Not a good day. :={

This is being posted from Amtrak train #85 in Iselin/Metropark, NJ about a 1/4 mile from the station. We've been sitting here for a good hour and change.

"Why?" you may ask. Well, it seems we hit a trespasser. :={

They had to transfer everyone from the rear coach forward because the body was visible from that coach. Fortunately most of the passengers on the train are very understanding of the situation and are curious of what happens to the crew and other items. Being they only see or hear of a trespasser incident on the news being on a train that was involved is a new experience.

Here comes the train we are transferring to.

Bad day. I feel for the engineer. :={

Render a Day

Seawall revisited by *LionkingCMSL on deviantART

A re-render of the seawall scene.

This time using Vue 9.

This looks much better than any of the Bryce renders.

Poser 8 and Vue 9 Espirit

Update on the trespasser fatality. :={

Sometimes it is not nice to be part of the "in crowd". :={

As I was walking towards the end of the platform, at 30th St., the rear flag of #173, our rescue train, a friend of mine told me the trespasser was a 17 year old female who was walking her bicycle across the tracks. :={

There are brand new fences along this stretch, to prevent such actions, but there are already holes cut in them. This section is a four track mainline with a curve to the east, from the direction our train came from. The curve is somewhat sharper than normal and has, IIRC, a speed restriction of 95mph, down from 125 mph.

A couple of years ago there was a multi-fatality incident in a fenced in section and the local residents admitted to the news crew that, in fact, they had cut the holes so they could take shortcuts across the tracks.

So now there is a grieving family that lost a young girl that really hadn't started her life. :={

Really, a very bad day. :={