Train crossing a problem for truckers

June 2, 2007



A truck driver who died Wednesday when his rig was hit by a train has been identified as a Brush resident.

Kurt Schilling, 52, grew up in Brush and was driving for Doty Farms when he died in the crash south of Gilcrest. His empty cattle truck was hit by a train engine pulling 107 empty coal cars, and Schilling died upon impact.

The Colorado State Patrol said neither drugs nor alcohol were involved in the crash.

Schilling's funeral will be Monday at the Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Brush.


Greeley Tribune had this in the paper

 

Unfortunately, this man died through his own errors. I too have hauled things across lousy angle railroad tracks. Some of them are blind to a trucker because of the angle. But, I am fully capable of stopping my truck, stepping out and walking up to the tracks, and looking both ways before I cross. It takes less than a minute to do, and prevents a train from having the possibility of hitting me.

Always remember that a train is to your truck as your truck is to a bicycle. You only get one chance to make a mistake concerning any train.

 

This guy was backing accross the tracks burky when all he had to do is pull forward to not get hit. it is in the other post from a little while back under trucking accidents. I followed up on that post too I belive.
I was not there but this is what some witnesses had said he had enough room to clear the tracks.

 

here is what I posted under trucking accidents

The Greeley Tribune says the trucker heard the train comming and then started backing up when he could of just pulled forward and cleared the track.
I know were the tracks are were that happened and that is true all he had to do is pull forward.

I hope that I will not get in trouble by the people at this forum for this but here is the story from the website at WWW.greeleytrib.com
I can not get the picture to post but click on the link below for it.


Truck driver in fatal semi-train crash still not identified

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Volunteer firefighters from La Salle and Platteville work to put out a fire in the cab of a cattle semi after it was hit by a Union Pacific train Wednesday at the intersection of U.S. 85 and Weld County Road 40 in Gilcrest. The train dragged the truck about 200 yards before it could stop. The driver was pronounced dead at the scene.
BRET HARTMAN /
[B]Mike Peters, May 31, [/B][B]2007[/B]
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GILCREST -- No one really knows why he backed up his rig across the railroad tracks on Weld County Road 40 on Wednesday morning.

It's likely no one will ever know why the driver drove it that way because as soon as the semi cab crossed in front of the southbound coal train, there was a tremendous collision and the driver died. He hasn't been identified yet.

After the loud crash, firefighters and Colorado State Patrol troopers and Weld County Sheriff's deputies rushed in, cars stopped, crowds gathered, workers walked from nearby businesses to watch. The Denver media arrived in white vans with big numbers on the sides. Everyone spoke in low voices. Everyone knew the truck driver couldn't have lived.

Overhead, a hawk circled slowly above the debris, around and around, almost as if he, too, was watching the scene below.

David Hunt, owner of the Hunt Feed yard, where the truck was leaving, said the driver came in to load some cattle, but he was an hour early, so he left to come back later. "He was across the track in the cab," Hunt said, "and then you could hear the train and the engineer laying on the whistle. That's when he started backing up."

It happened about 10:15 a.m. Wednesday, and witnesses said if he'd just pulled forward, the train would have hit the empty semitrailer, and the driver might have lived.

Bubba Hardin heard the crash from his welding shop in Gilcrest, and he rushed to the scene. He found the rig wrapped around the front of the Union Pacific locomotive and fire coming out of the windows.

Hardin and another witness, Ryan Harding, grabbed a fire extinguisher and tried to stop the fire. "We just wanted to knock it (the fire) down enough so we could pull the driver out," said Hardin.

The men said they tried, but the fire kept flaring up, and finally, they had to back off to save themselves.

The cab was wrapped around the front of the Union Pacific engine, and the empty cattle trailer never disconnected. The train took another 200 to 300 yards to stop, dragging the trailer alongside the engine.

Emergency vehicles arrived quickly at the scene. The Platteville-Gilcrest and La Salle firefighters already were just two miles north on U.S. 85, wrapping up a previous accident with serious injuries.

But before help could arrive, one gas tank on the semi caught fire, which quickly spread inside the cab. The fire damage would later make it difficult to identify the driver. It may take a day or two to confirm the driver's name.

The train engineer, Gilbert Perry, 52, of Brush, and conductor Timothy Van Ackeren, 49, Lakewood, were not injured. The train was pulling 107 empty coal cars.

For two hours after the crash, firefighters worked to try to get the driver out of the truck. They had to dismantle most of it, using sledgehammers and the "Jaws of Life" power equipment.