And as awful as Elias' tragedy was, it wasn't uncommon, even among railway workers. I have a great-granduncle from PJ who worked for the Erie in NJ. He was coupling cars together when he was crushed between two of them at age 22. Brakemen were especially vulnerable. They used to jump from the top of one car to another to manually set brakes on each one while the train was moving - and they did it in the dark, rain, wind, ice storms, etc. Many fell to their deaths under the train wheels. Another group with many fatalities were track-walkers. These employees would walk the tracks in their assigned sections to check on conditions...in the dark with only a small flickering lantern. They were struck by trains when they were caught unawares and were unseen by the engineers. Railroading was a rugged job all the way around, whether the employee scouted routes, leveled grades with shovels, built trestles over gorges, worked as a brakeman, or simply happened to ride a train during a bad derailment.