Final Update (unless I find more news) - RonO's Ramblings

After my last posting, we ended up sitting for another ten or so minutes, before the driver was informed that he needed to take us back to the Oceanside Transit Center (where we started, by then an hour before). We eventually returned (but only after the driver had to walk back to the eastbound control cab and release a brake he'd forgotten about -- probably the emergency brake that the first driver had used to stop the train.

After we returned to the station, we waited another 5 or so minutes for a different train. Once it got there, it was about half full and almost nobody got off -- which I'm still trying to figure out. We crowded on, along with the people expecting the 2 or 3 trains that should have left in between ours and the one that finally left.

Both times by, I got a bit of a look at the scene. The police had the road blocked off on both sides of the tracks -- and there are several there between the Sprinter's dedicated line, and the two or three shared by the Coaster, the Surfliner, the Metrolink trains (although they never actually go south from Oceanside) and the freight trains. On the east side of the tracks as we were coming by on the way out, I did see the bicycle and a tarp that may have covered the body. Other people on the train thought that they saw shoes, and even a face, and concluded that it was probably not an adult. When all is said and done, especially this week, I really hope that they are mistaken.

Once we got past the first stop (we were about halfway there when the accident occurred, they are really close together) the train operated at normal speed at least until my stop. At my stop, I was feeling that I should be extra careful when crossing the tracks (and I always wait for the warning signal to stop ringing and look both ways before crossing the tracks).

This was definitely not how I'd envisioned spending the evening. Instead of spending time with my family, I got home after robot_grrl and Derrick were in bed, and Tara's parents were nearly ready for bed -- a situation not helped by my father-in-law falling down in the back yard trying to get the dog to come back in.

FWIW, there is a very short AP report (here). It doesn't give much more information that what I'd gathered myself. I'll probably check tomorrow and see if I can find any more detail.