(The following story by Sammy Fretwell and Rick Brundrett appeared on The State website on February 7. Brian McLaughlin is Local Chairman of BLET Division 85 in Columbia, S.C.)
COLUMBIA, S.C. — The life of Benjamin Aiken, a Columbia railroad engineer and instructor, changed, perhaps forever, during the early morning hours of Jan. 6.
So did the lives of Jimmy Ray Thornton and Mike Ford, Lexington County railroad veterans who worked with Aiken on the Norfolk Southern lines of South Carolina.
They were the crew members who parked a locomotive on a rail spur at Graniteville after a hard day’s work, records show. Hours later, a freight train crashed into the parked locomotive and spilled chlorine gas, killing nine people.
Now, the men are being sued, investigated and criticized for the role they played in the tragic train crash, the worst of its kind nationally since 1978.
Friends and neighbors who agreed to comment say the men don’t deserve the scrutiny they’re under, that they have led quiet, responsible lives. They’re the kind of fellows who obey the law and work diligently at their jobs, friends and co-workers say.
But at least six lawsuits filed in the past month say the men’s failure to reset a switch caused the freight train to run off the main track and crash into the parked train.
And federal investigators have said human error most likely caused the accident.
On Friday, Norfolk Southern said it had fired the crew that parked the train.
“They are men of integrity, good character — honest and dependable,” said Brian McLaughlin, a Columbia train engineer who has known the crew for years.
Aiken, Thornton and Ford are veteran railroad employees, each with at least 25 years’ experience. Their identity has been protected by federal investigators and Norfolk Southern, revealed only in the lawsuits and through short statements made by their attorneys and attorneys for victims.
Aiken was the engineer, or the driver, of the train that was parked the night of Jan. 5, said his lawyer, Gray Culbreath of Columbia.
Thornton was the conductor, who was in charge of the crew, and Ford was the brakeman that night, said attorney Rick Shapiro, who has filed a suit on behalf of wreck victims.
After parking the train on the spur, the crew failed to reset a switch that later diverted the freight train onto the rail spur, lawsuits say. It was the crew’s duty to make sure that didn’t happen, according to lawsuits.
“When you have a position of responsibility like that, you are not afforded a bad night,” said Douglas Schmidt, who represents victims in a lawsuit against Norfolk Southern and the train crew.
Aiken, Thornton and Ford declined comment when asked by The State about the Graniteville wreck.
PIE FOR THANKSGIVING
Aiken, the engineer, is a 50-year-old Lowcountry native who lives across the street from a small lake in Northeast Richland.
Neighbors say Aiken is the consummate friend, a father active in his church and neighborhood. He has lived in the Springwood Lake area near Two Notch Road for more than a decade.
He has two college-age sons; one attends USC, neighbors say. His wife, Georgette, works as an aide at Joseph Keels Elementary School near their home, records show. Voting records indicate he was born in Jasper County in 1954.
Alice Abercrombie, Aiken’s neighbor and a 44-year-resident of the Springwood Lake community, said Aiken and his family have provided great support since her husband died 15 years ago.
Aiken helped fix her car when it broke down and, during the recent holidays, offered an unexpected gift, Abercrombie said.
“On Thanksgiving Day, he made me a sweet potato pie and brought it over. They are good neighbors and good Christians. That I like about them. They care for other people. It’s what’s in the heart that counts.”
Jackie Davis said the Aikens stopped by to visit soon after she moved to the Columbia neighborhood from New York state in September.
“They made me feel welcome,” she said.
Aiken is a federally certified train engineer who never had been involved in any serious crash before the Graniteville wreck, said John Bentley, spokesman for the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET), based in Cleveland. Bentley said Norfolk Southern uses Aiken to instruct new engineers.
“They say he always takes pride in safety,” Bentley said.
Aiken has at least 25 years of experience and has been a member of the BLET union — a division of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters — since 1997, Bentley said.
Aiken’s home terminal has been Columbia; he operated trains to Augusta, Spartanburg, Salisbury, N.C., and Charlotte, Bentley said.
LIKE A GRANDFATHER
Thornton, 56, is a Spartanburg native and son of a railroad employee, according to public records and an interview with his pastor.
A lawsuit filed Feb. 1 identifies him as the conductor, the person who would be in charge of the parked train.
He lives in the Oak Grove community of Lexington County and is active in Sunset Boulevard Baptist Church of West Columbia.
Thornton is a kindly figure to neighbors who live in the modest subdivision of brick, ranch-style homes. As a hobby, he does woodworking in a shop behind his house.
Thornton’s across-the-street neighbor, Melody Johnson, said her daughters are close to Thornton and his wife.
When Johnson’s mother- and father-in law were sick, Thornton and his wife kept her children on nights when they needed to be at the hospital. On other nights, Thornton was at the hospital praying with the family, Johnson said.
“My kids think of them as grandparents,” Johnson said, adding that it’s hard to believe the accusations she’s heard since the crash.
“That was just a complete accident what happened,” said Johnson, who met Thornton when she moved to her home six years ago. “We don’t understand why. To pin it on one person is not fair.”
Neighbor Sheila Howard, who has known Thornton for more than 20 years, described him as “very caring.”
Thornton was working in a wood shop behind his small brick home when he was approached recently by a reporter from The State. He politely declined to discuss the wreck.
“I just can’t speak about it,” he said softly. “We’re just going through a hard time right now.”
Russ Painter, Thornton’s minister at Sunset Boulevard Baptist Church in West Columbia, said working for the railroad “is the only job he’s ever had, pretty much.
Thornton’s “father worked on the railroad all his life, or at least for a very long time,” Painter said.
Painter said the month since the crash occurred has been a difficult time for Thornton. He said Thornton has been subjected to “hurtful” crank phone calls and requests for information from the media.
“He has taken a lot of hits,” Painter said.
United Transportation Union officials confirmed that Thornton is a member, though they declined to discuss his job at the time of the wreck or other related matters. The Cleveland-based UTU represents railroad conductors, engineers, brakemen and switchmen, as well as workers in other transportation industries, according to its Web site.
EXPERIENCED BRAKEMAN
Ford, 48, is a Columbia native who bought a house in Red Bank four years ago. Records show he lived in Lexington County several years before that.
He was the brakeman on the train that was parked the night of Jan. 5, attorney Shapiro said.
Unlike the other two men, Ford isn’t well known by his neighbors. He lives in a community of dirt roads, new houses and older mobile homes.
Ford is a brakeman with 25 to 28 years of experience, said his lawyer, Biff Sowell of Columbia.
Sowell said he couldn’t discuss details of the crash, noting he was just recently hired by Ford.
United Transportation Union officials confirmed Ford is a member of their union but declined further comment.
Sowell said his client is married, though he couldn’t provide other personal details.
Contacted recently, Ford said he is not originally from Lexington County, but he declined further comment. Voting records indicate he was born in Columbia on June 6, 1956.
Richland School District 1 records show that a John Michael Ford with the same birth date attended John P. Thomas Elementary School in Columbia, before transferring out of the district, school spokeswoman Janie Jones said.
When reached by The State, Ford deferred comments to Sowell.
“Right now, I’m not supposed to be saying anything or be talking to anybody,” Ford said.