Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, January 8, 1992 TAG: 9201080309
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-9 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: SHERRY CHANDLER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
ENGINEER'S TORMENT
THIS IS IN response to the continuing needless accidents involving automobiles at train crossings. First I would like to express my deepest sympathy to the families and friends of people who lost loved ones this way. Nothing done now can ever bring this person back, nor can it make it ease the hurt of the loss.However, in all honesty, I must admit that my true feelings lie with the living - the engineer of that train who has this to live with for the rest of his life.
My daddy was a Norfolk & Western engineer. If anyone who drives a car could have heard him, they might stop and take a second thought before being so quick to dart across the track.
With his voice quivering and tears streaming down his face, he told of every muscle in his body tightening, applying the brakes as hard as possible, and pulling down on the whistle until he thinks the rope will break, only to draw closer and closer to the car that isn't moving. The people aren't moving either - they are still sitting in the car trying one more time to get the engine started or see how close the train can get before they race out of the way, playing the most dangerous game on Earth.
Or maybe the engineer is calmly running the train, looking out the window, thinking of his own home and family. Just a few feet from the crossing, the whistle is blowing and huge red lights flashing, and all of a sudden a car bolts across the track, in a hurry to beat the train. Once again, sudden horror for the engineer.
After the crash, it is he who has to go back and look at the twisted mess. This vision never leaves the mind.
He is sick on his stomach, he feels dizzy, his head splits. He can't sleep for weeks. He cries. He begs God to forgive him and prays he will not be judged for murder by the victim's family.
A life is gone, a family is broken, and an innocent man is in a living torment. All of this could have been avoided if only the driver would have taken the time to regard the safety that he was taught.
I am begging every driver to please think of what can happen every time they cross a railroad track. The train only has a few feet of rail on which to run. It can't stop fast, or make a sharp turn to avoid you.
Please don't make an engineer suffer through what I have heard and seen my Daddy suffer. He has been deceased since 1970, and I thank God that he never killed a person; but he did hit some, and he lived the torment of thinking what it could have been. He had co-workers try to tell him what it was like, and that was more than enough for him. Please think - please! Sherry Chandler is a secretary for the emergency trauma department at Roanoke Memorial Hospitals.