News Wire: South Carolina police looking for suspect in CSX freight train derailment - Trains Magazine
- Member since
August 2003 - From: Antioch, IL
- 4,360 posts
schlimm
Someone with access to a bulldozer? And I wonder what was his/her motivation?
OK, true story then some speculation.
I was a brand new US Army 2nd lieutenant fresh out of Transportation Officer Basic when I was assigned to a troop unit at Ft. Eustis. I properly reported to the company commander and told him I'd been assigned to his unit. The first words out of his mouth were: "Well I'll Be Damned." The words "Oh ***" came to my mind.
One of the first assignments he gave me was to go find a bulldozer. He was signed for a D7 but had no idea where it was. I had been trained for many things, but locating a missing D7 bulldozer wasn't one of them. With the help of an old head NCO the dozer was located. (As further info one of my next assigments was to get one of our troops out of civilian jail. Again, the Army had neglected to train me for this. I asked what the soldier had been arrested for and was told he had a gun and was headed to kill his wife. All I had to control him was that little gold bar. Just another day in the life of a 2nd lieutenant.)
Anyway, my speculation is that someone was either trying to steal the dozer fouling the CSX track or taking it for a joy ride. When they got to the track they couldn't get the machine across due to inadequate operating skills. They left it where it was. Just my guess.
"By many measures, the U.S. freight rail system is the safest, most efficient and cost effective in the world." - Federal Railroad Administration, October, 2009. I'm just your average, everyday, uncivilized howling "anti-government" critic of mass government expenditures for "High Speed Rail" in the US. And I'm gosh darn proud of that.
