OT: I ran over a man on Friday., In a train, that is. Options

[Rick_Eberle]

Well, I guess this qualifies as a bad day at the office.

Friday morning at 8:35, a beautiful day, driving a train at 80 kph with maybe 1400 commuters on board. I see a guy sitting beside the track, say 50m away. He stands up, and starts to walk across the track. He stops in the middle of the track, turns to face me and waits for it.

I blew the horn and slapped the brakes into emergency, but was probably still doing 70 when I hit him. Trains don't stop like cars, so it took about 300m to stop. I called control to let them know, then jumped out and ran back, and found him under the fourth carriage, folded in half, unconscious but still alive. There was nothing I could do to help him, and in the state he was in I probably would have caused more damage if I had tried to move him, so I headed back to the front of the train to update the train controllers, and make some PA announcements, and wait for my relief.

So I'm off work for a week or two. Maybe I'll get some work done on the 914! The turbo tie rods I got from the club store are waiting to be installed!

[Rick_Eberle]

Thanks for all the support guys!

It's nice to to be able to unload on someone other than my wife, who heard about it all weekend. It's also nice to know that I have friends who I have never even met!

We just moved into our new place last week, and all of our stuff was put in the garage while we do a quick paint job in the house. I spent yesterday moving boxes and repacking some stuff to make room for the 914. I also dug through all our crap to find all of the paperwork that I need to eventually register the 914. The import approval, California title, etc. It was lost in the move, and I was a little concerned about it all.

I got an "Unregistered Vehicle Permit" last week, and actually drove my 914 for the first time since January '01. Seven and a half miles! She ran a little rough, but still goes like a rocket. You should have the looks on the other driver's faces... WTF kind of car is that???

I haven't quite sorted all my tools out yet, so I may hold off on the tie rods, but I do have some other jobs to do. I have some nice foglights and grills in my ebay stash. It's a tight fit in the garage, but my car finaly has a home!