Train accident

From WIVB: A terrible story about a 10 year old boy hit by a train and losing both of his legs in the Broadway/Fillmore section of Buffalo. The paramedics did a great job to save the child's life.

In this clip, neighbors complain that CSX needs to put up a fence to stop "4 and 5 year olds" from playing on the tracks. CSX counters that fences in the past have not worked as a deterrent, as the kids hop them anyway. Most commenters to the story think the neighbors need try a new and radical approach: keeping an eye on their children...

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The Angola horror

No, we're not talking about the women wearing bathing suits at Wendt Beach in the summer. Rich Kellman at channel 2 did an interesting story on a train crash 143 years ago in Angola. The trains were wooden and heated by coal burning stones. More than 40 people died after the trains fell into a gorge...

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New museum for trains, steel industry on Lee St.

A museum dedicated to local railroads and the steel industry will open over on Lee St. in 2012. This is a great idea. If they do it right, it could become a tourist attraction for railroad enthusiasts. From the Buffalo News...

A locomotive's whistle added emphasis Wednesday as the future home of train and steel museums was publicly unveiled in a former machine shop in South Buffalo.

The Western New York Railway Historical Society's Railroad Museum and the Steel Plant Museum will be located in the Heritage Discovery Center, once the industrial brownfield is cleaned up.

Plans also are on track to operate excursion trains, with the first run planned next August.

I think the excursion train idea is a great one. I love trains, as you get to look at the landscape from a unique perspective. Also, grandfathers who worked for the steel industry can go there with their grandchildren and tell them what it was like in Buffalo when you could actually find a job...
Train, steel museums find home - City & Region - The Buffalo News
http://video.buffalonews.com/player/index.php?id=1783

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Staying on the right track

A Metro Rail (pictured here) car went off the tracks this afternoon near the intersection of Scott and Main streets in downtown Buffalo. No one was injured.

The accident occurred about 1:15 p.m. during a conductor training run. The article doesn't say how the new conductor's evaluation went.

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Attempted Amtrak derailment on reservation

I can see burning tires on the Thruway or some other protest over New York state banning the sale of untaxed cigarettes through the mail. But trying to cause a passenger train derailment? Not a good idea. The FBI is offering a $10,000 reward to find out who put railroad ties in the middle of the Amtrak tracks near the reservation.

The FBI has released this composite sketch of two people seen near the tracks around the time of the incident: