Engineer Tries to Crash Train Into Hospital Ship

| April 2, 2020


USNS Mercy

A Port of Los Angles locomotive engineer has admitted trying to crash a train into a hospital ship, federal prosecutors say. According to a court affidavit, 44-year-old Eduardo Moreno told investigators that he intentionally derailed the train at full speed on Tuesday because he thought the USNS Mercy might be there as part of a government takeover, not to help with the coronavirus crisis, ABC reports. He said he wanted to “wake people up” and knew the crash would attract media attention.

HMCS(FMF) ret sends.

IVAN PEREIRA

Investigators arrested a California train engineer Tuesday after he allegedly derailed a train in a bid to crash into the USNS Mercy, the hospital ship treating non-COVID-19 patients at the Port of Los Angeles to lessen the burden on area hospitals, prosecutors said.

Eduardo Moreno, 44, was expected to appear in court Wednesday for arraignment on train wrecking charges.

Around 1 p.m. Tuesday, Moreno allegedly ran the train at full speed off the end of the tracks near the Navy medical boat, smashing through several concrete and chain barriers, before sliding through a parking lot nearly 250 yards from the Mercy, according to the criminal complaint.

No one was injured and the boat wasn’t damaged, however, the train leaked a substantial amount of fuel, the complaint said.

Meltdowns are everywhere. Read the rest of the article here: Yahoo.com

Thanks, Senior.

Category: "Teh Stoopid", COVID-19, Guest Link, Navy

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Comm Center Rat

“Just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they aren’t after you.” ~ Joseph Heller

Another low altitude formation of 6 black helicopters of unknown variant and without visible markings just flew over my compound.

Hack Stone

Not his fault. With everyone buying up all of the essential supplies, Costco has run out of industrial rolls of aluminum foil.

Hack Stone

Hondo

AW1Ed, there’s a problem with the article’s title.

Dumbass is not spelled “engineer”.

5th/77th FA

And y’all think I’m a crazy gubmint conspiracy nut? That boy’s cornbread ain’t baked all the way thru the middle.

Saw this last night on Senior’s linky comment. Comment count is way up on the Yahoo article. Laffed then, laffing even more now. Sheldon Cooper is in mourning for the injured train.

5th/77th FA

Correction, it was 11B-mailclerk’s linky/comment that I read the train article. Senior’s was on the Communist Originated Virus Infecting Disease of 2019. Mea culpa! I read every comment and click on every linky here. Sometimes my short term memory banks “short” out and I’ll get them confused with who posted what, where.

Sapper3307

Just imagine the possible charges , Utilizing a WMD to attacks a non combative hospital ship, Grand theft train?

Hondo

One article I’ve read said he’ll likely be charged with the Federal crime of “train wrecking” (18 USC 1992). Intentionally doing so is a Federal felony, and carries a maximum sentence of 20 years (no fatalities) or life (fatality or involving a train carrying high-level nuclear waste).

https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=granuleid:USC-2000-title18-section1992&num=0&edition=2000

Mason

We got a crime for everything. TIL that “train wrecking” is one of those crimes.

rgr1480

TIL that TIL stands for “Today I Learned.”

Had to look it up ….

Sheesh, in the old days it was easy to keep up with FIGMO, FTA, SNAFU, SOP, etc. Now I have to learn a whole new set of acronyms related to SMC (social media communications … I just made that up … I think).

rgr769

What I want to know is did he pass a background check and a ten day waiting period before he was entrusted with lethal instrument on rails.

Green Thumb

I have seen some train wrecks in my day. But never train wrecking.

Kinda like wrecking a home versus home wrecking.

Combat Historian

I spent a day aboard USNS MERCY back in 2008 when a group of us PACOM staff officers were given an orientation briefing and tour of the ship while she was docked at Pearl Harbor while returning from a humanitarian op in westpac. Met some of the USN med personnel stationed onboard as well as the civilian mariners who sailed the vessel. Great equipment and capabilities onboard, and much needed now…

HMCS(FMF) ret

I watched Mercy and Comfort when they were at NASSCO being converted from oil tankers to hospital ships – could see it from the back deck area of the Naval School of Health Sciences (on the Naval Hospital San Diego compound). Many at the time thought they would be “great white whales” and never be used.

Hack Stone

His entire life has been one giant train wreck. Hack is disappointed that he did not light a trash receptacle on fire as a distraction so that we could work “dumpster fire” into the conversation.

26Limabeans

Train engineer?
How bout nuclear engineer at a power station.
Consider this. The normal nuke plant output is
about 4200 MW for Iso New England until
yesterday when it suddenly went down to 848 MW
Your average reactor is abou 900 MW.
So four reactors went off line yesterday.
Iso New England is now mostly Natural Gas.
Nothing in the news about it.
Nothing to see or be concerned about.

I am a retired electrical engineer.
I don’t wear a tin foil hat but I am not at all
surprised that those who do are coming unglued.
And you don’t shut down a nuke plant instantly.

rgr1480

…How bout nuclear engineer at a power station….

We know what goes on inside a nuclear power facility …..

NHSparky

Neesflash: Seabrook started a regularly scheduled refueling outage yesterday.

Paranoia not required.

26Limabeans

Yeah, I saw that. 1298 MW.
Millstone is due this month also.
Still cant find the rest of the power lost.
Amazing to see NG take up the load instantly
along with hydro.
Power is super cheap right now.

A Proud Infidel®™

Nuclear Power is as emissions-free as you can get, ditto with Hydroelectric, but the greenie-weenie-do-gooder dumpster babies want to do away with both!

26Limbeans

Hydro is able to ramp up or down instantly.
Just open or close the flood gates.
The water is just a hydraulic link in the
total machine. The fuel is gravity.
Elegance in engineering.

penguinman000

Speaking as a former/retired Corpsman. While the actual ship is run by MSC folks, medical and nursing officers run everything else.

If that guys thinks you can trust a bunch of doctors and nurses to run a conspiracy or attempt a take over of anything not directly involved with treating patients, he’s grossly overestimating their capabilities.

During the unfortunate times I was forced to take orders to a hospital or clinic I would nearly have an anger aneurysm on the rare occasions we would have formations. Bunch of over-educated self absorbed narcissists can’t manage to stand in a straight line and keep their mouths shut for 15 minutes.

FuzeVT

Ok, so here’s my pitch – There’s this guy, ya see, who is really paranoid. And he lives in LA, but there’s been this really big viral infection and everyone is staying in their houses. So like, the government sends a hospital ship to his city but he thinks its a conspiracy. So he’s an engineer, right? Well he gets in his train in an attempt to RAM THE SHIP he thinks is a government conspiracy to take over. Well?! What do you think?

FuzeVT

Um, thanks for shoving your script underneath the bathroom stall, but I’m sure I’m not interested. . . .

timactual

You sure? Have you checked your toilet paper dispenser?

Charles

That’s the difference between truth and fiction …

… fiction has to be believable.

FuzeVT

Well, you certainly wouldn’t have believed our current situation (even without attempted boat rammings with trains) if we weren’t living through it. I’m sure the future grand kids won’t believe it when ol’ grampy is describing the crazy happenings of the China Virus in aught-20.

A Proud Infidel®™️

What a damned nutcase of a liquor store dumpster baby, I wonder which M’litia he belongs to and I also wonder if he wasn’t wearing a tinfoil helmet when he did that? It’ll cost some money to clean that mess up, the locomotive looks like an EMD GP40, a 3000 HP engine that weighs about 150 tons and has about a 3000 gallon fuel tank!

Fyrfighter

I’m guessing antifa.. probably knows lars… just saying

Combat Historian

If I have to guess, I would say something like a “resistance” group fighting the occupation of Aztlan. These Chicano separatist radicals are still around, just not on anyone’s current radar screen…

Slow Joe

Aztlan?

Are they planning to reinstitute daily human sacrifices to bring the sun up every morning?

HMCS(FMF) ret

Google “La Raza”…

JacktheJarhead

That crap is still around?! I thought that died out years ago. Aztlan! What a bunch of morons!

HMCS(FMF) ret

Jeff LPH 3, 63-66

Looks like he got started off on the wrong track Tuesday. He is the only one to blame and he cannot claim that he was railroaded into doing this. At least his train of thoughts kept him on track and he didn’t derail in a spot that would have injured people. I’ll keep track of the situation and watch for further developments. At least I stayed on track and on topic.

lmn0351

****rimshot****really Jeff

A Proud Infidel®™️

*BA-DUM* – *TSSSSSSHH!*

Skyjumper

Jeff LPH 3, 63-66, did he “engineer” this plan while he was “track”ing down the “rails” or did he just pull this out of his “caboose” when he saw the ship?

There must have been some kind of “signal” to his intentions prior to “railroading” the train towards the ship with a “full head of steam”.

So his “loco”-“motive” was to wake people up to a government takeover?

(Man, this is hard work. With you, it seems to be a gift) (smile)

Jeff LPH 3, 63-66

Skyjumper: Great job, and it looks like you and I are on the right track on this post.

Poetrooper

Attaboy, Jeff–you just keep chuggin’ along, you hear, boy?

Roh-Dog

Keep this up you’ll get coal in your stocking. Your puns have me steaming to the point I’m sweating so hard all I smell is my B&O.
Some brakeman should spike this tread before the whole thing boils over.
Toot toot bitchez!

A Proud Infidel®™️

C&O whatcha done started? What’s UP next? Before you know it no one will be able to CSX through all that NS!

Roh-Dog

You Sir, are my better!
-doffs hat in salute-

SFC D

Gone off the rails on the crazy train.

Roh-Dog

Train keep a’rollin’ all night long, until naw

5th/77th FA

What about this one?

Mick

How about a link to Johnny Cash singing “Wabash Cannonball”?

Maybe that’s what ol’ Eduardo was listening to while he was making his run towards the ship, thinking that he was gonna be the “Moreno Cannonball”.

5th/77th FA

Just for you Mick!

Mick

KA-BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!

Shack!

Thanks KoB!

Dennis - not chevy

I prefer these lyrics:

Listen to the rumble, and hear old Merlin roar
I’m flying over Moji, like I never flew before
Hear the mighty rush of the slipstream, and hear old Merlin moan,
I’II wait a bit and say a prayer and hope it gets me home.
Itazuke tower, this is Air Force 801
I’m turning on the downwind leg, my prop has overrun
My coolant’s overheated, the gauge says 1-2-1
You’d better call the crash crew, and get them on the run.
Air Force 801, this is Itazuke tower
I cannot call the crash crew, this is their coffee hour
You’re not cleared in the pattern, that is plain to see
So take it on around again, we have some VIP.
Itazuke tower, this is Air Force 801
I’m turning on the downwind leg, I see your biscuit gun
My engine’s runnin’ ragged, and the coolant’s gonna blow
I’m gonna prang a Mustang, so look out down below.
Itazuke tower, this is Air Force 801
I’m turning on the final, and running on one lung
I’m gonna land this Mustang, no matter what you say
I’ve gotta get my charts fixed up before that Judgment Day,
Air Force 801, this is Judgment Day
You’re in Pilot’s Heaven, and you are here to stay
You just bought a Mustang, and you bought it well
The famous Air Force 801 was sent straight down to Hell.

26Limabeans
5th/77th FA

Roll another one!

JacktheJarhead

There you go!!!!! Old school!

Thunderstixx

*****rimshot******Zildjian*****A*******cymbal*****crash******

ArmyATC

It would appear his train of thought was derailed when his boiler exploded due to overpressure when the relief valve failed. Maybe if he’d just coupled to another car this would have all been avoided.

David

Had I not seen this elsewhere I would have thought it the annual April Fool’s column.

Steve 1371

He was coming down the mountain doing 90 miles an hour
When the whistle broke into a scream!
Well they found him in the grass with his hand on the throttle
he was scalded to death by the steam.

SFC D

She was coming down the mountain, doing 90 miles an hour
When the chain on her moped broke;

Well they found her in the grass…

Steve 1371

with the sprocket up her azz
and left tit punctured by the spoke

Huey Jock

Or “the handle bars rammed down her throat”.

Don’t matter. Ole John made a great recording of that one.

Old 97 was actually a mail train and the wreck was because the air pressure in the breaking system hadn’t built up enough to slow the train for the grade.

Look it up. It’s a great story that made a great song. Wish we could all sing it along.

Claw

Wreck of the Old 97.

Available on YouTube by many artists (Hint, Hint)

Mick

“Last Train to Clarksville”

— The Monkees

5th/77th FA

And another one, just for you! Oh btw Mick, You need a linky to that all time favorite Train Wreck of a Movie about a certain Top G Naval Aviator? No extry charge! *leer*

Mick

No thanks; that “Train Wreck of a Movie” shows up around here enough as it is.

However, thanks for The Monkees!

5th/77th FA

Here ya go Claw!

Claw

Thanx!!

Steve 1371

I like Box Car Willie’s version better.
Now, that’s a nice train!

rgr1480

Okay:

Steve 1371

Outstanding!

26Limabeans

How bout Roger Miller?

https://youtu.be/wFjYrLxUiXo

Cobrakai99

The best part is the track stops way short of the ward, parallel to the ship. There is no way he could have hit the ship that involves the rules of physics.

Roh-Dog

^this! Friction is a bitch and trains aren’t good ATVs. You’d figure “an Engineer” would understand this, unless his cheese slid off his cracker…

OldSoldier54

That’s my take. There is no way he was even scratching the paint.

IDIOT.

rgr1480

Physics? !! Pah .. I laugh at physics. Perhaps “The Silver Streak” was his favorite movie?

Hello Chicago, hello! Gotta drink to that. yeahhh

Hack Stone

Hondo

Since we’re talking LA, I’m kinda wondering if this one might be apropos. (smile)

Sparks

I was just waiting for this!

Hondo

Sorry, amigo – unless I somehow get recalled to active duty, my days of taking “whiz quizzes” ended some time back. Tell the UCPO not to wait up for me. (smile)

Roh-Dog

Did he attempt to get up to 88 miles per hour like Doc instructed?
“Where I’m going I don’t need tracks”

Roh-Dog

Submitted for your approval: I Hear My Train A’comin’, Jimi
https://youtu.be/EX5phFmbrU8

5th/77th FA

Don’t get sidetracked!

Comm Center Rat

“Train, train, Lord, take me on out of this town”

~ Blackfoot

SFC D

OK, so the USS Torsk torpedoed a train, and ballsy folks from the USS Barb blew one up, BUT… has there ever been a ship sunk by a train?

26Limabeans

It my understanding a canoe passed by just
before this tragic wreck.

Anonymous

Usually by partisans, I’ve heard…

Martinjmpr

He had a plan but it went off the rails, and now it’s just a train wreck.

Funniest part of that is that it’s NOT a metaphor!

Commissar

“The world is watching.”

Is a Q anon tag line.

Awfully close to “The whole world is watching”.

And this kind of crazy conspiracy theorist has Q cultist written all over him

David

Ermigawd, he didn’t say “Orange Man Bad” once! Close with Q-Anon, but somehow he avoided it. Somehow, this defied all possibilities and isn’t (He Who Must Be Named for Everything)’s fault!

Comm Center Rat

“It’s hard to stop a Trane.”

26Limabeans

“Train of Fools”

John Fogerty

26Limabeans

Somebody gotta clean up the wreck

Anonymous

Mo’fo went full retard. Like trying hijack a bus to Cuba.

HMCS(FMF) ret

Where he’s headed, he won’t be driving a train… he’ll be pulling it.

sj

Well, I’m confused. In 1968 I went on a Naval hospital ship off of Hue. I thought it was the Comfort but now I can’t find any ref that my memory is correct.

And, no, I wasn’t wounded. I was with the 3/82nd (ABN)(SEP) in beauiful Phu Bai and had to have a hearing and eye test. My bud, the Aviation Det CO heard this and said he always wanted to do a carrier landing and this would probably be his only chance so off we went since the war was quiet. He thought it was off Hue but it was near the DMZ so after two hours of a turbine and staring at an ocean I couldn’t hear or see shit. I got a pencil whip pass.

Claw

sj, the ship was probably the USS Repose (AH-16). She was on active duty during our time there in Viet of the Nam.

sj

Y E S !!!! You’re right! I could have been marked as a phony had I had claimed Comfort. Tnx!

Claw

You’re Welcome. According to her Wiki entry, she was a three war veteran before being scrapped out as too long in the tooth.

Anonymous

Either USS Repose (AH-16) or USS Sanctuary (AH-17) as both were there then. Probably the Sanctuary as it was off the I Corps tactical area moving around, while the Repose was at Da Nang proper.

SJ

Well, now I don’t know. If I ever tell this story again (doubtful) I’ll just say Hospital Ship. I know the helo crew was excited about the venture.

Claw

Yep, you’re probably right. After reading the Wiki on the Sanctuary and her rotating schedule, more than likely it was her versus the Repose.

Thank You.

Fjardeson

API, what a waste of a nice locomotive. 🙁

A Proud Infidel®™️

Likely not totaled, but it will need some serious time in the shops before returning to service, it looks like the front plate was bent to hell and we’re talking about 1” steel plate! It’ll likely need a new fuel tank and the traction motors will probably need to be replaced. As long as the frame isn’t bent and it wasn’t in a fire, a good Shop Crew can work wonders!

Steve1371

I knew a driver that was sent to a farm he had not been to b-4 to pick up what milk he could. It was the spring flush when cows really produce. He only had room left for a couple thousand pounds but he went. There were two ways in there both over the tracks. One was steep and the other level but he didn’t know that. He headed up over the steep crossing and he said all he could see was a big brite light. He kept it floored and the train broke that milk tanker in two. My cousin saw it happen and she said it looked like a geyser . CB handle was Barn Yard Special.

Dennis - not chevy

I’m trying to remember the joke Flip Wilson (another USAF veteran) told about the guy taking a test to get a job with a train company. He was shown some signs and asked what they meant and what he would do. He was shown a sign and said that meant a train was coming from the south and he would stop any south bound trains until the oncoming train passed. He was shown another sign and said it meant a train was coming from the north and he would stop any north bound trains until that train had passed. He was shown a third sign that showed a north bound and a south bound train were both on the same track, he said would go home and get his brother. When asked why he’d do that, the man replied, “Because my brother has never seen a train wreck.”

AZRobert

with all the good rock n roll and nobody mentions Grand Funk Railroad…..

Strange days indeed as Mr Lennon once said

Roh-Dog

Or Midnight Train to Georgia…
Next time some idiot tries to hit a ship with a train someone should dust this thread off

Mick

C-47 Skytrain

Gravy Train

Night Train Express

Wagon Train

Soul Train

Berliner

Speaking of trains, Eduardo is going to be pulling a different kind of train in lockup. Bubba will be the conductor and Tiny will be selling tickets to the masses. All aboard! Woo Woo!

Carlton G Long

My guess is that he was operating the train drunk, and has concocted this tale in an effort to escape accountability for that action.

NHSparky

I hear Gitmo is nice this time of year.

CCO

My train of thought jumped to this ditty, by the Kinks:

A Proud Infidel®™

WAS the train hijacked like Thomas sans dynamite?

Pointyhead

When he gets to prison, he’ll be pulling a train aright, just not what he thinks it will be!

Ret_25X

I expect to see this “engineer’s” story on r/TIFU next week…

what a maroon!