At 11:30 on the morning of Sept. 19, some 60 engineers and conductors gathered at a modest La Crescenta house. They had come to memorialize Robert Sanchez, the engineer killed a week earlier when the Metrolink train he was driving collided with a Union Pacific freight train.
The service was supposed to have been held at a mortuary, but after reporters learned of the arrangements, the family hastily moved the memorial to Sanchez's home, hoping for the chance to gather privately with his former co-workers.
Since their arrival in California, their grief had been made much more difficult by a crush of media attention. They were accosted at every turn, and the pressure grew more intense after Metrolink announced -- far too quickly, in the family's eyes -- that Sanchez had failed to stop at a red signal and caused the crash.
The mourners came bearing pizzas, sodas and cakes. One brought a flower arrangement in the shape of a cross, which Sanchez's family placed far from the window for fear that someone might throw a brick. Three Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies stood guard outside.
A minister from Sanchez's union, the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, spoke. His co-workers recalled trading recipes with Sanchez and accompanying him to Mighty Ducks and Kings games. They told the family they would help find homes for Sanchez's four Italian greyhounds.
At 4:30, John Sanchez was in the kitchen saying goodbye to the guests when a man from the mortuary arrived with Robert's remains.
"He walked through the alley, the back gate, the back door and handed me Robert in a paper bag," Sanchez said.
'I want vindication'
In the first interview he has given since the crash, John Sanchez told a Times reporter he is worried that his brother's reputation is being destroyed and said he wants a more thorough investigation into whether Metrolink signal lights, radios and other safety equipment were functioning.
Sanchez said he and his family ache not only for their own loss but for the families of the 24 others who died in the crash. "There were no words to explain the magnitude of loss and what was in our hearts," he said. "We do care. We are sorry.
"I want vindication, justice and truth to be known by the 25 families," Sanchez added.
The last time Robert Sanchez visited his family, a little less than a year ago, he said he loved his Metrolink job despite a 53-hour-a-week, split-shift schedule that left him constantly tired. "When I get on a train, I forget everything and I'm focused," his mother said he told her.
