SP 4449 and SPS 700 derail!

[edblysard]

Because most main track speed derailments need more than a re-rail frog, more often than not they need a few side booms and back hoes, front end loaders, and a tie and rail gang!

Yard switchers run slow, 5, maybe 10 mph, and most derailments in yards do little damage to the cars...in fact, most yard derailments don’t qualify in damage to be FRA reportable.
If you can get it back on the rails, and the car department OK's it, the car can go right back in service.

Out on the road, you don’t have the luxury or the time to rerail them, and most of the time, the damage is too great to really worry about it...call the wreck crew and get the line open.
Remember, in a yard, you can run through, and get your locomotive on the other end of the cut relatively easy, but out on the road, in single track territory, you would have to bring a locomotive from somewhere else distant, then hold up all traffic while you try to rerail them, and most of the cars are not serviceable, so you just shove them to the side out of the way, fix the track, and worry about picking up the scrap at a later, more convenient date.
In a yard, there is really no where to shove them to, plus you have the ability to get them back up on the rail somewhat quickly…and if needed, you can shut down the track and those on either side with out causing too much interruption to the work going on.

Ed

[Anonymous]

Why is it that the railroads don't put rerailing frogs on DASH-9's? Not that I'd want to carry the frog and wedge back 74 cars [:)]!

[edblysard]

True,
In fact, if you look close, you can see the frogs and chains hanging under most SW yard switchers still...

Ed

[Anonymous]

Not to be rude, but we're kind of making a mountain out of a mole hill. Two massive pieces of machinery encountered a bad piece of rail, and hit the ground. They were subsequently rerailed without incident. If this weren't common in the steam era, then there would not have been rerailing frogs on locomotives and cabooses.

[Randy Stahl]

I prefer rerailing locomotives , at least the trucks stay together.
Randy

[UPTRAIN]

It was hard for a steam nut like me to watch that video of them rerailing the 700, sorta sad to see her on the ground and then squealing to get back on.

[Modelcar]

.....10-4 Ed, and on the brut strength....

[dmcclendon]

Liked the video. Great to hear damage was minor. Good to hear the trips are on again and they are adding extra trips.

[daniel3197]

The City of Portland Oregon is the official owner of the SP 4449 steam locomotive. More info about the search for
a permanent home for the Portland OR historic collection
can be found at this official page for the
Oregon Rail Heritage Foundation:
http://www.orhf.org/ .
This is the OFFICAL legal status of the big 3 Portland steamers
according to that ORHF webpage:


Did you know...?
Since 1975, volunteers have restored and operated the Southern Pacific #4449, and the Spokane, Portland & Seattle #700. The Oregon Railroad & Navigation #197 is currently being rebuilt, and they're all owned by the City of Portland, and maintained by volunteers in the Brooklyn roundhouse.

The future of the roundhouse is uncertain. Locomotive volunteers and community members have formed the Oregon Rail Heritage Foundation to secure a permanent home for the engines and create a facility to preserve Oregon's rail heritage. The proposed rail complex will combine a maintenance shop, the historic roundhouse and turntable, and interpretive displays of historic rail equipment.

QUOTE: Originally posted by miniwyo

Who owns the 4449 nowadays?

[miniwyo]

Who owns the 4449 nowadays?

[edblysard]

The only problem with steel re-rail frogs is you have to have a "good" section of track to attach them to, but if you can use them, works like a charm.

First time I had to help re-rail a locomotive, the trainmaster and MOW guys had a bunch of wood wedges under a Dash9...I remember thinking "if they ever get this thing up on those wedges, the wood will just split and crumble".
I mean, the things looked like something you would use to chock a car in you driveway...
TM told me to have my engine pull on it and see what happens, I gave my engineer the back up slow sign, and that Dash9 rolled right up the wood and on to the track pretty as you please.
Thats when I found out how much you can really compress wood along it's grain, and how easy a locomotive can roll.

Quentin, they use big, 6' plus pry bars, and a track jack, looks like a big bottle jack, to move or spread the rails apart, and with other attachements, they can "clamp" it back together...Mudchicken can give you the names of the tools, but they are fairly straightforward to see in use, brute strength has it's advantages!

Watching the video, I loved the part where the old SWs were sanding the rail first, and you can here the guy on the side say there is no way they can pull that thing back, right about then, the engineer on the SWs notches it out, and you can hear the steam locomotive start to roll backwards, I bet the person filming had to edit the next few words out!
Amazing what 2000hp or so can do under the right circumstances...and just goes to show you what tough little beasts SW are!

Ed

[Anonymous]

They weren't damaged--those are high strength industrial machines. Back in the steam era, a locomotive could jump track, roll down an embankment, and land on its side, and be running again in a month.

The only time I have seen a steamer rerailed in person, it was done with steel rerailing frogs.

Sincerely,
Daniel Parks

[Modelcar]

....Straight forward explaination as usual Ed, but boy it sure sounds like there is a lot of stuff to deal with...Getting those blocks under the wheels at the right place....finding solid rail to pull up onto after it has failed.....strength to pull the loco UP onto the "good" rail....it just seems all kinds of stuff could go wrong....Getting the "good" rail gauged back in place...with what kind of force....? bars and stuff.....

[edblysard]

Oak, or hard wood wedges, with wood blocks, 12 to 14" wide, about 18 to 24" long, and you build a ramp under the wheels...tug it right back up on the tracks.

Look in the back of any roadmaster or trainmasters truck, and you will find a bunch of them, along with spike maul, spike pullers, and other stuff needed to acompli***his.

Keep in mind the "footprint" of a locomotive wheel is not all that big, and they do roll free quite easily.

Pulled many a car back up on the tracks with wedges and blocks.

The real problem for the 4449 was that the rail rolled under the wheels, and stayed there...would have been a lot easier if the track had just gauged out from under it, or it had derailed to one side or the other.
You can't get the rolled rail out from under it, so you cut the track behind it, re-gauge and spike that part in place, then drag the locomotive back, and hope the rolled rail stays in place long enough for you to get back on upright track.

Ed

[BNSF_GP60M]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Modelcar

How were those two heavy engines rerailed "so easy".....Do they install blocks and wedges of support to pull them back up on good rail....?

They used blocks for the 700 however it didn't mention about the 4449.

[Modelcar]

Great photos....especially the after dark ones too........How were those two heavy engines rerailed "so easy".....Do they install blocks and wedges of support to pull them back up on good rail....?

[JoeKoh]

wow
hope those engines werent harmed too badly.
stay safe
joe

[BNSF_GP60M]

Read about it on the internet. SP 4449 and SPS 700 on Holiday excursions derails on the Oregon Pacific line in Portland, Or. It happened on Dec 10. More info here and a short video on rerailing the 700.

http://www.brian894x4.com/HolidayExpress2005.html