1. Was there, in fact, a portable TV on board, turned up loud to hear the playoff game?
2. Was the tape on the train-control air whistle, which made it 'quieter', responsible for someone's not hearing the audible alert while not watching outside... with (1) going on to distract both the ears and the eyes for just a critical moment
3. I think I have some 'standing' in this matter, having been riding in the second car of the Amtrak train (talking, in fact, to a young Princeton girl I think was Celia Horn) and having gone back to the cafe for a Coke. And, I might add, cursing a bit because the cafe in the front was closed...
To be honest, I don't 'blame' you more than, say, the people who thought they'd save some bucks by taking a 3-track high-speed main down to two tracks, or removing the positive-stop features from automatic train control on 65mph locomotives in a 135mph corridor. We were going "much too fast" for a consist with Heritage cars -- do we blame our engineer for that?
And it wasn't like you, or someone else in that cab, didn't try to get the train stopped by calling on the radio.
I suppose I'll always wonder a bit whether opening the throttle and splitting the switch might have worked out better than jamming the main with locked brakes. Guess it just wasn't God's will. At any rate, you seem to have come out OK, and I wish you well.
