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[quote user="edblysard"]The contention that an officer of the railroad ordered Harding to cease tying down the train is beyond ludicrous, while we have some pretty dense officials here, I know of none who are that stupid.[/quote] Ed, Nobody has contended that action as a fact.  I simply contend that it is, in fact, an open possibility, nothing more and nothing less.  Also, it does not have to be so clear cut as an official ordering Harding to cease tying down brakes.  When you cite it as being that clear cut, it does make it the least likely.  But, as you point out, things go wrong as a result of a series of less than perfect decisions where the final outcome is not so clear cut.  I see the possibility of this factor most likely being combined with other factors such as routinely compromising Rule 112.  It would not be hard to rationalize that air and hand brakes together will do the job.  When Burkhardt said the train ran away because the firemen shut down the engine and that released the air brakes, he is saying that they were relying on those air brakes to hold the train.  That has to be what he means.   He stated it as the reason why the train ran away.  So not only is this scenario of relying on a combination of air and handbrakes a possibility, there is clear evidence that it was done, in violation of CROR Rule 112. Also, it would not be hard to rationalize that it is okay to send a man home if you intend to get somebody else out there in a “few minutes” to check things over, including the smoking engine.  They did get somebody out there in a very short time when the fire department was called.   Nobody is hysterically trying to crucify anybody here.  I am keeping an open mind and have not accused anybody of anything.  My words are black and white.  I am not trying to solve the mystery.  I only want to show possibilities.  That is lacking in the media as a total summation.  I think it is useful to summarize it.  You too have offered several possibilities above.  I agree that they are all possibilities, and they are all detailed breakdowns of my five points of possible causes listed above. I think it is important to look at the full range of possibilities because Mr. Burkhardt has limited that range in order to openly and publically accuse Tom Harding of being the sole cause of this enormous loss of property and the deaths of 47 people.  He says that because the train rolled away, it has to be Harding’s fault.  I disagree with that.  So does the director of the accident investigation, Robert Johnston.  I don’t think that pointing out these details in any way amounts to crucifying Burkhardt.
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