Velociworld

MORTAL KOMBAT

I've been on the commercial side of my company for 6 years, now, and I don't miss operations at all. I was reminded of that fact again today when I ran into a coworker in the elevator. He'd just returned from his third day of depositions in a wrongful death suit. One of our terminal cranes collapsed in 2001 and killed the operator. So my friend had to sit through three days of depositions wherein attorneys for the aggrieved party told him he's a menace, a bag of shit, a man who puts profit ahead of safety, a party to manslaughter, and everything else you can think of. This man is in charge of our equipment maintenance, and he does a damned fine job. He is as good as it gets. I would entrust this man with my childrens' lives. I've known him for 15 years and he is stand up. Shit just happens sometimes. Equipment fails. People lose their lives. But to wring a man out like that is terrible.

This situation got me to thinking about how deathly my industry is. We kill a lot of people every year. In addition to the poor souls like this crane operator who die on the job we also kill a large number of people at grade crossings every year. How many? I don't know. I could get you that info in about five minutes, but I really don't want to know. People always think they can beat a train. I used to race trains across the crossing when I was a teenager. No more.

These incidents take their toll on the poor bastards who are left in the wake, as well. I had a compatriot who ran the Orlando terminal when I was running Memphis. His people didn't secure a trailer on a flatcar, apparently, and it swung out at a 45 degree angle and hit a southbound Silver Meteor Amtrak in Smithfield, North Carolina in 1997. Killed the engineer and the conductor. J--- took early retirement shortly thereafter. Was it his fault? No. But it happened on his watch.

I had a kid I worked with who was in Pricing. He wanted field experience. I didn't bother to tell him how unrewarding it was, because he wanted to do it, and sometimes you need that kind of experience on your resume anyway. He went to Charlotte as a supervisor. His first week on the job he was looking out the office window, watching one toplifter crane drag another broke-down toplifter across the terminal with a steel cable when a clerk in a company pickup blew through at about 40 MPH (15 is reckless speeding on a terminal). The cable cut right through the top of the truck, and severed this guy from the solar plexis up. He was two people. Bad stuff, indeed. That boy had to call 911, HQ, his wife, and a shrink within 5 minutes. Welcome to the Machine, son.

My personal worst? Bayou Canot, Alabama. The Sunset Limited Amtrak derailed and killed 47 people. Amtrak's worst ever. Happened when the train was crossing our bridge. That train augered into the mud at 65 MPH, and burrowed in 40 feet deep. It took them a week to dig out all the bodies. We figured busted rail, turned out a barge had struck the bridge hours earlier, creating the derailment.

It's a deathly game. That's why I drill safety into my kids at every opportunity. Push your chairs in. Put your seatbelts on. Don't take glass out to the pool. Don't talk to strangers. Eat your peas. It's crazy out there.