Railroaders' Nostalgia > A Close Shave At Abernethy

This is kind of a take-off on Charlie's "Close Shave At Scenic". His story reminded me of a similar situation in grade territory but in my case it wasn't an angle cock but a control valve. The big thing is to see how a simple and uneventful trip can potentially turn very bad very fast and the only difference between a scare and a disaster is somebody recognizing when things are turning to crap and stopping everything rather than trying to "save the day".

Back in the early 90's I was operating an intermodal train from Klamath Falls to Eugene, almost positively an OAPTT since for some reason these trains were always a problem with steel wheels. On this day we had a fair sized train with 3 units, 18 axles of dynamic, but just a little too much tonnage to go down the hill from Cascade Summit to Oakridge without using the air brakes. Using air brakes down the hill, all 43 miles of it, was common and routine practice so that was no big deal. This was also during the winter and there was snow on the ground, another reason to use the air brakes often to keep the brake shoes clear of ice and snow.

We take off out of Klamath Falls and the train handled perfectly. As I tended to do I used the air brakes to power brake for many/most restrictions and noted no issues. Coming through Cascade Summit, 110 miles after leaving Klamath Falls, I made a minimum set to slow from 40 mph to 25 mph to crest over the hill and start down. Around 30 mph I kicked the brakes off and allowed the speed to drop the last 5 mph. As I came around the curve to Tunnel 3 I saw the signal had a yellow/yellow aspect indicating we would go into Abernethy Siding at the next signal about 1-1/2 miles away. Since I would need to use the air on the hill I came back and made another minimum set so the brakes would be applied with a "soft set" as I crested over to make bunching the train go much smoother, a very routine thing up here. At this point everything was still going routinely and no issues were noted.

I get to the west switch of Abernethy and we start through the switch on a red/yellow aspect; the train was still handling exactly as I would expect and as I have had countless trains handle before. As the units went through the switch my speed started to increase gradually. Since it was winter and the rail was wet with snow I figured one of the trailing units must have slipped and the dynamic must have dropped out a little. I increased the dynamic to DB 8 and drew down the brake pipe a few pounds more getting it to around a 10 pound reduction. That checked the speed and I was able to reduce the dynamic back to around DB 5 or 6. By this time FRED was outside Tunnel 3 and the pressure there showed what I expected based on what I had on the head-end. A few hundred more feet down the siding the speed unexpectedly starts climbing again, not something I would expect based on the tonnage, dynamic brakes, and amount of reduction. I increase the dynamic back up to DB 8 and made another brake pipe reduction to around 16-18 pounds; this deep a reduction on this train should cause it to stop. I'm also sucking up seat cushion at an alarming rate! FRED is responding to each of the reductions so I know the reduction is going through the train but things are not going well. I was only at the 16-18 pound reduction for a few seconds before I determined this was going real bad, real fast. Since we were about halfway down the siding at this point I went to full service, then placed it into emergency because now I only cared about stopping the train. It seemed like an eternity but eventually the brakes took effect and we started to slow to a stop. We came around the curve at the east end of the siding and saw the red signal but by now the brakes were really taking hold and we slid to a stop about 400 feet from the signal/east switch. Just as we stopped the detector at MP 541 went off indicating a train was closely approaching; this detector is less than half a mile away from the switch around an "S" curve. We had gotten in the clear and the uphill train went up the main on green signals never knowing what had happened, or almost happened.

We sat there a few minutes as the train passed as I tried to collect myself - that shook me up. I went through my mind to see if I did something wrong or different that might have caused something - and extricated seat cushion out of my ass. I looked at my conductor, an old head who had been out there forever, and told him I had no idea what was going on. He said he was watching and said he saw me do nothing different than anybody else does. The air brakes had been working for over 110 miles and now everything was going bad, or so it seemed.

Finally the west train cleared and we got a green signal. My conductor asks me what I want to do. By now I have collected myself. I figured I had enough engine brakes on the 3 units to hold the train while I recharged it so I told him I'd charge it and we'd go and see what happens. I also told him that if the train did anything strange we'd stop and get a helper up there (we still used manned helpers on the hill). The dispatcher never questioned the delay and once it was fully charged we took off.

Once on the move I had to make a minimum reduction to help hold the train down the hill. As I had previously determined that was too much so I kicked them off, waited to get a good release, and then came back with another minimum set to create a soft brake pipe again, as was routine. This time I was right on the edge of my seat though just waiting for the first sign of problems as I wasn't going to hesitate to stop the train. Instead the train handled perfectly the rest of the way down the hill and on to Eugene.

A few days later I got a possible answer to what happened. SP issued a train order about a certain series of Trailer Train 2-axle intermodal cars that had a new style control valve on the cars. I don't remember the car series but evidently if a train had a small block of these cars in the train the train could experience an undesired release of the brakes under certain circumstances. While I no longer had the train lists I assume I had some of those cars in the train. Of course the train order came a few days late to warn me of that issue, the only time I had that issue. That was one of the few, perhaps only, time I got scared on our hill.




 



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 02/04/16 17:24 by Railbaron.

IS THIS CHARLIE USED TO WORK FOR SP ?

cooper Wrote:
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> IS THIS CHARLIE USED TO WORK FOR SP ?

​I think Charlie (A close shave at Scenic - Author: cewherry) used to work for SP and then went to BN and/or Santa Fe.
 

Great story, thanks for sharing.

But of course the siding, as spelled by SP, was "Abernethy."

Best regards,

Rob  L.
 

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rob_l Wrote:
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> Great story, thanks for sharing.
>
> But of course the siding, as spelled by SP,
> was "Abernethy."
>
> Best regards,
>
> Rob  L.
>

​That's embarrassing - retire and forget how to spell the siding name. Oh well, never had to spell it when working. Corrected now.



 

Nail biter! Never fails that the notice comes out after you have experienced it 😂

Railbaron Wrote:
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> ​That's embarrassing - retire and forget how to
> spell the siding name. Oh well, never had to spell
> it when working.

I didn't learn how st spell many of the locations on my railroad until someone decided that whenever we get authority that involves "going on the hole" we had to spell out the name of the siding, and the word "siding". As in, "Proceed to Abernethy siding, A-B-E-R-N-E-T-H-Y S-I-D-I-N-G", which we had to write then repeat. That was in the DTC days. Now with TWC we no longer have to endure this painful process but I have to admit, it made me familiar with the siding names in dark territory almost overnight.