(The following story by Matthew Schomer appeared on the Salem News website on April 16, 2009.)
LEETONIA, Ohio — Trespassing on railroad tracks isn’t just illegal, it’s dangerous.
That was the message sent Wednesday to Leetonia junior high and high school students by Norfolk Southern Railroad locomotive engineer Pat Berkey, who has 42 years experience in his field.
Berkey, who spoke to Leetonia Elementary School students about railroad safety in March, was speaking on behalf of Operation Lifesaver, a national nonprofit organization founded in 1972 to end collisions, injuries and deaths at railroad crossings and on railroad rights of way.
But there are even more concerns about railroad safety now than there were in 1972 because of an increase in the number of crossings and the number of cars and trucks that have to cross them.
“Our trains are very big, they’re very heavy and they don’t stop quickly,” Berkey told students.
It takes a train a length of about 18 football fields to slow to a stop from 30 miles per hour, he pointed out, and with curves, hills, trees, shadows, precipitation and the darkness of night, that’s often farther than an engineer can see.
His message to students didn’t so much concern safety when driving across railroad tracks as it did staying off the tracks when on foot.
Noting that pedestrians are only legally allowed to be on the tracks when they are going across them at marked crossings, he pointed out some of the dangers in common activities involved in trespassing on railroad tracks.
One problem railroad companies have with trespassers is when they throw stones or other objects at passing trains. While that act can pose a danger to people on the train, it can also be harmful to the person throwing the object, as railroad cars sit on heavy springs and frequently sway.
“The first thing that happens when you throw that rock is that it’s going to come back at you, probably faster than you threw it,” he said, offering the potential for severe injury.
Another dangerous but rather common activity is when people place objects, such as coins, on the tracks.
With a very narrow amount of space between the wheels and the rails, he noted, “They can be shot out like a bullet from a small-caliber handgun.”
An activity that has changed two local lives for the worse in recent years is trying to jump onto a slow-moving train.
Berkey mentioned an East Liverpool man who ran alongside a slow-moving train, grabbed the ladder, tried to swing his leg up, missed and got it caught in the wheel, where it was crushed. He lost the leg.
Less than two weeks after that incident, a Steubenville man tried a similar stunt. He lost both his legs.
“For two seconds of showing off, they have changed their lives forever,” Berkey commented.
Even just walking along railroad tracks can be dangerous. Berkey brought up a situation that occurred two years ago in which a man was walking a dog along a set of tracks, had a medical condition, collapsed and had his limbs severed by an oncoming train that was unable to stop.
“They never even think about how dangerous it is and what can actually happen to you on those tracks,” he described trespassers.