Semi-Trailers and level crossings!
Rodney T. Young (berlina@bigpond.com)
22 Jun 97 15:11:11 GMT
Some time ago, I tried to paint a picture about a semi-
trailer not making it thru the crossing, up end of Sunbury. I think I
intimated at that time, that one of my problems with this type of accident
was the fact, that with complete certainty, I knew the Truckie was dead,
and I always expected to escape unharmed.
On Friday fate decided to give me another lesson, and a
fully loaded semi drove in front of me at the Kelly St., crossing
at Wodonga. We hit him with Red, White and Blue "City of Wodonga" , coupler
dead centre of the passenger door, at 114 kph and
neatly seperated the Prime Mover from the Trailer which was loaded 22 ton
of Pal dog food.
The Trailer continued on and demolished the outher end of
the Loco, fortrunately the 3 N Cars were untouched. In the meantime the
front of the Loco climbed up over the front of the truck, discarding the
cab and the dead Truckee a few meters past the crossing. The loco lifted
about 10 or 12 feet into the air and deflected about 12 ft off the line
away from the impact. We stopped in about 100 meters and the No 2 end of
N452 and the A side were almost written off.
My Driver was injured about the chest, and I was catapulted
into the windscreen , bounced off the roof and falling as the Loco touched
ground again. struck the edge of the steel console, hip, elbow and chest.
After a nite in Hospital, some horrific bruising a very painfull chest,
making sleep impossible, I can modify my earlier statement, that Engineman
CAN be injured by this sort of accident [thank God I was not on a Sprinter
as the trailer would have taken the side out of it!] Of course it still
does not make it any easier to live with the poor fellows death, even so
the body is selfish and I suppose my own problems are helping to occupy
most of my thoughts, leaving less time to mull..........
Rod