Funeral is Tuesday for Liberty University student who died on trestle

The funeral for the Liberty University student killed Thursday night by a train on the Riverside Park trestle will be held Tuesday in her hometown of Sanford, N.C.

Hannah Emmaline Williams, 18, a freshman at Liberty, was with four friends from the university who together had decided to look at the stars from the bridge over the James River. The train caught them unaware.

Williams was struck by the train and died at the scene. Julianne Ashbaugh, 18, of Temple, Ga., remains in critical but stable condition at Lynchburg General Hospital. The other three students, all freshman, received minor injuries.

According to her obituary, a 3 p.m. funeral at Grace Chapel in Sanford will follow with a burial in the church’s cemetery.

The family will receive friends the night before, from 6 to 8 p.m. at the church.

According to her obituary on the Bridges-Cameron Funeral Home website, Williams is survived by her parents, three brothers, three sisters and two grandparents.

She was studying government and journalism at Liberty.

Williams graduated with honors at Grace Christian School in Sanford, where she performed in many plays and was president of the student body in her senior year.

LU Chancellor Jerry Falwell Jr. has said he plans to attend the service for Williams.

The five LU freshmen had parked their car on the Madison Heights side of the river Thursday night, and walked onto the bridge where it crosses River Road. As they were about 130 feet across, a Norfolk Southern train coming from Lynchburg began crossing at 35 miles per hour at about 10:45 p.m. The students only had seconds to react, officials estimated.

Ashbaugh fell 90 to 100 feet to the riverbank below the trestle. The other three students – Patrick Marshall, 18, of Yorktown; Javier David Duque, 19, of Arlington, Texas; and Kaitlyn Hermening, 18, of Mosinee, Wis. – survived. Two of them jumped to a nearby piling and another hung below the tracks to escape the train.

The trestle spans approximately 1,800 feet across the James River and is about 200 feet above the water at its highest point. About 15 trains cross it each day.

Williams' death was the latest of several that have occurred on the trestle through the years; at least nine people have been struck by a train and killed while on the span.

The Williams family is asking in lieu of flowers for contributions to be made to the Hannah Williams Scholarship Fund, P.O. Box 4713, Sanford, N.C. 27331.

Earlier:

With just one day of classes before the Thanksgiving break, five Liberty University freshmen left campus Thursday night to stargaze from the Riverside Park railroad trestle spanning the James River between Lynchburg and Madison Heights.

The students parked their car along River Road in Madison Heights and walked across the weathered wooden slats toward the middle of the bridge, where the James River flows about 200 feet below.

At 10:45 p.m., they were about 130 feet across when a Norfolk Southern train travelling from Lynchburg emerged from the darkness.

The train was travelling approximately 35 mile per hour when the crew saw people on the bridge. The engineer blew the horn and applied emergency brakes in an effort to stop the 2,952 ton train, a Norfolk Southern spokesman said.

It was too late. The students had seconds to react, and an 80 to 100 foot drop to the river bank on either side, officials estimated.

Hannah Emmaline Williams, of Sanford, N.C., was struck by the train and died on the scene.

Julianne Ashbaugh, 18, of Temple Ga., jumped from the tracks and fell 90 to 100 feet to the river bank below. She is being treated for critical injuries at Lynchburg General Hospital.

Three more students — Patrick Marshall, 18, of Yorktown; Javier David Duque, 19, of Arlington, Texas; and Kaitlyn Hermening, 18, of Mosinee, Wis. — survived with minor injuries. Two jumped to a nearby piling to escape the train, and another hung below the tracks by his arms, said Amherst County sheriff’s Lt. Greg Turner.

By morning, the news spread across campus. At 10 a.m., thousands of Liberty University students gathered at convocation to pray for the classmate who would not return home for Thanksgiving. Chancellor Jerry Falwell Jr. said he planned to attend Williams’ funeral service in North Carolina.

Friday night, about 30 students gathered in front of DeMoss Hall for a candlelight vigil for the students and their families. Dozens more, who had already left town, sent along their emails and prayers.

“It was very, very somber today,” said Liberty sophomore Jesse Eaton, who knew Williams and a hall mate on the trestle that night.

Eaton described Williams as a young woman with a glowing personality.

“She would walk into the room and everything would change to the positive,” he said.

This fall, Williams was elected to represent her residence hall in the Student Government Association. In October, she joined a volunteer trip to help flood victims in the Northeast.

“Her tragic death is a great loss, not only to her family, but to our university community as well,” Falwell said during convocation.

The Riverside Park railroad trestle has claimed the lives of at least ten people since the late 1960s, including a Liberty student and her fiancé in 1976.

Gary Roakes, director of public safety for Amherst County, said officers respond to multiple trespassing calls each year — and a fatality every few years.

"People just don’t understand the danger of these trestles," Roakes said. "There is no reason to walk across a trestle at any time.

"Unfortunately, this time, a person lost their life," he said.

The trestle is part of the Piedmont main line running between Alexandria and Atlanta. About 15 trains cross it per day, according to a Norfolk Southern spokesman.

Seven trains were scheduled to cross during the four hours the tracks were closed for the accident investigation, Roakes said.

On the Lynchburg side, the bridge juts out from the edge of Riverside Park. A fence surrounds the tracks to deter trespassers.

From the park, the trestle spans approximately 1,800 feet across James River and the steep banks on either side. It rises about 200 feet above the river at its highest point.

On the Amherst County side, the tracks cross River Road at street level. There is a “No Trespassing” sign but no physical barrier prevents people from walking onto the bridge from the street.

Over the decades, the trestle has earned a deadly reputation among locals. It also holds allure for its views of the river, mountains, or on Thursday night, the open sky.

Railroad crews face the daily risk of unintended tragedy. Even if there’s time to pull an emergency break, it’s often too late to stop.

On Thursday night, the Norfolk Southern train travelled 750 feet past the north end of the trestle before coming to a stop.

In 2010, six people were killed in Virginia and four were injured while trespassing on tracks, Norfolk Southern spokesman said.  There were 39 incidents where trains collided with cars that resulted in three fatalities and 11 injuries.

Between the January and   Aug. 31, 2011 the latest data Norfolk Southern had available, there have been five fatalities and five injuries from trespassing, plus 19 train-vehicle incidents, resulting in one fatality and three injuries.

Staff writers Scott Marshall, Alicia Petska and Ray Reed contributed.