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Railroad wheels not attached to the trucks and cars a known deadly problem by the RR Industry

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Posted by BaltACD on Tuesday, July 31, 2018 1:57 PM

charlie hebdo
 
BaltACD
 
charlie hebdo 
rrnut282

The trucks have been held together by gravity since day one, give or take.  So, why is it a problem now?  Derailments tend to take place in locations with a paucity of bystanders.  IMO, the number of injuries/fatalities from loose wheelsets is quite low.   

And when a derailment inevitably will occur in an urban or suburban location?  The maintenance on flat wheels is pretty remiss.  What then, empty slogans like "thoughts and prayers?"

The Class 1's have been using Wheel Impact Detectors for the past decade.  These detectors measure the impact of 'flat' wheels upon the track structure.  The measurements created a record for the car in one of 5 catagories.

1. No Defect
2. Measurable impact - flag is set on cars record for continuing follow up
3. Increased level of impact - additional flag is set on car's record - if car is shopped for other reasons - change indicated wheel set(s)
4. Higher level of impact - train containing car is to immediately reduce speed to 30 MPH, car can continue in train at 30 MPH to destination and then be shopped to replace wheel set(s).
5. Very High Impact - STOP train immediately, Have crew inspect car, IF safe to continue - do so at 10 MPH and set car off in first available location.  IF not safe, Car Dept. will be dispatched to change wheel set(s) immediately

Thoughts and Prayers are for Charlie Hebdo's remiss operation. 

I know what I hear.  It's obvious to any bystander with decent hearing.  It is not obvious to the engine crew at all.  And does the Master of the Empty Slogan, i.e., the Cliche-Meister, know what are the specific criteria to reach those different levels of defect (not just what is to be done)?

Not being in the Mechanical Department I don't know the specific readings that occasion each step in the progression.  I do know from experience, that the weight of the car on rail does affect the reading - We had a loaded coal car that got the 'rewheel at destination' level, several days later the car went back to the mines empty and got the 'increased level of impact' reading and it continued on to the mine and was reloaded.  Several days later it came East and got the Very High Impact - set out at once reading.  Humans do make mistakes; what, if any disciplinary action was taken with the Car Dept. and/or Terminal Management at destination, I don't know.

Watching coal trains pass the back door of my work location from time to time - I know I was hearing fewer 'flat' wheels as my retirement approached than I was hearing when our office was moved to Baltimore in 2008.  I don't have facts or figures to back up my casual observations - just my experience of watching trains pass my location off and on for the 51.5 years of my career.

Never too old to have a happy childhood!

              

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Posted by Murphy Siding on Tuesday, July 31, 2018 2:25 PM

     I'd be willing to bet that there are more people hit by lightning than there are people hit by trucks from a railroad car or locomotive. Any takers? This seems to be a thread focused on just about nothing.

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Posted by Deggesty on Tuesday, July 31, 2018 2:41 PM

CandOforprogress2

So you are standing trackside about 150 feet from a railroad car that is rocking back and forth and flips over as the the train is doing 20 mph. Or you are in your car at a grade crossiing and the train derails and starts acrordiinging. you think you are far enough away but out of nowhere a railroad wheel flys at you and crushes you and your car and you are at St Peters gate wondering what just happened. The picture of the 1000lb wheel set indented in the side of the Hopper car gives you a idea of what damage flying debris from derailing railroad cars can do. If highway trucks had the same setup the USDOT would have put a end to it years ago.

 

As Mac said four days ago, please cite a case-time, -railroad, location, damage to one or more humans.

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Posted by SD70Dude on Tuesday, July 31, 2018 5:07 PM

Murphy Siding

     I'd be willing to bet that there are more people hit by lightning than there are people hit by trucks from a railroad car or locomotive. Any takers? This seems to be a thread focused on just about nothing.

For that matter, what are the stats on innocent bystanders being killed by derailments, not just from free-flying wheelsets or trucks?

Of course there are big disasters like Lac Megantic, but apart from that how often does this actually happen?

Greetings from Alberta

-an Articulate Malcontent

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Posted by BaltACD on Tuesday, July 31, 2018 7:05 PM

BaltACD
 
tree68 
BaltACD
Why are truckers using flatbeds to haul steel rolls? 

Because the railroads don't go there any more? 

Why don't truckers use 'trough' style trailers with structural pockets for the coiled steel.  Using structural elements of the trailer to hold the load in place in addition to the commonly used tie downs

What happens when steel (not coils) on a truck shifts - and needs to be adjusted.

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Posted by edblysard on Wednesday, August 1, 2018 9:02 AM

23 17 46 11

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Posted by zugmann on Friday, August 3, 2018 9:18 PM

BaltACD

 

 

 

 

You also a Rotator Ron fan?  I love his videos.

It's been fun.  But it isn't much fun anymore.   Signing off for now. 


  

The opinions expressed here represent my own and not those of my employer, any other railroad, company, or person.t fun any

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Posted by BaltACD on Friday, August 3, 2018 9:28 PM

zugmann
 
BaltACD

 

 

You also a Rotator Ron fan?  I love his videos.

Have become so - reminds me of my days in the field rerailing yard derailments with wood blocking and replacers and working with the Wreck Train - locating the crane and then blocking up the outriggers for it to make a lift or two, knocking down the blocking, repositioning the crane and reblocking the outriggers.

High force locational physics of movement.

Using a crane takes a lot of thought and planning - something that isn't learned overnight.  I am amazed at all the 'accessories' Ron keeps accessable in the truck - accessories that permit the magic to happen.

Went to Hagerstown yesterday - saw a flat bed with a similar load headed West on I-70.

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Posted by Murphy Siding on Friday, August 3, 2018 10:44 PM

     Years ago I worked at a lumber yard a couple blocks of the interstate and next door to two truck stops. We used to do a lot of forklift work for truckers whose loads had shifted.

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Posted by Paul_D_North_Jr on Saturday, August 4, 2018 2:32 PM

edblysard

Have seen several versions of those - Roanoke RR Museum (or whatever its called), locally the Ironton RR Rail-Trail.  But this one looks the most 'authentic', with the seat attached to the axle - some are just a park bench between the wheels.

- PDN. 

"This Fascinating Railroad Business" (title of 1943 book by Robert Selph Henry of the AAR)
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Posted by RKFarms on Saturday, August 4, 2018 4:37 PM

There are 2 primary reasons why steel is hauled on flatbeds- one is flexibility so you can take on any other sort of flatbed load after steel is delivered, and the other is tare weight. A trailer built like coil cars would be much heavier and would severely cut down on the load that could be hauled. Along with those is the third reason-equipment cost. 

PR

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Posted by ccltrains on Tuesday, August 7, 2018 3:48 PM
A thought on suicide loading of steel coils. Many years ago a trailer was loaded with the eye of the coil parallel to the trailer axis. The truck was coming down a hill with a right angle turn and concrete wall at the bottom. The brakes failed and the truck slammed into the wall. If the impact of hitting the wall did not kill the driver the slicing him like a bologna from the unspooling of the eye certainly did.
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Posted by jeffhergert on Tuesday, August 7, 2018 11:34 PM

I'd be more worried about a truck on a 50 mph train ejecting a spring or brake shoe, without derailing.  You see them around the right of way every now and then.  They weren't placed there by the mechanical department after making a field repair. 

Oh!  Did I just stir the pot?Mischief]

But being 150 feet back, one should be fairly safe.  Even for a 20 mph train derailing, 150 feet would probably be pretty safe.  Now, standing close to or right along the edge of the ballast...

Jeff

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Posted by CMStPnP on Wednesday, August 8, 2018 12:49 AM

jeffhergert
But being 150 feet back, one should be fairly safe.  Even for a 20 mph train derailing, 150 feet would probably be pretty safe.  Now, standing close to or right along the edge of the ballast...

I get a good laugh out of those Yoopers (folks in the UP) that make films on the E&LS and then freak out when they see a log fall from a log car and nearly miss them or then there is this video..........which is also hilarious to watch:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOZNc8jevL8

Nice up and cozy close to a passing freight train and then at the end......lmao

He learns a lesson.......hopefully.........til the next film anyway....lol.

 

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Posted by RDG467 on Wednesday, August 8, 2018 5:03 PM

SD70Dude

 

 
Murphy Siding

     I'd be willing to bet that there are more people hit by lightning than there are people hit by trucks from a railroad car or locomotive. Any takers? This seems to be a thread focused on just about nothing.

 

 

For that matter, what are the stats on innocent bystanders being killed by derailments, not just from free-flying wheelsets or trucks?

Of course there are big disasters like Lac Megantic, but apart from that how often does this actually happen?

 

Ellicot City MD in 2012.  Two 19 yr old girls were trespassing on a bridge when a coal train derailed. They were buried. 

I remember a photo of a boxcar door which fell off a freight on the PRR High Line near 30th Street Station in Philly. It fell on a car in the Bulletin newspaper's parking lot. No fatalities. This was late 60's-early 70's, iirc. 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/trafficandcommuting/report-on-fatal-ellicott-city-train-accident-details-how-a-piece-of-rail-snapped/2014/08/23/aee05714-2950-11e4-86ca-6f03cbd15c1a_story.html%3Futm_term%3D.ac2debfcbbf5&ved=2ahUKEwi6gbDwuN7cAhUMU98KHU4SABcQFjADegQICRAB&usg=AOvVaw1RnWzh36ivh19hmz-QZAzq&cshid=1533765392786

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