They died doing what they loved
Vics were train buffs on board for maiden trip
Two passengers killed when a speeding Amtrak train derailed in Washington state were transitbuff pals who’d been eager to ride the new Seattle-to-Portland route, a longtime friend told The Post on Tuesday.
Zack Willhoite, 35, and Jim Hamre, 63, were offered the opportunity to serve as volunteer “ambassadors” and greet passengers boarding the first trip of Amtrak 501 Monday morning, said Lloyd Flem, executive director of the All Aboard Washington rail-advocacy group.
“They said no, we’re riding the train. They wanted to be on the maiden voyage, as it were,” he said.
Flem described both men as “hard-core and productive members” of AAWA. Hamre served as vice president and newsletter editor for the 430-member organization, and Willhoite was director of information technology and membership, Flem said.
Flem rode on the test run of the new route Friday, during which “everything went perfectly.”
“There was nothing to suggest there should have been any problems,” he said. “This just makes it even more devastating.”
Willhoite was a customer-support worker for Pierce Transit, which runs the bus system in Pierce County. Flem said he’s survived by his wife, who was identified on social media as Taylor.
Hamre was a former IT worker for the Washington State Department of Transportation who retired after 33 years on the job, according to a department spokeswoman who confirmed his death. He’s survived by his widowed mom, Flem said.
The third victim of Monday’s crash wasn’t publicly identified.
Although officials feared the wreckage held additional bodies, none was found during searches of all 14 train cars, WSDOT spokeswoman Janet Malkin said.
The National Transportation Safety Board said earlier Tuesday that Amtrak 501 was going 80 mph in a 30-mph zone when it jumped the tracks on a curve and plunged off an overpass onto busy Interstate 5 at 7:34 a.m. Monday in DuPont.
About 100 people — including some motorists — were injured, with 10 hospitalized Tuesday in serious condition, according to spokesman Scott Adams of West Pierce Fire & Rescue.
Amtrak hasn’t identified the engineer, who survived with a bloody head injury and both eyes swollen shut, according to radio chatter following the crash.