For original article of this news item search for "TrainWeb" in the archive section of OC Register Website.
The
Orange County Register
Story appeared in
NEWS section
on
page a20
ID: 1154753
Illustration:
Edition: MORNING
Correction: | Train
buffs' Web site is first to post photos of wreck
TECHNOLOGY: One of the site's owners tags along with investigators
and gets shots far more dramatic than usual.
November
19, 1999
Byline: CHRIS FARNSWORTH
The Orange County Register
Most days,
Steve Grande and Ray Burns take sedate pictures of trains as they pass
through the Fullerton train station and post them on TrainWeb,
their Web site for railroad buffs.
But Wednesday, TrainWeb
became Crash Central as the pair posted the first up-close photos of the
wreck between a MetroLink commuter and a Burlington Northern Santa Fe
Freight train.
Burns was one of the first people on the scene after emergency
personnel. He tagged along behind representatives from United Parcel
Service, which had cargo aboard the freight train.
"The sheriff's deputies thought I was with the guys from UPS,"
Burns said with a grin. "I ducked under the tape with them."
About an hour after Burns snapped his shots with a digital camera,
Grande put them up on the Web site, www.trainweb.com.
Grande started setting up a page with preliminary reports on the
wreck at 8:25 a.m. - about 10 minutes after the collision.
Burns also added his report from the scene, describing what he saw.
Updates were added through the day with all details, no matter how small.
TrainWeb reported when bus service was available from Amtrak.
That kind of train trivia is TrainWeb's hallmark.
Grande and Burns first worked together by starting an Internet
service provider. But heavy competition in that market convinced them to
try something else.
"We decided, let's do something we really enjoy," said Burns.
"And we both love trains."
In 1997, the pair started TrainWeb, which is based in a
second-floor office at the Fullerton station. The site has had about 4
million hits.
And the Web site's numbers went up by about 1,000 Wednesday - or
about a hundred an hour - as people clicked onto TrainWeb to see
the wreck close up.
"I don't like those sorts of things to happen, but we just happened
to be in the right place at the right time," Burns said.
"The world is watching this, right now," Burns said.
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