Metrolink 111 engineer led solitary life marred by tragedy

Metrolink 111 engineer led solitary life marred by tragedy

Those who knew him say he had a passion for trains and Italian greyhounds. But his companion killed himself in 2003 and he had run-ins with the law.
By David Kelly and Sam Quinones, Los Angeles Times Staff Writers
September 17, 2008

Those who knew Robert M. Sanchez say he was a relentlessly upbeat man with a passion for trains and Italian greyhounds. At the same time, the Metrolink engineer led a solitary life in recent years and was intensely private, sharing little about a past that included tragedy and run-ins with the law.

Sanchez died Friday at the helm of a Metrolink train after apparently failing to stop at a signal near Chatsworth and colliding with an oncoming Union Pacific train. The crash, the worst in modern California history, killed 24 others and injured 135.
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