The Bravery and Sacrifice of Billy Westall

William "Billy" Westall was a train engineer for the Denver South Park & Pacific Railroad who made a steep sacrifice to protect the train passengers under his charge.
00:00 Introduction
01:01 How I found out about Billy Westall
02:01 A railroad through Platte Cañon
03:54 An introduction to Billy Westall
04:31 A train into Platte Cañon
05:38 The heroes take their places
07:42 A message before he moves on
08:27 A monument to a hero
11:00 Closing
11:30 Bloopers

[@theblackbear211]

Thank you for sharing this story of Duty, Courage and Honor.
Stories that IMO need to be shared.

[@summera3926]

There are a lot of bygone heros who fall nearly forgotten to time... very sad.
Thank you for this, it's a very interesting piece of American history.

[@w1swh1]

Thank you, lovely story, well told. "Tell my wife I died thinking of her" - doesnt get any better than that does it!😙😙

[@robertdesantis6205]

"Greater love has no one but to lay down his life for his friends."
John 15:13
P.S. Love the bloopers.

[@yolandahebert2350]

Hero.❤️

[@davidgreenwood6029]

Great video, I must say, it is HALLOWED ground, not HOLLOWED!

[@storiesfromthemidland]

Understood!

[@mkrug1149]

While this is a neat account, I do not understand how riding the train to the end saved lives, the engineer cannot steer the train, all he can do is hit the brakes.

[@storiesfromthemidland]

Once I saw the distance between the blind curve and the wreck spot, I got it. There were only seconds to get the brakes applied. Once the fireman hit the valve to release the steam, he was done. But Billy Westall needed a little more time to get the brakes applied. He’d probably just had enough time to hit the brakes and check the boiler pressure when the engine hit the obstruction.