flew out to San Francisco from MN & the airport was fogged in and we had to circle the ocean for an extra 3 hours So, she decided we should take the train home

On the way home a female committed suicide by jumping off the train. The train stopped at the next town to let the husband off & he decided that town was too small & stayed on the train until there was a bigger town to depart from.

MnMotherMary said:

My very 1st train trip was close to 30 years ago. (I have been in love since) My mom & I flew out to San Francisco from MN & the airport was fogged in and we had to circle the ocean for an extra 3 hours So, she decided we should take the train home

On the way home a female committed suicide by jumping off the train. The train stopped at the next town to let the husband off & he decided that town was too small & stayed on the train until there was a bigger town to depart from.

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I'd sure like to know the story behind this one. Since the husband didn't seem too concerned about getting off and going back, I wonder if she had a little "help" getting off the train :unsure:

crabby_appleton1950 said:

the Other Mike said:

he was found dead in his roomette at his final destination ( no pun intended )

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Makes you wonder if his final destination was the cool place or the hot place.

St. Pete: "You are lucky you were in a roomette and not in a 2 BR suite. Security would have made you walk through that needle eye over there."

Devil: "You won't mind it here. Temperature extremes are less varying than an Amtrak train."

CHamilton said:

Apparently the chef was sick (appendicitis, IIRC) and he was taken off and we proceeded eastward. No delays, but the SCA came around to tell us that he would be helping out in the kitchen. He managed to do that and take good care of us, too. Good service.

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Charlie, did you have the liver and onions?

The Chief said:

CHamilton said:

Apparently the chef was sick (appendicitis, IIRC) and he was taken off and we proceeded eastward. No delays, but the SCA came around to tell us that he would be helping out in the kitchen. He managed to do that and take good care of us, too. Good service.

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Charlie, did you have the liver and onions?

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At least they didn't have to see if there was a passenger on board with experience in landing a train

While the western LD trains may seem long and lonely with as much as 3 hours between scheduled station stops, I doubt that they are rarely more than 15 minutes from a highway grade crossing. Byers Canyon and Ruby Canyon come to my mind as two of the longest travel-time gaps between points of "civilization". Ruby Canyon can be especially problemmatic as it has some sections that crew can not contact a UP dispatcher - even via cell phone. In those sections, I have witnessed the crew proceed at 10 mph when signals failed and they could not hail a dispatcher. In one instance, even the conductor got off the train and "walked" the locomotives across a short bridge over a culvert filled with rarely-seen rushing water from morning thunderstorms.

jphjaxfl said:

I was on a Delta L10-11 flight from Atlanta to Los Angeles in 1998. After dinner, the elderly passenger immediately behind me was complaining of chest pains. It was a full flight. The Doctor on board was a Psychiatrist, but had work as an EMT in Medical School. There was also a husband/ wife nurse team. Giving CPR was a challenge due to the full flight. The flight diverted to Las Vegas where the EMT boarded and removed the passenger. The nurse couple also left and I felt sure the passenger had died. A couple of days later, I saw the obituary in the LA Times. We were about 2 hours late arriving in LA. I thought they handled things very efficiently.

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Some years ago, I was in the tower at KPIT (ha, back when THAT was a thing you could do if you knew the right people) when they got word they had a in-flight medical emergency coming in. It was really a sight to see. He made a beeline for the runway and they were moving everything out of the way and throwing guys into the pattern to get the emergency the #1 slot for landing. Came in hot and everything on the ground stopped so he could taxi...quickly. Pittsburgh's terminal is pretty close to the runways, so they had him actually tie up at one of the jetways. There'd been some debate if they'd just have him stop on one of the taxiways and roll out the stairs and the medical team. It was something else. Always been curious what happened.

Alexandria Nick said:

Pittsburgh's terminal is pretty close to the runways, so they had him actually tie up at one of the jetways. There'd been some debate if they'd just have him stop on one of the taxiways and roll out the stairs and the medical team.

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That's interesting that they didn't have a procedure "on the books" for where to park the plane. When I was on a Newark-Los Angeles flight a few years ago where a medical emergency prompted a landing in Albuquerque, we went to a jetway at ABQ -- but then the patient was taken down the jetway stairs to an ambulance that was waiting on the apron, rather than through the terminal.

firstcultural said:

This probably happens quite often, and for good reason - one can be in far worse health and still take a train, than would be possible driving, flying, or riding a bus. It's often the only way for people to make that one last trip home.

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This reminds me of one of the stupidest things I've ever heard a passenger say.

We were stopped just outside of some town in Maryland, about an hour after we left DC. The car attendant came on the PA and asked if anyone was a doctor. About ten minutes later, he came back on the PA and announced that we were stopping for a medical emergency. I was called to dinner immediately thereafter.

From the diner, I could see we were stopped at a grade crossing, and an ambulance and fire truck had both pulled up. While we were sitting there, one of the other passengers in the diner said to her seatmates, "This is ridiculous. If you're going to have a medical emergency, why would you even get on the train?"

Yes, lady. I'm sure that person knew they were going to have a heart attack/stroke/seizure an hour into the trip. <_<

SarahZ said:

firstcultural said:

This probably happens quite often, and for good reason - one can be in far worse health and still take a train, than would be possible driving, flying, or riding a bus. It's often the only way for people to make that one last trip home.

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This reminds me of one of the stupidest things I've ever heard a passenger say.

We were stopped just outside of some town in Maryland, about an hour after we left DC. The car attendant came on the PA and asked if anyone was a doctor. About ten minutes later, he came back on the PA and announced that we were stopping for a medical emergency. I was called to dinner immediately thereafter.

From the diner, I could see we were stopped at a grade crossing, and an ambulance and fire truck had both pulled up. While we were sitting there, one of the other passengers in the diner said to her seatmates, "This is ridiculous. If you're going to have a medical emergency, why would you even get on the train?"

Yes, lady. I'm sure that person knew they were going to have a heart attack/stroke/seizure an hour into the trip. <_<

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I admit, I would have been tempted to say, "Oh, they probably did it just to ruin your day."

The last nb trip I made on the Texas Eagle (mid-December), we stopped at a grade crossing somewhere. A cop car pulled up to the train and I thought, "uh-oh" (This was not too long after that stabbing incident in Michigan). Later on, in the diner, someone said that a few minutes after that, an ambulance had pulled up on the OTHER side of the train (the side I could not see), and they took someone off on a stretcher. It wasn't a long stop an d hopefully whatever problem the passenger had, they got treatment for it fast enough to do them some good.

fillyjonk said:

SarahZ said:

firstcultural said:

This probably happens quite often, and for good reason - one can be in far worse health and still take a train, than would be possible driving, flying, or riding a bus. It's often the only way for people to make that one last trip home.

Click to expand...

This reminds me of one of the stupidest things I've ever heard a passenger say.

We were stopped just outside of some town in Maryland, about an hour after we left DC. The car attendant came on the PA and asked if anyone was a doctor. About ten minutes later, he came back on the PA and announced that we were stopping for a medical emergency. I was called to dinner immediately thereafter.

From the diner, I could see we were stopped at a grade crossing, and an ambulance and fire truck had both pulled up. While we were sitting there, one of the other passengers in the diner said to her seatmates, "This is ridiculous. If you're going to have a medical emergency, why would you even get on the train?"

Yes, lady. I'm sure that person knew they were going to have a heart attack/stroke/seizure an hour into the trip. <_<

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I admit, I would have been tempted to say, "Oh, they probably did it just to ruin your day."

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Oh, I was tempted. Believe me. ^_^

Think about it: If a medical emergency occurs, you probably can get appropriate professional assistance faster on the railroads than on any other mode of transportation. The dispatcher (DS) knows where the closest EMT location is in relation to every point on the railroad. The engineers notifies the DS of the emergency. The DS makes contact with the closest EMT unit and tells the engineer where to stop. We have occasionally stopped at a rural crossing where nothing but soybeans, tobacco and cotton can be seen for miles. The EMT's show up and appropriate assistance is rendered. Sometimes they were already at the crossing when we stopped.

Contrast this with an airplane, which must find an airfield and land before the EMT's can even see you. A car, where you'll have to trust your GPS or an old fashioned map to find your way (and I hope somebody is with you who can drive). A bus seems to be a bit iffy. Maybe they have access to up-to-date info. Maybe they don't.

Tom

FormerOBS said:

Think about it: If a medical emergency occurs, you probably can get appropriate professional assistance faster on the railroads than on any other mode of transportation. The dispatcher (DS) knows where the closest EMT location is in relation to every point on the railroad. The engineers notifies the DS of the emergency. The DS makes contact with the closest EMT unit and tells the engineer where to stop. We have occasionally stopped at a rural crossing where nothing but soybeans, tobacco and cotton can be seen for miles. The EMT's show up and appropriate assistance is rendered. Sometimes they were already at the crossing when we stopped.

Contrast this with an airplane, which must find an airfield and land before the EMT's can even see you. A car, where you'll have to trust your GPS or an old fashioned map to find your way (and I hope somebody is with you who can drive). A bus seems to be a bit iffy. Maybe they have access to up-to-date info. Maybe they don't.

Tom

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Some people don't consider cruise ships as "transportation" but they generally have doctors on board and the Coast Guard on call although not necessarily the U.S. Coast Guard depending on where the ship is.

BN

Yes. I was only thinking about overland transportation. Many ships do, indeed, have doctors aboard. But I wonder how fast they can get you to a fully equipped hospital in a truly dire emergency.

I was on the Pioneer out of Seattle once. There was a passenger who started having chest pains before we got to Denver. Amtrak called the paramedics but the guy refused to get off the train. After we hooked up to (a very late) #6 and were about half way to Fort Morgan we slowed to a stop at a crossing and waited for an ambulance, it took about 45 minutes total, our SCA said the guy lost consciousness and that it "didn't look good" I always wondered about the outcome, although I can probably guess.

On a more positive note, what about giving birth on the train? Seems like we have a baby born every year on the subway in Philly, so I guess it has happened on Amtrak as well. Any tales?

Funny you should ask! I was riding on the Sunset Ltd in a Roomette in the middle of nowhere, between Del Rio and Alpine, when the PA came on asking if there was any Doctors aboard?

Seems a woman, traveling by herself in Bedroom E, had gone into Labor. The SCA ( a very good old timer name Ken) was in the hall, talking to the Conductor, who told him there were no Doctors aboard but there was an RN on the way!

At the time I was a Paid Firefighter/ EMT who had delivered several babies in emergency situations and told them about this ! The nurse showed up, the Conductor told her what I'd said and she then said, "I guess we're it then!"

We washed our hands, the SCA got some rubber gloves for us, exra sheets etc. and we went in and delivered a 1 month premature, 7 lb., beautiful baby girl! Easy delivery, it was her third child!

We cut the cord, cleaned the baby wrapped her and mom up to keep them warm ( it was summer) and when we pulled into Sanderson ( a Scheduled stop then) about 30 minutes later, there was an Ambulance from Alpine with EMTs waiting, they took the mom and baby and roared off for the hospital in Alpine, the only one for 200 miles in any direction!

Later on when we stopped in Alpine for the crew change, the off going Conductor called the Hospital and told us that mother and daughter were doing fine and that the mom had been heading for LA, so the little girl got to be a Native Texan Rather than a Californian!

LOL

OlympianHiawatha said:

Wanderin' Bill said:

And they both had brigs.

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Maybe Amtrak should have set these up in the new Viewliner Bags

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Some people might actually pay a premium for the adventure of sleeping a night in there. Set it up with a wild west decor an have a guy dressed a sheriff bring your dinner.