Conservative talk show host Doc Thompson killed by Amtrak train in Haltom City

[mahatmakanejeeves]

From the DCRTV.com mailbag

There is some sad news on The Richmond Times-Dispatch website Thursday. The headline is "Reports: Former WRVA radio host Michael 'Doc' Thompson struck, killed by train in Texas". Mr. Thompson was jogging early in the morning. (2/6/19)

From Trainorders:

Passenger Trains > amtk 14 hits trespasser tnt.

Date: 02/06/19 09:34
Re: amtk 14 hits trespasser tnt.
Author: Rivannaco

Started hearing this morning about a radio host killed by a passenger train so did a quick Google search and found this...

https://www.dallasnews.com/news/haltom-city/2019/02/05/amtrak-train-kills-pedestrian-trinity-railway-express-tracks-haltom-city

Date: 02/06/19 10:24
Re: amtk 14 hits trespasser tnt.
Author: czephyr17

Rivannaco Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Started hearing this morning about a radio host
> killed by a passenger train so did a quick Google
> search and found this...
>
> https://www.dallasnews.com/news/haltom-city/2019/0
> 2/05/amtrak-train-kills-pedestrian-trinity-railway
> -express-tracks-haltom-city

Yes, very surprising. See previous thread about the incident yesterday afternoon with #22.

https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?4,4726360

Passenger Trains > Amtrak 22(5)

Date: 02/05/19 14:31
Amtrak 22(5)
Author: SAAP

Anyone know what happened? I just received a text alert that "TRE passengers may experience delays due to an Amtrack(sic) incident at Richland Hills" . Track-A-Train shows Amtrak 22 not moving and still in Richland Hills (TX).

HALTOM CITY AT 20 HRS AGO

Conservative talk show host Doc Thompson killed by Amtrak train in Haltom City

Written by Sarah Sarder Claire Z. Cardona Loyd Brumfield
Updated at 3 p.m. Wednesday: Revised to include confirmation from medical examiner.

Fans of a conservative talk radio host mourned his death Wednesday morning, a day after he was struck by an Amtrak train in Haltom City.

Michael "Doc" Thompson, 49, of Bentonville, Ark., was killed Tuesday afternoon, according to the Tarrant County medical examiner's office.

Witnesses and the train crew said he was jogging along the tracks in the 2000 block of Carson Road about 3:45 p.m. when he was hit by the passing train. ... A pair of wireless earbuds was found at the scene, but it was not clear whether Thompson had been wearing them, police said.

No one on the train was injured.
....

[Funtatlaguy]

1. Probably refused to make any left turns. Sad tragic story.

Thoughts and prayers.

[marble falls]

2. No disrespect, but the last line is a hoot: "No one on the train was injured."

[mahatmakanejeeves]

3. I see where you're coming from, but

it's possible that if the train went into emergency (meaning, the engineer applied the brakes instantly), a passenger could have fallen and broken a hip, for example. That passenger would then have to be removed from the train for a trip to the ER.

But, yeah, in the case of pedestrian vs. train, tie goes to the train.

I had a thread here a while back about the dangers of being on the tracks and yet not aware that a train was coming. It never turns out well.

Thanks for writing.

[marble falls]

4. My grandfather was the chief light and signal engineer for the old Nickle Plate Road ...

and then The Norfolk and Western, his dad was a gandy dancer on the Pensylvania RR, my great uncle was the Akron Yard Master for Erie Lackawanna, and I had a cousin who retired as a trackman with the Penn Central.

I got to ride the last steam engine to do the Chicago to Cleveland run in 1955. I used to go with my grandfather on inspections in Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky. He ALWAYS stopped at EVERY ungated crossing and sometimes drove a Nickle Plate car home - a Ford wagon, Ink Blue with little track wheels on it.

It takes about a quarter mile to stop an engine and fifteen loaded cars from 30mph. The train never loses. When the winds right trains'll suck people right under them.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

5. Did you see this thread?

Here's where I was fifty years ago Saturday:

I was on a steam excursion that made a round trip from Roanoke, Virginia, to Shenandoah, Virginia, on Sunday, November 3, 1968, and back. The ticket cost me a whopping $11.00.

{Edited: 1968, not 2018. Thanks for pointing that out.}

There was an excursion that ran east from Roanoke and back the day before. I didn't ride that one. I probably should have. Here is a picture of that. You'll have to cut and paste the address.

http://www.railpictures.net/showimage.php?id=395548&key=2535405

Sunday morning started out sunny. This is at the start of the trip. You'll have to cut and paste the address.

http://www.railpictures.net/showimage.php?id=395591&key=2535405

Here it is headed north toward the Shenandoah Valley:



Here's the engine at Cloverdale, Virginia:



Here's the train at Cloverdale, Virginia:



I'm on it somewhere.

Crossing the James River, headed north. Photo by H. Reid.



We got back hours late, but no one minded.

A good time was had by all.

Google has already incorporated this thread at DU into its image search engine.

[marble falls]

6. I'll be jingjangled! Thanks a lot for that! That last one has to be from the fifties. Thanks!

That's a BIG locomotive for that short of a train.

The color photos look wonderful, too. Nothing like the smell of a train.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

7. No, same trip. Just in black and white. November 1968.

That's Natural Bridge, Virginia.

More pictures:

http://www.railpictures.net/photo/395591/

Nickel Plate Road S-2 2-8-4 759 backs into the station on Sunday morning to couple up to the Shenandoah, VA excursion. I think that this shot captures the excitement of railfan trips in the 1950s ... (more)

Railroad: Nickel Plate Road
Locomotive: Steam 2-8-4
Location: Roanoke, Virginia, USA
Locomotive #: NKP 759
Train ID: Unknown
Photo Date: November 03, 1968

http://www.railpictures.net/photo/395592/

Nickel Plate Road S-2 2-8-4 759 soars above a small valley near Troutville enroute to Shenandoah.

Railroad: Nickel Plate Road
Locomotive: Steam 2-8-4
Location: Troutville, Virginia, USA
Locomotive #: NKP 759
Train ID: Unknown
Photo Date: November 03, 1968

http://www.railpictures.net/photo/395593/

The Lima Berkshire whistles for a crossing in an autumn setting not far from the excursion destination of Shenandoah, VA.

Railroad: Nickel Plate Road
Locomotive: Steam 2-8-4
Location: Vesuvius, Virginia, USA
Locomotive #: NKP 759
Train ID: Unknown
Photo Date: November 03, 1968

[marble falls]

8. That engine and tender are beautiful. Again, thanks.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

10. There's a 1-in-80 chance that the locomotive I was riding behind was the one you

rode on. The Nickel Plate had 80 S-class 2-8-4 engines. A locomotive with that wheel arrangement is called a Berkshire. The NKP Berkshires were numbered in the 700s, from 700, the first, up to 779, the last. The first fifteen were built by ALCO, and the remaining 65 were built by Lima, in Lima, Ohio. They were the last steam the Nickel Plate bought.

The Berkshires were typically assigned to handle the NKP's fast through freights. A freight running between Cleveland and Calumet Yard, the yard in Chicago served by the NKP almost certainly would have had a Berkshire on the front.

The Berkshires operated until 1957. The 759, the engine I was riding behind, was shopped (overhauled) in 1957 and set aside for future use. That future use in regular service never came. In 1968, a group of train enthusiasts chose it as the locomotive that would be easiest to get back into running condition. They worked on it that year, and then they put it into excursion service.

And now here's something you're sure to enjoy:

Looks like the same thing:

So much Nickel Plate:

[marble falls]

11. I couldn't see the lead wheels they're were hidden by the cow catcher ...

https://fortwaynerailroad.org/nickel-plate-road-no-624/

This is being restored now, good detail picture of 2-8-4

[marble falls]

12. 757 restoration ...

[hotrod0808]

9. I volunteered at O. Winston Link Museum

when I was in a rehab in Salem, VA. They had some amazing photos and artifacts. It was a great place to spend some time.

[Vogon_Glory]

13. That was the old Burlington--Rock Island Line

purchased by the authorities for rail commuter service between Dallas and Fort Worth. Amtrak runs over it too instead of over UP’s heavily-congested ex-Texas and Pacific lone between the two cities. I suspect that he was all too complacent.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

14. Is the Texas and Pacific line the one that runs next to the old Texas School Book Depository?

Thanks for the information.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_and_Pacific_Railway

[Vogon_Glory]

15. That's one of them.

The tracks closest to the Book Depository building are actually a set of junctions where the old Katy, the T&P, the B-RI, and the Cotton Belt came together with the old (Dallas) Union Terminal Company. The SP/T&NO and the Santa Fe came in from another direction.

It used to be a great place to watch trains; not so much any more.