Railroad Patrol Sounds Warning to Foolhardy Crossing Its Path

Too many times, Dave Helmbrecht has seen it happen. He’s heard the sickening crunch when the cowcatcher of a 200-ton freight engine barrels into some foolhardy car stranded on the tracks like a tin-can sitting duck.

Oddly enough, concedes the Santa Fe Railway freight conductor, the sight always reminds him of an old beer commercial--the one where ex-Pittsburgh Steeler L.C. Greenwood rips open a can of beer with his bare hands.

“That’s what it’s like--ol’ L.C. pulling a can apart,” said Helmbrecht, a gravelly voiced railroad veteran whose black denim pants are shoved into a pair of python-skinned cowboy boots. “Tons and tons of train that doesn’t give an inch, a mean machine that plows through whatever’s in its path.”

Standing at the Oceanside rail station, he motioned across the tracks toward the remains of a year-old Nissan that recently met its fate in front of a freight train in Orange County; the car now a twisted, tangled and mangled mass of metal that offered little clue to its former shape.

“People just insist on playing games with trains,” the 33-year-old Helmbrecht said with a shake of his head. “They don’t realize that they’re fighting a losing battle--that, in the end, ol’ L.C.’s gonna pull ‘em apart like some know-nothin’ aluminum can.”

On Friday, Helmbrecht and assorted railway, government and law enforcement officials gathered in North County to spread a word of warning to pedestrians and motorists alike--that ignoring a passing train’s right of way can be deadly.

As part of a one-day “Trooper on the Train” program, officers from the Oceanside and Carlsbad police departments as well as San Diego County sheriff’s deputies, rode a 20-mile stretch of rail between Del Mar and Oceanside.

All morning, uniformed officers rode shotgun on both north- and southbound freight and passenger trains, keeping a walkie-talkie pressed to their lips to signal officers on the ground to the presence of any right-of-way violators.

Posted at intersections along the railroad’s coastal route were officers in cars and on motorcycles, waiting to nab any motorists who might try to sneak around a railroad crossing arm.

Organizers said the purpose of the program was not so much to ticket violators as to give officers--the investigators who respond to train accidents--a first-hand view from the engineer’s seat.

“Until today, it might have been hard for some of these officers to realize how hard it is to stop a fast-moving train,” said Mike Martin, a Santa Fe Railway spokesman. “Not after this ride, though. And maybe they will help us get the word out.”

For railway officials like David Cassidy, the morning ride through the crisp coastal air was all business. Over the past year, he has seen seven pedestrians killed along his tracks in San Diego County--the latest a toddler who wandered in front of a freight train near downtown Encinitas in February.

In 1989--a typical year--44 people were killed and 100 injured in railroad grade crossing accidents statewide. Across the country, there were 1,479 fatalities and 5,401 injuries in 13,078 accidents.

For Cassidy, those are indeed grim statistics. But the pictures are much worse--the gruesome images of what happens when a train makes contact with flesh and metal. And yet every day the engineer’s supervisor sees the just plain dumb and daring--the joggers who run along the tracks wearing stereo headphones, the carloads of teen-agers who park their cars on the tracks, playing a deadly devil-may-care game of chicken.

“The people who have died have come from all walks of life--from migrant workers drinking beer on the tracks to surfer kids to babies to scientists and professionals,” he said. “They’re all senseless deaths.”

Cassidy knows some things about trains that others might not. He knows that passenger trains often travel at speeds reaching 90 m.p.h. along the coastal route. And the much-heavier freighters--with their two, 200-ton engines and 100-odd car trains--barrel along at 55 m.p.h.

Stopping such a powerful mass of metal is not easy. Often, it takes a train more than 1 1/2 miles to come to a complete stop--even with its squealing brakes engaged. And, when the train hits a car, the deadly force has been likened to a car that can easily crush an empty aluminum can beneath its wheels.

That’s why Cassidy and the others just shook their heads Friday when the coupled, bright-red, 3,000-horsepower freight engines pulled to a stop near a rail siding in Sorrento Valley.

There at the intersection, a blue station wagon had pulled so close to the tracks that the crossing arm had slammed down on its hood. With cars nudged immediately behind him, the driver could not move forward or backward--so close to danger that a speeding train might have blown it aside with its fierce draft.

Reggie Grigsby, a ride-along officer from the Oceanside Police Department, leaned out of a window to motion the car back. But the driver sat there--trapped and dumbfounded--his jaw dropping in surprise and frustration.

Earlier, Rudy Sanchez, an officer with the Santa Fe Railway police, explained some of the excuses motorists have given in the past for running such crossing barriers.

“A lot of people tell us that the train was still a good block away and that they could have made it if we didn’t stop them,” he said. “They admit they hear the bell and saw the light, but they think those are for old-people drivers. They say they can make it if they punch their engines enough.”

Many drivers will run the crossing after the train has passed, not realizing that two trains will often pass in close intervals at one spot--and that the second one is hurtling toward the intersection.

“Some get it from the second train they never thought to look for,” he said. “And, at 90 miles an hour, those trains are traveling at 133 feet per second--too fast to stop on a dime.”

With summer coming, the number of accidents is expected to climb. Cassidy scratched his head when trying to explain the public’s seeming attraction to the tracks.

“It gets worse in July and August,” he said. “Often, the tracks run between the freeway and the beach. And people here are just attracted to the water--they just have to cross the tracks to get there.”

The “Trooper on the Train” program, authorities say, is a way to put their foot down. During the morning, officers ticketed only one motorist--an RTD bus driver who failed to come to a complete stop at a crossing in Encinitas.

A similar one-day program in Pomona recently led to 15 citations--with fines of up to $120, Sanchez said. “It depends on the court,” he said. “But judges take a dim view to this kind of foolishness and act accordingly.”

On Friday, officers saw more than a dozen pedestrians dart across the tracks in front of trains. But, as Carlsbad Police Sgt. Don Metcalf explained over the roar of the freight engine, officers can only cite them when a train has to apply its brakes because of their presence.

“Once those brakes go on,” he said, “we’ve got ‘em.”

It wasn’t so easy to deal with the pair of track-crossers near Del Mar. As the northbound freight neared the quaint passenger terminal, two dogs appeared on the west side of the tracks.

One suddenly dashed across as the train bore down--the other, panicked, ran back at the last minute. The fate of a cat that ripped across the tracks moments later was not so clear.

“Good thing it’s got nine lives,” one officer deadpanned.

Such scenes give Helmbrecht gray hairs. For 14 years, he’s watched risk-takers ply their foolish gambles on the rails.

“One time, these two boys were moving a house across the tracks and didn’t tell the railroad they were going to do it,” he recalled, fiddling with his thick metal belt buckle that carried the inscription: “Railroads Built America.”

“Well, the train came by and ran right through the middle of that house. Only thing I can say is good thing no one was in there using the bathroom. That would have been quite a sight.”