| This area, at the end of Jordan St. just west of downtown Shreveport, is regularly used by persons to cross the three track KCS line. The unofficial crossing is between a bus stop and the Louisiana State Office Building, and traffic going between the two places generates a lot of the foot traffic. On this day, a series of bad coincidences almost led to tragedy but for the quick action of the engineer. KCS 3151's freight was stopped where it is in this picture. The UP train was moving up the grade. Two couples got off the bus and started to cross. The first couple, unencumbered by a child, had already cleared the tracks. The first couple had also rushed to cross, apparently believing KCS 3151 was about to start. When the second couple (in the pic) saw the first couple speed up, they started to hurriedly cross in front of the KCS train - not knowing that a moving UP freight was concealed by the KCS train. The quick thinking KCS engineer stepped in front of the second couple right before I took this pic and calmly and quietly stopped them. Had he not intervened, the couple and their child would have been struck. |