“You’ve got to slow down slowly otherwise you’re going to have a lot of in train forces and you can jack-knife the train,” he said.

“[On] a 25 mph curve… if we have to take that curve at, let’s say, 30 mph … even at 30 mph it will roll the train over.”

Modoc’s president David Rangel believes the job is so demanding that there should always be more than just one engineer driving the train.

“We’re just tired and that’s what they’re not saying,” he said. “These guys are exhausted, they’re overworked, and the job is just too much for one guy.”