Saturday was an eventful day. Amtrak 19 was delayed several hours at Ray yard due to a fatal car accident at the north end of Chamblee yard in Doraville. A car with three occupants was driving at excessive speed and failed to make the sharp 90 degree turn at the railroad tracks and leapt Dukes of Hazard style through the air landing upside down in a ditch right in front of either P51 or 154. Fortunately the train was not moving fast and the engineer was able to render assistance, though two of the passengers died on the scene. The area was blocked off for several hours while an investigation took place. First we start at Ray where we find the Amtrak train sitting idle. Then we move over to the accident site and see the NS train stopped and numerous emergency vehicles on scene including the coroner. Then once the track is clear we catch Amtrak finally heading south into Atlanta. Then we see some construction equipment moved in to retrieve the wrecked vehicle, not sure how they're going to get over there without damaging the tracks. While I was there I talked to the camera crew at WSB which is where I got the accident details.
Then down in Atlanta we see the usual Saturday morning traffic. First a pair of NS engines pull up to make a turn on the wye as a westbound NS rack train passes, it's a short one. Then we see a CSX freight pull out of the yard, then back up to pick up or drop off more cars. Then we see a southbound NS rack train with a bit of freight tacked on the rear. Then we see an NS stack train working the east end of Inman yard before heading up the Greenville line. And while swapping out batteries I got a visit from the Atlanta Drone Police. Didn't know they had such a thing. They asked me what I was doing. Why I was doing it. Why I liked shooting videos of trains. And a bunch of other mostly oddball questions. I showed them my FAA license, explained what I was doing as best I could. Explained that I have been coming there for years, never had any problems with any of the people who work there, never been asked to leave by the people who work there, and was basically made to feel like I was a criminal up to no good. Why do I sit behind the lounge next to the liquor store to shoot train videos? So I won't be bothered by noise from patrons of the liquor store, and so I won't be bothered by local law enforcement. But it doesn't really matter where you go as they will hunt you down and harass you no matter what you do. I have never once in all my years had trouble with locals, not even the homeless. The only harassment I ever get is from law enforcement. You can see them leaving Bim's liquor store parking lot while I was shooting the next train. And finally we see the CSX train pull out one more time before stopping.