Friends, family mourn conductor killed in derailment
GLENDALE, Calif. (AP) – Hundreds of people gathered Monday for a memorial for a conductor killed in a train wreck last week, with a child’s simple remembrance bringing tears to the eyes of the veteran trainmen who packed the church. “I’m sad you are dead because the guy parked on the tracks,” Thomas Ormiston’s young grandson wrote in a letter read during the service. “I love you Papa Tom.”
Thomas Ormiston, 58, was one of 11 people who died Wednesday in a commuter train derailment that prosecutors said was triggered by a suicidal man who parked his SUV on the tracks. The 13-year Metrolink veteran left behind a wife, two adult daughters and six grandchildren.
Friends and family remembered him as an easygoing man who loved to collect just about anything – knives, cars, watches, antiques and bluegrass instruments – and was never happier than when he was fishing or riding the rails.
Mourners, most of them fellow trainmen and Metrolink employees, wore black ribbons decorated with stickers of Ormiston’s favorite cowboy boots or the logo of his favorite cigar brand, Punch Imported. Conductors consoled each other as a bluegrass band played hymns and railroad-themed tunes.
“There may be more profound words, but I think our passengers said it perfectly: ‘Tommy was our friend and we’re going to miss him,”‘ said David Solow, CEO of Metrolink.