dehusman Sadly, track problems are a major cause of model railroad derailments. Its actually the first place I'd look.
Sadly, track problems are a major cause of model railroad derailments. Its actually the first place I'd look.
Agreed..That's why its important to take your time while laying track and the need to check and recheck as you go if one wishes to have derailment free operation..
Of course one can rush laying track and then later pay the piper with derailments..
Larry
Conductor.
Summerset Ry.
"Stay Alert, Don't get hurt Safety First!"
So you are saying all these other situations can cause prototype derailments but it must be poor track laying on model railroads?
eaglescout So you are saying all these other situations can cause prototype derailments but it must be poor track laying on model railroads?
I am saying that the majority of model railroad derailments are track related, NOT ALL. I am discounting the human caused derailments such as running through a switch.
Model railroads don't have draft gear, they don't have brake rigging.
Have never seen a model train with a cracked wheel or broken axle.
Have never seen a model car have a structural failure and very, very, very, very few have load shifts.
If cars spontaneously derail a location, I said to START looking at the track. I never said to END looking at the track. Sure it can be the gauge or a low body shell, but in my experience there is a bad joint or a gauge problem most often.
Dave H. Painted side goes up. My website : wnbranch.com
dehusmanHave never seen a model train with a cracked wheel or broken axle.
Dave,I have had two places wheels to crack over the years..Never could figure that out unless the plastic began brittle over the years.
I've had MDC/Roundhouse truck screws to come loose and fall out..No derailment.
Your claim that string line derailments never occur is delusional.
Very little facts are given considering this derailment, you have no more idea as too what happened as anyone else.
So how's your steam engines been running lately?
But, your posts are entertaining, and we thank you for that.
"The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination."-Albert Einstein
http://gearedsteam.blogspot.com/
Geared Steam Larry Your claim that string line derailments never occur is delusional
Your claim that string line derailments never occur is delusional
Is it now? In 9 1/2 years of railroading I never heard of a derailment caused by stringlining.I have heard of broken rails,broken wheels,striking a object,washouts causing derailments.I never seen a model train string line.
I think the only thing here delusional is your thoughts prompted by misinformation.
BRAKIE Geared Steam Larry Your claim that string line derailments never occur is delusional Is it now? In 9 1/2 years of railroading I never heard of a derailment caused by stringlining.I have heard of broken rails,broken wheels,striking a object,washouts causing derailments.I never seen a model train string line. I think the only thing here delusional is your thoughts prompted by misinformation.
Really? You have never heard of a string line derailment?
I think we all know what it means. The law of physics overrides any and all BS one might read on a forum from a professional railroader. Stop digging your hole and quietly bow out.
http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=140112&nseq=43
http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=373241&nseq=0
http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=338369&nseq=1
Geared Steam Really? You have never heard of a string line derailment? I think we all know what it means. The law of physics overrides any and all BS one might read on a forum from a professional railroader. Stop digging your hole and quietly bow out. http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=140112&nseq=43 http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=373241&nseq=0 http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=338369&nseq=1
GS you are also a little bit "delusional" in thinking any time cars derail to the inside of a curve its stringlining. I'll give you the middle picture with the tank cars. But the two BNSF pictures, unless you can show me the railroad's accident report that says it was "stringlining", I rather doubt that was the cause. The track damage isn't right for stringlining in the covered hopper train (the outside rail appears damaged, plus the rear engine is derailed and you won't convince me that stringlining cars pulled the engine off) and the the auto rack in the third picture is a load, loads are tough to string ine.
Yes stringlining can occur, but it is very very rare in the greater scheme of things. It is very common for cars to derail from some other cause and then to rollover or lean to the inside of a curve. But that's not a stringlining cause.
Dave,Save your time..Its plain to see he knows nothing about railroading,train make up or handling or he wouldn't be grasping at straws by posting questionable pictures with no accident report to back up those photos or his statement..
I agree with Dave and Larry. Those photos tell me there was a derailment on the rear end first (outside rail tipped opposite direction cars derailed and track structure destroyed plus engine derailed) and then the sting line event occurred when the rear end stopped. And yes, the string line could happen before the emergency application was propagated to the head end.
In 40+ years I saw one sting line derailment.
Back to the Helena event, did anyone consider there may have been wide loads on the train and/or adjacent track?
Dick Haave
Geared Steam But, your posts are entertaining, and we thank you for that.
Still applies
I've got a professional video of a railfan trip in the Appalachians (I think; it's been a while since I watched it) with a Clinchfield steam engine (it might have been relettered for the fan trip) that sideswiped some hopper cars sitting on a siding. It just bent up the running board high up on the loco which promptly got fixed overnight at their next stop. No derailment happened (I doubt the passengers really knew it happened, but I bet the crew in the cab sure did!)...so yes, sometimes real railroads have tracks spaced too close together (but it's probably rectified very quiclky). Of course, this happened with a very large steam engine that doesn't usually run on these tracks, or I bet it would have been fixed a long time ago.
http://delray1967.shutterfly.com/pictures/5
SEMI Free-Mo@groups.io
The sideswipe you mention was by the Union Pacific Challenger #3985 in Nov 92 as it was masquerading as Clinchfield Challenger #676 (the next Challenger the Clinchfield never had). The Challenger had come east to participate in Clinchfield's running of its 50th Santa Claus Special and had been selected for this special train because the UP Challengers were nearly identical to Clinchfield's Challengers (and the 3985 was in active excursion condition at that time).
Soon after arrival at the northend of the CRR, the Challenger was heading south to Kingsport a day or so before the Santa run. On one of the the sidings just north of St. Paul, VA, it sideswiped an empty hopper car. The Clinchfield had been using this mainline since 1912 and this siding since the late 1950s and had no reason to worry about the extended nose of an articulated steam loco as the RR figured its Challengers had used this passing siding with no problems. However, CRR steam had been dead for a few years before the siding was constructed or upgraded in 1958.
Just 34 years later everyone involved was incredibly surprised. As much preparation as the local railroaders did, it did not occur to them that one or more of the sidings might have been too tight for Challenger passage. Of course, had the siding been empty, no one would have ever known.
There were no passengers on the 676 train at the time of the incident (perhaps there were other crew and execs in the back); there was no derailment from the incident; the damaged running board was repaired before midnight by an Erwin, TN (old Hqts of CRR) shop crew in Kingsport, TN; and -- other than that the Challenger could not turn around in Kingsport and had to make ALL northbound trips in REVERSE -- the excursions went off as planned.
[In case you wonder ... The planned loco reversing process was to turn the 676 on the Kingsport wye; however, the wye was too tight for the Challenger tender and it derailed 3 times before they decided that running reverse when northbound would be the order of the weekend.]
The curve where the sideswipe took place was a 14-degree curve -- just tight enough for the articulating Challenger's nose to reach way out and snare the MTY hopper with the left front of its running board. It gave the half dozen crew members in the cab (2 CRR/CSX and 4 UP) a real jolt. Clinchfield/CSX employees were as surprised as anyone that a sideswipe would occur because they had been passing trains on there for years without any such incident. The siding was either new in 1958 or was upgraded at that time and the space between the tracks was set for diesel trains of the day. It is not (or in 1992, I should say, "was not") the only 14-degree curve on the RR and operations on the line around those curves proceeded normally once the Challenger went back to its Wyoming home.
After the sideswipe, the challenger ran the two excursion trains (Santa and Employee specials) over the next few days and departed over the same track (the engine running backward for each northward movement). CSX made sure there were NO trains of any sort in any of the tight or many curved sidings and the 3985 eventually headed home without further incident on Clinchfield turf.
Make no mistake, the best laid plans can go awry no matter what. ... Enjoy the Clinchfield ... Bob