Conductor killed in Colorado train-big rig collision

The trucker driver suffered only minor injuries in the collision with the Union Pacific train. (The Trucker file photo)

The Associated Press

12/4/2008

DENVER — A Union Pacific Railroad conductor is dead after a slow-moving train collided with a tractor-trailer at an unlit intersection in Adams County.

The Colorado Highway Patrol says the truck was westbound on 66th Avenue when it struck the locomotive at about 7 p.m. Wednesday. The truck rolled onto its passenger side, while the train remained upright and on the rails.

Authorities say the train consisted of an engine and three cars and was moving about 5 mph. The truck's speed is under investigation.

The patrol says the conductor, a 33-year-old Denver-area man whose name wasn't released, was on the rear of the third rail car when the crash occurred. He died at the scene.

The patrol says the truck's driver, 47-year-old Wendell Cox of Bedford Heights, Ohio, was transported to a Thornton hospital with "minor to moderate" injuries.

Neither the train nor the truck appeared to be carrying a load.