............ as reiterated once again by the most recent "stupid human trick" making the rounds of online railfan forums, a young woman who was struck and killed by a train while allegedly running back to retrieve her dropped cell phone........

So true. Even if they had gotten permission, there is no arguable reason to have a whole crew on a bridge or to place the actors there. Bridge decks are very dangerous to work on, even for those of us whose jobs require us to walk them. One of the movies that Warner Brothers shot at TVRM involved the actors jumping from the Chickamauga Creek bridge. For that scene, the film crew shot footage of the movie train approaching and crossing the bridge. A partial mockup of one bridge span was constructed by the scenery department on the lawn in front of the Grand Junction Depot. The jump scene was filmed using the mockup and edited in.

At the creek, additional shooting was done with stunt doubles jumping into the creek from a much lower elevation (the bridge is normally about 80 feet above the creek bed. At no time was there any reason for the actors to walk out on the actual bridge. This is why we have editing and special effects-they got the shots they wanted without taking any unnecessary risks. Then again, that was a major production by a big name studio with A list actors.

Yes, I have to agree, the whole: "we got permission, and they told us we'd have 60 seconds to get off the track if a train came and blew it's horn" is total BS from the film company.

Any authorized presence on the tracks is coordinated with "flags" on the ground to stop/allow a train to proceed.

My Father (an NYC/PC/Conrail locomotive engineer) was held up running an Amtrak train in upstate NY because an official "flag" (person on the ground with an actual red flag (in the old days) or a radio nowadays) was not present at the site of a "track restriction". Specific instructions to the operating crew was something like; "from 8:01am until 4:01 pm, Approach MP xxx.y at restricted speed prepared to STOP" and "DO NOT PASS MP xxx.y" without permission from the "flag".

In this case the "flag" was an employee from a contractor hired to repair an under track culvert. On the day in question the construction contractor finished up early (before 4:01PM) AND SIMPLY WENT HOME. The train approached the restriction, attempted to contact the "flag" via radio and then stopped. In this case the dispatcher cannot simply say; it's OK go ahead since the "flag" has total control of any train movements over that section of track.

It took an hour or so for the dispatcher to contact the contractor and confirm that the track was clear and the train could proceed. Quite a good fail safe procedure, what if there was an accident at the construction site and the "flag" was incapacitated ?

Sounds to me like these film crew management folks are fibbing a bit (actually a whole hell of a lot), no railroad would allow folks on/near it's tracks without a formal agreement detailing When/Where/Who/How the track restriction would take place.

What a tragic (but sadly foreseeable accident), my condolences to the family of the young women.

I have a 1941 NYCRR Employee Timetable, and one of the rules (for the operating personnel) is; "In the event of a fatality on Railroad property do not make any statements regarding fault" (paraphrased slightly, but the intent was to let the "legal department" handle things).

Cheers, Kevin.

Was that enough time to get the bed off the bridge?

The NTSB has released their preliminary report, but with little information other than the basic facts of the accident, and a photo of the site that I have not seen before. The report does not confirm nor deny whether the film company received any permission from CSX:

https://www.ntsb.gov/doclib/reports/201 ... Prelim.pdf

The last information that I read was that the Wayne County, GA Sheriff’s Department is conducting a homicide investigation that they expect to complete in about a month. I anticipate that they will conclude that there was a homicide, so I expect they will bring charges against someone.

What you are describing is, in the CSX rule book, rule 89/707, on-track worker rules. One time I was coming into a work area that was scheduled to start and could not raise the Employee-In-Charge on the radio. I had to stop, finally get a hold of the dispatcher who was able to get the EIC on his cell phone. Turns out the EIC was stuck in a traffic jam from a wreck on I-95, and we sat there for almost an hour until he was able to get within radio range to personally give us permission through his limits. So, yeah, CSX takes this sort of thing seriously.

My introduction to true safety culture happened in Conrail in the 80's, where the usual 'trip home from work' paralleled the Southern Tier main for about 9 miles. Very surprised to see an 'extremely late' OIEL parked at the WO home signals, I'd passed a track crew about 4 miles down the line. Even more curious when I drove by and saw the signals were set to green in the train direction of travel. And there she sat. And sat.

About an hour later I couldn't take it anymore, went back, and walked across the cornfield to the cab. Crew was yelling at me.... got close enough.... You a railfan? Can you do us a favor? Can you drive down there and tell that track foreman to get on the %$$#!! radio and give us our $@@!! railroad back!!! Tell him superintendent XXXXXXX is on board and we've been sitting here for six hours!!!!

Which I did, and after the foreman made quite a show of yelling at me for walking onto his railroad to deliver a message, was followed by a 'bug out' of an entire mechanized track crew to clear the main. Radio was apparently shut off. I earned some points with that crew that day. Learned that No communication = No move.

But OIEL had written orders on that track crew, until they got the radio clear, NOBODY but NOBODY was moving west of that signal. They could have 'crept up' at restricted speed, but they didn't. Nope, not an inch. That was the first episode of many that convinced me that the environment was changing that I'd seen in the 70's.

I remember being at a memorable pre-merger auditorium meeting in Buffalo, NY with CSXT, NS, and lots of shippers and shortlines. Railroad protocol dictated that there HAD to be a safety briefing before a meeting, no exceptions, so we got five minutes on paper cuts. No exceptions. So the press commentary that railroads have the most structured safety culture of any industry with the possible exception of airlines, yeah.

The linked NTSB report mentions that the train was moving at 58 m.p.h. with a speed limit of 70 mp.h. Is it possible to hear the whistle when that train is 1 minute (about a mile) away?

Under most conditions you should hear one at that distance; I know I've heard steam whistles from at least three times that far.

However, there still should have been flag protection, permission from the railroad, etc. All of this seems to have been tragically missing--especially on a railroad hosting passenger trains at 70 mph.

Truthfully, as others have pointed out, they shouldn't even have been there in the first place.

I certainly wouldn't have picked such a location, even if I thought I could get permission for it; it's too busy.

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index ... 525AAtoTQk

Under the right conditions, I've heard air horns at well over 5 miles away.

A blogger for the Atlanta Journal Constitution's website has an update:
AJC.com: Questions, anger remain following filming fatality (Monday, March 24, 2014)

According to that story, the County Sheriff has confirmed that the crew did not have permission to be on the tracks:


The AJC update also links to this story:
Los Angeles Times: Sarah Jones' death calls attention to film crews' safety (March 21, 2014)

Here is a short, fair-use quote from the LA Time's article:

The Associated Press published an update: Death of Ga. film worker 'senseless,' father says (April 10, 2014). A short excerpt:


Production of the movie is being restarted according to this update from IATSE Local 479

Some updates:

April 14, Wayne County, Georgia Sheriff John Carter said his investigation was complete and that his office will lay out the case to the district attorney in a meeting scheduled for April 21: Variety: ‘Midnight Rider’ Investigation: Sheriff Will Leave Question of Criminal Charges to D.A

April 23. William Hurt has pulled out of his starring role in “Midnight Rider,” in which he was set to play musician Gregg Allman: Variety: ‘Midnight Rider’ Star Pulls Out of Movie After Fatal Accident

April 25. Midnight Rider subject Gregg Allman has implored director Randall Miller to stop production following the death of camera assistant Sarah Jones: UPI - Gregg Allman implores 'Midnight Rider' director Randall Miller to stop production

April 25, Drop Dead Diva executive producer Robert J. Wilson, whose show Jones worked on, is helping organize a Georgia concert featuring music from Collective Soul and Shane Dwight: The Hollywood Reporter: Concert Benefiting Sarah Jones Scholarship to Take Place in May

From the article:

“Carter said that one of the reasons that they are not pursuing their own criminal charges is the unusual nature of the incident, including “conflicting stories” of whether the production had permission to be on the tracks.”

Conflicting stories? One story is that CSX had not given permission to the film crew to be on the tracks. What is the story that conflicts with that? I have yet to hear one.

And why are we not being told the whole story about the so-called “conflicting stories.”

standard procedure for a pending lawsuit, nobody wants to lay all their cards on the table.
Looks like this movie is done. there's a flip side to each way to look at this; it's sad that this movie will never be made now, especially if you consider the death was totally for nothing without even then finished film to show for it, and there's the thought that no movie is worth any life lost...