Nostalgia & History > Spring Switch Perils

This was the end result of shoving blind, then pulling forward, over a spring switch. When I worked for the Ventura County Railway, we were called out to Port Hueneme by our crew. They said they had a small incident. It was small, only one car. When asked about it, they said they were sure the cut would fit. Well Max, missed it by that much. Mazda was not pleased that day.

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Hah, nice picture.

I'd say it wouldn't have made any difference if it were a spring switch or not.

-John

It ain't derailed!
...Lorenzo

Have played this trick with model railroads for the heck of it, but seeing the real thing is something else!

567Chant Wrote:
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> It ain't derailed!
> ...Lorenzo

It sure is! You can see grooves in the pavement, then in the ballast. The wheels pulled the diverging tracks toward each other before climbing over the rail to the right.

-John

Do you know what year that is? That hasn't been a spring switch in at least the 14 years I've been doing Navy railroad trackage. From the dumpster I'm going to guess it is at least that old.

Wait a second, let me correct myself. That might have been a submarine switch stand which do have springs in them, though they're not supposed to use them that way.

Greg

Greg Ramsey
Las Vegas, NV



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/16/14 20:54 by atsfm177.

Let me guess... all Mazdas inside had to be destroyed?

Got a guy here locally who had that happen to him...he picked up the nickname "Sideways". You can guess why :)

atsfm177 Wrote:
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> Do you know what year that is? That hasn't been a
> spring switch in at least the 14 years I've been
> doing Navy railroad trackage. From the dumpster
> I'm going to guess it is at least that old.
>
> Wait a second, let me correct myself. That might
> have been a submarine switch stand which do have
> springs in them, though they're not supposed to
> use them that way.
>
> Greg

That was one of the many submarine stands that where put in after the rebuild. I'm going to guess 1993 ish.

sp5312 Wrote:
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>
>
> That was one of the many submarine stands that
> where put in after the rebuild. I'm going to guess
> 1993 ish.


Fortunately they're almost all gone now.

Greg Ramsey
Las Vegas, NV

They get locos too. Here is an attempt to make a reverse move while on a spring switch at Antelope (Roseville) CA in Jan 1986 as he goes into emergency and lights the warning light.

Only time I ever caught a derailment occurring in a photo.

Jim B

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Looks similar to what happens when a switch is thrown under a car in a hump yard - except it really gets interesting (and noisy) when the next car or two rolls down to join the party. Saw it happen a number of times in the (now defunct) IHB Gibson Yard and understood it could occur if a presence detector failed to prevent a "pre-initiated" switch from activating beneath the car.

jimB Wrote:
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> They get locos too. Here is an attempt to make a
> reverse move while on a spring switch at Antelope
> (Roseville) CA in Jan 1986 as he goes into
> emergency and lights the warning light.
>
> Only time I ever caught a derailment occurring in
> a photo.
>
> Jim B

Nothing like being at the right place at the wrong time lol

sp5312 Wrote:
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> jimB Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > They get locos too. Here is an attempt to make
> a
> > reverse move while on a spring switch at
> Antelope
> > (Roseville) CA in Jan 1986 as he goes into
> > emergency and lights the warning light.
> >
> > Only time I ever caught a derailment occurring
> in
> > a photo.
> >
> > Jim B
>
> Nothing like being at the right place at the wrong
> time lol

The only spring switch I recall being at Antelope was at the end of double track on the main. This looks like a failure in one of the ground throw stands on the lead in front of the telegraph office.

jimB Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> They get locos too. Here is an attempt to make a
> reverse move while on a spring switch at Antelope
> (Roseville) CA in Jan 1986 as he goes into
> emergency and lights the warning light.
>
> Only time I ever caught a derailment occurring in
> a photo.
>
> Jim B


That pic is worth it's own thread (if not already done)! Dramatic!

OH MY!!!

Posted from iPhone

Just because, here is an image taken today of the same scene as the original image.

Greg Ramsey
Las Vegas, NV

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And the switch stand that replaced the submarine stand that was sprung internally.

Greg Ramsey
Las Vegas, NV

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>The only spring switch I recall being at Antelope was at the end of double track on the main.

JLY, you would know better than I would. It was a while ago, but I thought I recall them discussing a spring switch on the radio at the time, but memory is not perfect!

Jim B