Dump-truck driver killed in Glenvar train collision identified by police: Officials of his company said Bruce Carroll Eller of Roanoke drove across the crossing almost daily.

Nov 20, 2008 (The Roanoke Times - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- NSC | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating -- Roanoke County police on Wednesday identified the man who was killed when the dump truck he was driving was hit by a train.

Bruce Carroll Eller, 55, of Roanoke died Tuesday at the scene of the crash on Garman Road in the Glenvar area of the county, said Officer Billy Smith.

Eller was working for King's Hauling and Excavating of Salem and was on his way to unload concrete at a dump site behind the tracks, said John King, who owns the company.

Eller drove over the railroad crossing, which is on a private road, almost daily, King said.

He believes Eller was blinded by the glare of the sun, and he said that several of his employees who were at the dump site didn't hear the train engineer blow the horn.

Norfolk Southern Corp. spokesman Robin Chapman said the engineer did sound the horn.

Chapman said Wednesday that another truck had crossed the tracks just before Eller's truck was hit about 1:15 p.m. The engineer started blowing the horn when he saw the first truck crossing and didn't stop until the impact with the second truck, Chapman said. The engineer also applied the emergency brakes.

Eller was ejected from the truck, which caught fire.

Police are investigating how fast the train was traveling. The speed limit for trains in that area is 40 mph.

The crossing is marked with two signs, a stop sign and a railroad crossing sign. But railroad crossings on private roads are largely unregulated.

There are no federal regulations that require warning signals or signs at private crossings, said Warren Flatau, spokesman for the Federal Railroad Administration.

The state requires railroad crossing signs to be posted at all private crossings, said John Sherrill, manager of the Division of Utility and Railroad Safety, a division of the State Corporation Commission. Norfolk Southern also has posted stop signs at all its private crossings, he said.

The railroad safety division also has the authority to inspect private crossings at the request of the locality where the crossing is located. The inspectors determine if horn blowing should be required at the crossing.

The Garman Road crossing has never been inspected, Sherrill said.

The last collision at the crossing was in 1983, according to data from the Federal Railroad Administration. No one was injured. In 1981, two people were injured when a train hit a vehicle on the crossing.

Eller's girlfriend of 12 years, Odessa King, who is no relation to John King, said that he died doing what he enjoyed -- driving a truck.

Before working at King's Hauling and Excavating, Eller drove tractor-trailers cross-country, she said.

Wednesday, John King and his staff paused for a moment of silence at their daily safety meeting.

"It was pretty somber," he said.

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