Engineer in Fatal Crash Probably Asleep, NTSB Says : Report: The board also surmises that the conductor and brakeman failed to take action because they, too, were asleep when the freight collided with another train.

The engineer of an Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe train involved in a fatal collision near Corona last year probably was asleep when his freight train collided with another train, the National Transportation Safety Board reported Tuesday.

The NTSB report surmised that engineer Gary R. Ledoux was fatigued by an irregular and unpredictable work schedule.

“Contributing to the accident was the failure of the conductor and the brakeman to take action to stop the train, probably because they were asleep,” the NTSB reported.

Four railway workers were killed when Santa Fe train No. 818, traveling west out of Barstow, collided with Chicago-bound train No. 891. Ledoux, brake operator Virginia C. Hartzell and conductor James S. Wakefield were aboard No. 818 and were killed in the collision. Ronald E. Westervelt, the brake operator on No. 891, also was killed.

The westbound Santa Fe freight train had failed to stop for a red light before leaving a siding for the main track. Witnesses said that seconds before the early morning collision, they saw the engineer with his back to the side window, the report noted--meaning that he was not facing the front of the train.

One witness said in an interview Tuesday that he saw the engineer seconds before the 4:11 a.m. train wreck but could not recall the direction he was facing. Still, he said, the engineer did not show signs of movement.

“I didn’t see any movements from him at all,” said R.A. (Rocky) Weaver, a private security guard who had been patrolling the industrial park where the train wreck occurred.

“He was too far away for me to see his eyes,” he said. “We were about 75 to 85 yards away.”

Weaver and two other security guards rushed to the crash site near Railroad Street and Sherman Avenue and found flames engulfing the derailed locomotives and freight cars. They could not get any closer than 100 yards because of the heat of the flames, stoked by thousands of gallons of diesel fuel from the train engines.

“It was a horrifying situation, and the fact that we couldn’t get to them made it worse,” Weaver said. “We heard them yelling and screaming. It was pretty awful.”

The NTSB also based its findings on reports that the engineer had not had any sleep for nearly 27 hours before the accident, NTSB spokesman Brent Bahler said.

“The central issue here is fatigue and work,” Bahler said.

The NTSB also blamed the transportation industry for not having policies or procedures “to remove train crews from service when not properly rested” and cited “inadequate federal rules and regulations governing hours of service.”

The board also recommended that Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe implement policies preventing employees from accepting assignments when they are impaired by a lack of sleep. It also recommended that rail workers’ unions and the American Assn. of Railroads draw up policies allowing railway companies to prohibit fatigued workers from reporting for duty.

A spokeswoman for Santa Fe at its suburban Chicago headquarters said company officials would not comment until they had received the report and transcripts of the NTSB hearings.

However, other railway companies said they have policies to guard against fatigue. Mike Fertney, a spokesman for Southern Pacific Railroad, said engineers at his company must rest at least eight hours between each shift. He said he was unsure whether the rule was company policy or mandated by the Brotherhood of Railway Engineers union.

Union officials in Chicago could not be reached for comment.

Earlier this year, the NTSB reported finding traces of methamphetamine and amphetamine in James A. Dawson, the engineer of train No. 891. But NTSB officials said his actions did not contribute to the accident. Dawson, along with conductor Warren Sanders, were injured in the wreck.

Hawkins reported from Washington. Johnson reported from Orange County.