(The Herald-Dispatch posted the following article by Bob Withers on its website on May 18.)
BARBOURSVILLE, W.Va. — Miranda West and Erica Hardesty were among the screaming bystanders. Sarah Mader, Holly Merritt, Katie Carrico and Robyn Helter were the “victims.” And Tom Tackett had the “coronary arrest.”
All of the above participated in a chilling demonstration of what can happen when an automobile tries to beat a train to a crossing.
Nearby residents came out to watch as Operation Lifesaver carried out a mock rescue and recovery operation at the McClung Avenue crossing in Barboursville Saturday afternoon.
Operation Lifesaver is a program sponsored by the nation’s railroads to raise awareness of the danger in trying to race a train to a railroad crossing. Taking part in the exercise were personnel from CSX Transportation, the Barboursville police and volunteer fire departments, Cabell County Emergency Medical Services and students from Cabell Midland High School.
A CSX train eased against a crumpled 1988 Oldsmobile Delta 88 donated by Barboursville Used Auto Parts and positioned on the crossing before the exercise began.
After the four students got in the car, emergency workers rehearsed what they would do in the event the collision had been real — caring for the injured, ripping off the car’s roof to get them out and finally turning the wreck over to Paul s Garage and Wrecker Service Inc. to haul away.
Tom Tackett of Louisa, Ky., a CSX conductor and an Operation Lifesaver presenter, pretended to be the engineer — and had a “heart attack” after seeing the “carnage” in front of his locomotive. That gave emergency crews practice doing something they never had done before — removing an injured or ill crew member from the locomotive cab.
“It was all good practice,” said Alan Meek, Barboursville’s chief of police. “I thought it went real well.”
And the young “victims” — made up with blue faces, phony broken arms and legs and ghastly lacerations — learned some important lessons, too.
“It was pretty scary,” said Katie Carrico, 16, of Ona, a junior at Cabell Midland who’s taking a drivers’ education class. “It told me you need to be more careful. I had no idea a train could do that to a car.”
“It was weird, really weird when they put the sheets over us,” said 16-year-old Sarah Mader, also a drivers’ education student. “And it was really different when they were cutting the roof off the car.”
The girls — both of whom already drive — said they are new converts when it comes to seeing flashing red lights when approaching a railroad crossing.
“The next time, I will definitely stop,” Carrico said.
Saturday s mock crash came just days after the death of Larry Wayne Edenfield, a 17-year Amtrak veteran engineer who was at the throttle of the Florida-bound Silver Star when it derailed after striking a lumber truck at a marked-grade crossing in Hinesville, Ga. The New York-Miami streamliner was carrying 150 passengers and had 14 crew members aboard at the time of the accident. A total of 22 passengers and five crew members were injured.