Hopper Derailed

[superbe]

I ain't the brightest kid on the block but I can tell those guys why it derailed......NO Track Bumpers   Just look  at the picture !!

A freight train sits derailed at the New World Pasta and Miller Milling Co. in Frederick County. The minor derailment occurred around 8:30 a.m. Monday and involved one end of one freight car, according to CSX spokesman Robert Sullivan. The car was rerailed by 2:30 p.m. and no injuries were reported. The cause of the derailment still is under investigation, Sullivan said. (Photo by Jeff Tayl

I model these two industries on my layout but any resembelance to the real buildings is purely coincidental. Miller grinds the flower and pipes it across to New World Pasta. Business is so good Miller has it's own loco for moving the hoppers around as needed.

Bob

[dehusman]

Actually there are wheel stops, the yellow things under the 2nd hopper bay.

If the cars hit those hard enough to go that far over the wheel stops they probably would have gone through a bumper.  Bumpers don't withstand much of an impact.

[hon30critter]

OOPS!!

A little heavy on the throttle were we?!?

Must have been quite a bounce to dislodge the wheel set from the truck.

Dave

[rrboomer]

That's what happens when you shove by radar instead of riding it back.

Dick Haave

[superbe]

dehusman.

Well, I said I wasn't the brightest kid on the block.........

Bob

[charlie9]

arrange to appear in the office of the terminal supt. at 9:00 am Friday, Dec 24th for a formal investigation to determine the facts and your responsibility, if any,  concerning blah blah blah blah.  you may bring representation with you so long as it does not entail any expense to the company, blah blah blah blah.

the officer who ordered this investigation may not conduct it, nor may either he or the conducting officer assess the discipline, if any, blah blah blah blah

(looks like about 5 days on paper to me)

charlie

[dknelson]

Hmm someone seems to have some direct and personal experience with this sort of thing ....

 

Dave Nelson

[charlie9]

fortunately i was never involved in anything where there was a serious injury but i did have fun destroying a lot of stuff.

the railroad was the only job i know of where you could tear up a couple hundred thousand dollars worth of plant and equipment and still keep your job.   or as one of my favorite engineers once said, "if they start pulling hard, i widen out on 'em"

charlie

[BRAKIE]

dknelson

Hmm someone seems to have some direct and personal experience with this sort of thing ....

 

Dave Nelson

Back in my railroading days we would call that "street time" or "job ad"  accident since there would be no excuse for such accidents.

Accidents like that happen because of a miscount-the siding holds(say) 50 cars not 60 or the engineer mistakenly applies throttle instead of brake...Then there's the possibility CSX was running a one man local.

As far as not protecting the shove that may have been permissible on a known car capacity siding.

However.

Permission or no none of the conductors I worked with would allow a blind shove.

[tomikawaTT]

Some years back, when I was running cross-country through Amarillo, I noticed that the BNSF was using the remaining fragment of the old Rock Island main as a storage track.  The end of track bumper was a pile of ballast - about half a hopper load.

On one trip I saw a covered hopper high-centered on the gravel pile, with both trucks clear of the rails.

Good thing they didn't push any farther.  The track ended where a bridge (over a road) had been removed...

Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)

[Motley]

I see a new "Unstoppable 2" movie in the near future. Denzel comes out of retirement, and back as the owner of the railroad.

[rrboomer]

How do we know the industry didn't make the mess and leave it for the train crew to find?  I've been seen that happen more than six or eight times.

Dick Haave

[J.Rob]

Someone programmed too much momentum into the throttle. I recommend a reduction in the cvs and would also consider disabling the back emf feature if applicable. If a wireless throttle were employed the engineer would be in position to watch the end of the train and stop in the proper place.

[rrinker]

 Or miscount of the train - thinking he had 40 and so would fit on a 40 car siding but really had 41 in the train.

Rookie on the ground, calling it and forgetting about slack action

Hey, it's CSX again, this is just setting up for Unstoppable II, based on a true story...LOOSELY based. 100 feet behind that scene is some sort of flammabel plant, maybe a propane tank farm or something, and 200 feet next to that is a school, plus any other horrible potential you can concoct to embellish things. Like instead of a covered hopper it will be tank cars full of somethign extremely poisonous.

        --Randy