Railroaders' Nostalgia > A Wild Day on the Oil Cans

For virtually all the time the famous "Oil Cans" ran from Fleta to Los Angeles, I was the regular conductor. At Fleta was the Tosco loading facility just south of Mojave, California. While I had various people working regular on the job, on the day in question the crew consisted of Engineer Steve Rossman, Helper engineer Jimmy Kershner, and Brakeman Kent Rasmussen. A good crew, in other words.
From Palmdale to Los Angeles, we operated over the Metrolink Valley Sub. via Soledad Canyon. For some reason, Metrolink couldn't take us so we were instructed to wait in the siding at Denis for a relief crew. The train consisted of 78 tank cars of crude oil, an open gon loaded with new ties we used as a buffer car behind the head end power, two GE AC4400's up front, with two more at the rear. Jimmy and Kent were back on the helper.
Since the air conditioner didn't work very well on the lead unit, Steve went back to the second unit where it was cooler. I remained on the point unit doing paperwork and eating my lunch. All was peaceful, until Steve started ringing the alarm bell. I looked back, and the ties in that buffer car were on fire!
Steve ran to the lead unit, and I went back by the fire. My idea was to make a cut behind the burning car, pull it up from the train, and then cut the engines off, leaving the gon by itself. However, the wind was blowing too much smoke and fire toward the rear of the car, so I couldn't make a cut there. I had to be content with cutting the engines off.
By now, the fire department showed up, and when they saw those placarded tank cars, they freaked out!
"What's in those cars," they asked.
"Crude oil," I replied.
Their concern was as mine; getting that flaming car away from the tank cars. They got the fire under control enough so we could pull away from it using the helper.
They poured huge amounts of water in that car, but every time they stopped, the creosote on those ties would flare up again.
East of the main line, there is a large airport that was jointly used by civilian and military aircraft. At one time, Lockheed had a huge plant there where L-1011 airliners were built. The control tower saw our hugh plume of smoke, and they thought they had a plane down! Here comes the airport crash truck! "Let us see what we can do," they said.
I don't know how much foam they poured into that gon, but it didn't do a bit of good. Back to fire department water.
Needless to say, we had the railroad tied up, with all the fire equipment, smoke, fire, hoses across the track, and whatnot.
Soon to join the party was the Ringling Brothers, Barnum and Bailey circus train. He's being held over at Lancaster. Soon, the circus boss is on the radio yelling his head off about performance deadlines, short time elephants, and anything else that came to his mind. Someone finally told him to get the hell off the radio.
By now, the car had cooled off enough so it could be moved. The plan was to set the car out on the old PID spur, stop in an open area, get a bulldozer and turn the car over on its side to dump out the smouldering ties. This plan was nixed because they were afraid of molten creosote too close to some Joshua trees. By the time we got all the power back on the train, our time was up. Our relief crew showed up, and as we were getting in the van, the circus train went by, short time elephants, irate circus boss, and all.
Fast forward about two weeks; while at home, my phone rings.
"Mr. B.N. Black??
"Yes, whose this," I asked.
"This is the Chief Special Agent in Pocatello, Idaho," he replies. "Were you the conductor on the MJDOU on such and such date?
"Yes." I said.
As it turned out, the burnt up car was moved to Pocatello to have the remains of the ties unloaded and the car repaired. As they were unloading the ties, they discovered a burnt dead body!
He asked me if I knew anything about this, and of course, we didn't, like we would knowingly carry a dead body around with us. The ties in that car were neatly stacked, so we had no idea how he got there or how long he'd been there. The odor of the creosote must have masked any odors from the body.
I asked him to let me know what their investigation revealed, but I never heard anything further from the UP Police Department.
This was one of two mysteries from that day. The other was how the fire started. The only thing I could figure was that one of those AC4400's threw a hot piece of carbon that landed on those ties. The only trouble with this theory was that those two units were not smokers, even by GE standards.
Never did hear the results of any investigations


Brian Black
Retired SP/UP Conductor

Good tale, thanks!

I am guessin that was the last time a gon loaded with creosoted ties was used as a buffer. The main problem with concrete ties is they just don't smell right.

Those Oil Can trains had a checkered history...
I was called, along with conductor Ron Harriman, to patch "The Cans", or what was left of the oil train, at Lancaster, after it went in the ditch when hitting wide gauge rail, which was caused by some knucklehead running his car into the mainline knocking it out of alignment. I remember Jerry Downs was the hoghead and Dominick Fravola was the headman. Can't recall the rest of the crew. I do remember that at least a third of the train had derailed, causing a crude oil lake to form in the desert...
After that incident, we would refer to that area as Lan"scatter"...



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/18/14 19:30 by spengr80.

Another laugh about the oil cans.
The empties out of Dolores had gotten so late that they were out of sync with the 2pm on duty time of the crew, so we were called on duty about noon to deadhead to Fleta to bring the loads back to LA. I was the condr. Newly hired Ella Fairlea was the brakeman, "Father" Dowling was one engr, and I don't remember the other. We got out of the van at Fleta, and walked around to the rear of it to get our grips in the desert sand on a hot summer day. Dowling looks at Ella who had about a week's seniority at the time, and says "Watch for snakes!" hoping to scare her and make her jump. Instead she turned around slowly and hissed at him. I think that is about the fastest I've ever seen a prank go bad on the prankster!

tehachcond Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

> As it turned out, the burnt up car was moved to
> Pocatello to have the remains of the ties unloaded
> and the car repaired. As they were unloading the
> ties, they discovered a burnt dead body!
> He asked me if I knew anything about this, and
> of course, we didn't, like we would knowingly
> carry a dead body around with us. The ties in
> that car were neatly stacked, so we had no idea
> how he got there or how long he'd been there. The
> odor of the creosote must have masked any odors
> from the body.
> I asked him to let me know what their
> investigation revealed, but I never heard anything
> further from the UP Police Department.
> This was one of two mysteries from that day.
> The other was how the fire started. The only
> thing I could figure was that one of those
> AC4400's threw a hot piece of carbon that landed
> on those ties. The only trouble with this theory
> was that those two units were not smokers, even by
> GE standards.
> Never did hear the results of any
> investigations


Could be that whoever set the fire killed the guy.

I had (as BN Pacific Division night Chief) a fatality to deal with at Skykomish (WA). The rear end crew (actually watching behind!) saw a body on the track behind them and stopped. The body had been run over by the train and was pretty badly cut up. For anybody who has not been on the Chief's end of a fatality, there is a lot of paperwork and notifications. It's less not fun than cleaning it up out in the field, but it has its own way of being not fun.

I got the initial notifications finished and was waiting to hear more details from Sky before going on (FRA, Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission, and a host of others). I had gotten the fatality report started with what I knew.

I got a call from Sky with important information. The signal maintainer was also the town constable. He called to tell me that it wasn't a fatality, I could chill.

I asked if the guy that was all cut up wasn't dead. The maintainer said, he sure is, but we didn't kill him. I asked how he knew. He said that he found bullet holes in some of the important body parts. Somebody threw the body under the train to cover the murder.

TAW

On a hot day it's not at all unreasonable to think that a carload of new ties started on fire by spontaneous combustion. The body certainly makes you question the circumstances, but I've seen ties start on fire that way multiple times before. Creosote soaked wood ranks up there with tires and hay/straw bales as difficult fires to put out.
Here is a similar example:
http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?11,2161868,2161872#msg-2161872
Stephen Craven
Hiawatha Ia FD



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/19/14 09:41 by rfdatalink.

If this is the accident I am thinking about, I remember it also. Yes, it was caused by some knucklehead who (was either slightly plastered or speeding - or maybe both) shooting through the "T" intersection (at Ave. F and Sierra Hwy.) and continued across to the SP tracks knocking one or both rails out of alignment. Sure enough, when the southbound oil train came by (I don't know if CHP or other emergency responders had thought to call the railroad) and of course, engines and cars left the rails. When all the dust settled, the "knucklehead's" car was found to be upside down with two tank cars forming a "V" around it. (Got the old A.V. Press that carried the story). That was one lucky individual.

spengr80 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Those Oil Can trains had a checkered history...
> I was called, along with conductor Ron Harriman,
> to patch "The Cans", or what was left of the oil
> train, at Lancaster, after it went in the ditch
> when hitting wide gauge rail, which was caused by
> some knucklehead running his car into the mainline
> knocking it out of alignment. I remember Jerry
> Downs was the hoghead and Dominick Fravola was the
> headman. Can't recall the rest of the crew. I do
> remember that at least a third of the train had
> derailed, causing a crude oil lake to form in the
> desert...
> After that incident, we would refer to that area
> as Lan"scatter"...

Actually Jeff, the crew on the train that went in the ditch at Lancaster consisted of Engineer Jerry Downs, Head brakeman Ernie Derry (who got quite a scare because he was riding on the second unit), Helper Engineer Ed Brown, Rear Brakeman Dominick Fravola, who was riding on the helper, and Conductor J.T. Owen. Ed and Dominick watched the cars piling up ahead of the helper, and everything came to a stop with just a few car lengths lacking before they were included in the mess. A bit of a thrill for them. The lead unit on the road consist made it over, but the rest of the power and about 40 cars didn't. Of all the derailed cars, only nine of them leaked significantly.

Brian

tehachcond Wrote:
---------------

> Actually Jeff, the crew on the train that went
> in the ditch at Lancaster consisted of Engineer
> Jerry Downs, Head brakeman Ernie Derry (who got
> quite a scare because he was riding on the second
> unit), Helper Engineer Ed Brown, Rear Brakeman
> Dominick Fravola, who was riding on the helper,
> and Conductor J.T. Owen. Ed and Dominick watched
> the cars piling up ahead of the helper, and
> everything came to a stop with just a few car
> lengths lacking before they were included in the
> mess. A bit of a thrill for them. The lead unit
> on the road consist made it over, but the rest of
> the power and about 40 cars didn't. Of all the
> derailed cars, only nine of them leaked
> significantly.
>
> Brian

Making this all the more unusual is this was the SECOND oil load that day. I was in the Tehachapi area photographing trains and saw both oil loads. The first load come through Woodford about 5pm and had helpers. That night I stayed in Tehachapi in a motel near the tracks and was shocked to see another oil load going through town about 11pm. The second train was the one that derailed. I had my scanner on and heard about it on the radio. In the morning I drove down to Lancaster and saw the mess. There was talk on the PBX channels that the derailment had been caused by a drunk driver going east on one of the streets at a high rate of speed, went right through the Sierra Ave intersection and hit the west rail knocking it out of alignment. There were two other people in the car from what I remember.

Somewhere around here I have the info on both trains.


Allen



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/20/14 11:45 by bradleymckay.

I noticed that a year or two after the oil can derailment, the high desert roads ending at the tracks had K-rail segments placed at them to thwart incursions onto railroad property.
...Lorenzo

tehachcond Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> spengr80 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Those Oil Can trains had a checkered history...
> > I was called, along with conductor Ron
> Harriman,
> > to patch "The Cans", or what was left of the
> oil
> > train, at Lancaster, after it went in the ditch
> > when hitting wide gauge rail, which was caused
> by
> > some knucklehead running his car into the
> mainline
> > knocking it out of alignment. I remember Jerry
> > Downs was the hoghead and Dominick Fravola was
> the
> > headman. Can't recall the rest of the crew. I
> do
> > remember that at least a third of the train had
> > derailed, causing a crude oil lake to form in
> the
> > desert...
> > After that incident, we would refer to that
> area
> > as Lan"scatter"...
>
> Actually Jeff, the crew on the train that went
> in the ditch at Lancaster consisted of Engineer
> Jerry Downs, Head brakeman Ernie Derry (who got
> quite a scare because he was riding on the second
> unit), Helper Engineer Ed Brown, Rear Brakeman
> Dominick Fravola, who was riding on the helper,
> and Conductor J.T. Owen. Ed and Dominick watched
> the cars piling up ahead of the helper, and
> everything came to a stop with just a few car
> lengths lacking before they were included in the
> mess. A bit of a thrill for them. The lead unit
> on the road consist made it over, but the rest of
> the power and about 40 cars didn't. Of all the
> derailed cars, only nine of them leaked
> significantly.
>
> Brian
Thanks Brian for the update...seems like a hundred years ago that incident happened. With the passage of time, my recollection was a little foggy. I did remember that "Gramps" was the hoghead, and Dominik was on the train...

tronarail Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> If this is the accident I am thinking about, I
> remember it also. Yes, it was caused by some
> knucklehead who (was either slightly plastered or
> speeding - or maybe both) shooting through the "T"
> intersection (at Ave. F and Sierra Hwy.) and
> continued across to the SP tracks knocking one or
> both rails out of alignment. Sure enough, when the
> southbound oil train came by (I don't know if CHP
> or other emergency responders had thought to call
> the railroad) and of course, engines and cars left
> the rails. When all the dust settled, the
> "knucklehead's" car was found to be upside down
> with two tank cars forming a "V" around it. (Got
> the old A.V. Press that carried the story). That
> was one lucky individual.

That was between ave G and H if I remember correctly since the morning cans were near Lancaster

Posted from Android

tehachcond Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> For virtually all the time the famous "Oil Cans"
> ran from Fleta to Los Angeles, I was the regular
> conductor. At Fleta was the Tosco loading facility
> just south of Mojave, California. While I had
> various people working regular on the job, on the
> day in question the crew consisted of Engineer
> Steve Rossman, Helper engineer Jimmy Kershner, and
> Brakeman Kent Rasmussen. A good crew, in other
> words.
> From Palmdale to Los Angeles, we operated over
> the Metrolink Valley Sub. via Soledad Canyon. For
> some reason, Metrolink couldn't take us so we were
> instructed to wait in the siding at Denis for a
> relief crew. The train consisted of 78 tank cars
> of crude oil, an open gon loaded with new ties we
> used as a buffer car behind the head end power,
> two GE AC4400's up front, with two more at the
> rear. Jimmy and Kent were back on the helper.
> Since the air conditioner didn't work very well
> on the lead unit, Steve went back to the second
> unit where it was cooler. I remained on the point
> unit doing paperwork and eating my lunch. All was
> peaceful, until Steve started ringing the alarm
> bell. I looked back, and the ties in that buffer
> car were on fire!
> Steve ran to the lead unit, and I went back by
> the fire. My idea was to make a cut behind the
> burning car, pull it up from the train, and then
> cut the engines off, leaving the gon by itself.
> However, the wind was blowing too much smoke and
> fire toward the rear of the car, so I couldn't
> make a cut there. I had to be content with
> cutting the engines off.
> By now, the fire department showed up, and when
> they saw those placarded tank cars, they freaked
> out!
> "What's in those cars," they asked.
> "Crude oil," I replied.
> Their concern was as mine; getting that flaming
> car away from the tank cars. They got the fire
> under control enough so we could pull away from it
> using the helper.
> They poured huge amounts of water in that car,
> but every time they stopped, the creosote on those
> ties would flare up again.
> East of the main line, there is a large airport
> that was jointly used by civilian and military
> aircraft. At one time, Lockheed had a huge plant
> there where L-1011 airliners were built. The
> control tower saw our hugh plume of smoke, and
> they thought they had a plane down! Here comes
> the airport crash truck! "Let us see what we can
> do," they said.
> I don't know how much foam they poured into
> that gon, but it didn't do a bit of good. Back to
> fire department water.
> Needless to say, we had the railroad tied up,
> with all the fire equipment, smoke, fire, hoses
> across the track, and whatnot.
> Soon to join the party was the Ringling
> Brothers, Barnum and Bailey circus train. He's
> being held over at Lancaster. Soon, the circus
> boss is on the radio yelling his head off about
> performance deadlines, short time elephants, and
> anything else that came to his mind. Someone
> finally told him to get the hell off the radio.
> By now, the car had cooled off enough so it
> could be moved. The plan was to set the car out
> on the old PID spur, stop in an open area, get a
> bulldozer and turn the car over on its side to
> dump out the smouldering ties. This plan was
> nixed because they were afraid of molten creosote
> too close to some Joshua trees. By the time we
> got all the power back on the train, our time was
> up. Our relief crew showed up, and as we were
> getting in the van, the circus train went by,
> short time elephants, irate circus boss, and all.
> Fast forward about two weeks; while at home, my
> phone rings.
> "Mr. B.N. Black??
> "Yes, whose this," I asked.
> "This is the Chief Special Agent in Pocatello,
> Idaho," he replies. "Were you the conductor on
> the MJDOU on such and such date?
> "Yes." I said.
> As it turned out, the burnt up car was moved to
> Pocatello to have the remains of the ties unloaded
> and the car repaired. As they were unloading the
> ties, they discovered a burnt dead body!
> He asked me if I knew anything about this, and
> of course, we didn't, like we would knowingly
> carry a dead body around with us. The ties in
> that car were neatly stacked, so we had no idea
> how he got there or how long he'd been there. The
> odor of the creosote must have masked any odors
> from the body.
> I asked him to let me know what their
> investigation revealed, but I never heard anything
> further from the UP Police Department.
> This was one of two mysteries from that day.
> The other was how the fire started. The only
> thing I could figure was that one of those
> AC4400's threw a hot piece of carbon that landed
> on those ties. The only trouble with this theory
> was that those two units were not smokers, even by
> GE standards.
> Never did hear the results of any
> investigations
>
>
> Brian Black
> Retired SP/UP Conductor

Why did they decide to use a buffer car in the 1ST place since I've seen it for years without it!

Posted from Android

ProAmtrak Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> tehachcond Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > For virtually all the time the famous "Oil
> Cans"
> > ran from Fleta to Los Angeles, I was the
> regular
> > conductor. At Fleta was the Tosco loading
> facility
> > just south of Mojave, California. While I had
> > various people working regular on the job, on
> the
> > day in question the crew consisted of Engineer
> > Steve Rossman, Helper engineer Jimmy Kershner,
> and
> > Brakeman Kent Rasmussen. A good crew, in other
> > words.
> > From Palmdale to Los Angeles, we operated
> over
> > the Metrolink Valley Sub. via Soledad Canyon.
> For
> > some reason, Metrolink couldn't take us so we
> were
> > instructed to wait in the siding at Denis for a
> > relief crew. The train consisted of 78 tank
> cars
> > of crude oil, an open gon loaded with new ties
> we
> > used as a buffer car behind the head end power,
> > two GE AC4400's up front, with two more at the
> > rear. Jimmy and Kent were back on the helper.
> > Since the air conditioner didn't work very
> well
> > on the lead unit, Steve went back to the second
> > unit where it was cooler. I remained on the
> point
> > unit doing paperwork and eating my lunch. All
> was
> > peaceful, until Steve started ringing the alarm
> > bell. I looked back, and the ties in that
> buffer
> > car were on fire!
> > Steve ran to the lead unit, and I went back
> by
> > the fire. My idea was to make a cut behind the
> > burning car, pull it up from the train, and
> then
> > cut the engines off, leaving the gon by itself.
>
> > However, the wind was blowing too much smoke
> and
> > fire toward the rear of the car, so I couldn't
> > make a cut there. I had to be content with
> > cutting the engines off.
> > By now, the fire department showed up, and
> when
> > they saw those placarded tank cars, they
> freaked
> > out!
> > "What's in those cars," they asked.
> > "Crude oil," I replied.
> > Their concern was as mine; getting that
> flaming
> > car away from the tank cars. They got the fire
> > under control enough so we could pull away from
> it
> > using the helper.
> > They poured huge amounts of water in that
> car,
> > but every time they stopped, the creosote on
> those
> > ties would flare up again.
> > East of the main line, there is a large
> airport
> > that was jointly used by civilian and military
> > aircraft. At one time, Lockheed had a huge
> plant
> > there where L-1011 airliners were built. The
> > control tower saw our hugh plume of smoke, and
> > they thought they had a plane down! Here comes
> > the airport crash truck! "Let us see what we
> can
> > do," they said.
> > I don't know how much foam they poured into
> > that gon, but it didn't do a bit of good. Back
> to
> > fire department water.
> > Needless to say, we had the railroad tied
> up,
> > with all the fire equipment, smoke, fire, hoses
> > across the track, and whatnot.
> > Soon to join the party was the Ringling
> > Brothers, Barnum and Bailey circus train. He's
> > being held over at Lancaster. Soon, the circus
> > boss is on the radio yelling his head off about
> > performance deadlines, short time elephants,
> and
> > anything else that came to his mind. Someone
> > finally told him to get the hell off the radio.
> > By now, the car had cooled off enough so it
> > could be moved. The plan was to set the car
> out
> > on the old PID spur, stop in an open area, get
> a
> > bulldozer and turn the car over on its side to
> > dump out the smouldering ties. This plan was
> > nixed because they were afraid of molten
> creosote
> > too close to some Joshua trees. By the time we
> > got all the power back on the train, our time
> was
> > up. Our relief crew showed up, and as we were
> > getting in the van, the circus train went by,
> > short time elephants, irate circus boss, and
> all.
> > Fast forward about two weeks; while at home,
> my
> > phone rings.
> > "Mr. B.N. Black??
> > "Yes, whose this," I asked.
> > "This is the Chief Special Agent in
> Pocatello,
> > Idaho," he replies. "Were you the conductor on
> > the MJDOU on such and such date?
> > "Yes." I said.
> > As it turned out, the burnt up car was moved
> to
> > Pocatello to have the remains of the ties
> unloaded
> > and the car repaired. As they were unloading
> the
> > ties, they discovered a burnt dead body!
> > He asked me if I knew anything about this,
> and
> > of course, we didn't, like we would knowingly
> > carry a dead body around with us. The ties in
> > that car were neatly stacked, so we had no idea
> > how he got there or how long he'd been there.
> The
> > odor of the creosote must have masked any odors
> > from the body.
> > I asked him to let me know what their
> > investigation revealed, but I never heard
> anything
> > further from the UP Police Department.
> > This was one of two mysteries from that day.
>
> > The other was how the fire started. The only
> > thing I could figure was that one of those
> > AC4400's threw a hot piece of carbon that
> landed
> > on those ties. The only trouble with this
> theory
> > was that those two units were not smokers, even
> by
> > GE standards.
> > Never did hear the results of any
> > investigations
> >
> >
> > Brian Black
> > Retired SP/UP Conductor
>
> Why did they decide to use a buffer car in the 1ST
> place since I've seen it for years without it!
>
> Posted from Android

When the train ran out of Bakersfield, and part of the time it ran out of Fleta, the oil was classified as a combustable, which doesn't require a buffer car. A later test was made on the oil, and its hazard class was modified to flammable, which requires buffer cars on the head end next to the power, and another immediately ahead of any operating engine.

Brian

Thanks for the explination!

Yes, I saw the gond on fire. Water was not putting the fire out and it took a lot of form to put the fire out. Also the circus train was stopped in lancaste and it was a very hot day. Have pictures of the fire some where.
Dennis