Why would you leave your caboose on the crossing??
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They left the caboose on the crossing because the UP crew thought they were holding the interlocking signals against the Santa Fe. By doing so, the UP could get their work done and get their train across the diamonds. Unfortunately, the caboose happened to stop in a dead spot and the Santa Fe got a clear signal. There have obviously been rule and procedure changes since this occurred.
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I was at this site, as a kid, watching the clean-up, when they pulled the UP conductor's body out of the caboose (covered with a sheet, of course). And that pretty much took away any fascination with train wrecks for me! This UP line is now gone (although the right-of-way is still there), as is the Hunt (later Hunt Wesson) canning facility that it served. And the former Santa Fe line (now BNSF, of course) is now triple tracked. That classic Santa Fe cantilever signal is gone, too, replaced with the much less interesting aluminum cantilevers.
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I agree with Mr. Walker above about the fascination with wrecks. At that point the fatalites become to real and remind us of our own mortality.
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