After the train stopped to reverse
movement to travel west, I switched to the BNSF locomotive which was
now the
trailing end of the train. Moments after we crossed Orangethorpe
Avenue, an eastbound BNSF container train met the special train.
BNSF locomotive engineer Eric Lehmuth
was
available for interview and stated that he has been interested in
trains his whole life and has been an engineer for approximately one
year. He said what most other engineers reveal. Locomotive
engineers
routinely observe unsafe behavior of automobile and truck drivers as
well as pedestrians and bicyclists. He does not want to "ruin
anyone's
life" by hitting them with any part of his train. He also
corrected
another reporter by stating "trains are not driven, they are
run."
Engineer Lehmuth also talked about working hours for train crews.
Engineers and conductors can work up to 12 hours straight at which
point they must be relieved by another crew. They then must have
at
least an eight hour rest period. Other circumstances warrant a
ten
hour rest period.
Once back at Fullerton Station, the train again
made
another east bound run, this time with Metrolink (LASD) Sheriff Steve
Smith aboard. He asked engineer Lehmuth to obtain permission from
the
BNSF dispatcher to take the train all the way to Atwood, thus allowing
for faster train speed of 50 miles per hour.
This eastbound run
took
seven minutes. From a motorists point of view at a highway-rail
grade
crossing, it is difficult to tell how fast a train is
approaching.
After this uneventful eastward run, the train was stopped at Atwood and
run back to Fullerton.
