Oregon Public Broadcasting

A county employee died Thursday morning when a train struck a road grader on Canal Road south of Hermiston.

Stanley James McCall, 63, had spread gravel on the north side of the railroad crossing when the train struck the grader, according to Umatilla County Undersheriff Terry Rowan.

Rowan said the train operator saw McCall bend down near the tracks. The operator blew the whistle and applied the brakes, Rowan said, but he didn’t know if McCall saw the train.

The train dragged the grader about 100 feet east before it stopped. Emergency responders found McCall dead underneath the grader when they arrived at around 11:30 a.m.

McCall is survived by his wife, Peggy. Rowan said McCall had two daughters living in Idaho.

The sheriff’s office and Union Pacific are investigating the collision, which Rowan said appeared to be an accident.  

 Rowan said he has seen train-versus-vehicle accidents at that intersection before, but not one in which somebody died. Motorists cannot  see trains coming from the west until they emerge around a nearby curve. The crossing is uncontrolled, meaning it does not have traffic control arms.

Rowan said the railroad crossing at Edwards Road, about a mile east of Canal Road, had similar issues before Union Pacific placed traffic control arms there.

Umatilla County Human Resources Director Connie Caplinger said McCall has worked for the county since Nov. 1, 2005. Because he died on the job, the county’s insurer will pay out a $25,000 death benefit to his beneficiary.

Caplinger also said he and his wife had been long-time members of the Hermiston community.

This story originally appeared in East Oregonian.