(Lincoln, Illinois – March 28, 2014)
A 58-year-old local resident was killed Friday evening at about 6:45 P.M. when he was struck from behind by Amtrak’s southbound “Texas Eagle” passenger train as he walked near Union Pacific Railroad tracks just north of the Lincoln, IL railroad depot in the 600 block of North Sangamon Street.
Thomas Pegram was first thought to have been one of two men walking south along the UPRR’s unfenced trackage through the heart of Lincoln, but no second person was ever identified.
Amtrak spokesman Steve Kulm said there were 121 passengers aboard the San Antonio, TX-destined train, but then referred further questions to the Lincoln Police Dept. and Logan County Coroner’s Office, saying “We are assisting with the local investigators, but we are not the lead.”
Lincoln PD Corporal Miles Craig would only say that “There was a death, and it is currently under investigation.”
The train was already running over two hours late, having been originally scheduled to stop at Lincoln at 5:37 P.M., and Kulm confirmed that the tragedy added another hour and 55 minutes of delay to the train, but gave no reason for the train’s earlier delay between Chicago and Lincoln.