Eastern Railroad Discussion > Cumberland Derailment...

CSX experienced a derailment at Cumberland yesterday. A remote job got a knuckle and let a cut of cars run free through the yard striking another cut of cars. Cars started piling up and eventually struck the Q130 which was swapping power on 2 main. A container and car from Q130 blocked number 1 main. Traffic stopped on both sides of town. Only a few through trains were allowed to run through the yard including P029. At least 8 westbounds lined up at Brunswick as of last night. Should be an interesting day today at Cumberland...

Al Moran,
The SD80MACKing

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At least 1 of the box cars contained packages of coors light beer! Yesterday was a BIG mess. 4 trains stacked up between the "bud board" and Ellerslie plus at least 2 more up on the mountain. I was lucky enough to make it to VA lane.

The facts of this incident CLEARLY show that it was a direct result of Remote-Control locomotives and their operating system. The crew even stated there was a communications failure between the RCO operator and the locomotive, causing the engine brakes to fully apply (a safety feature). This caused a severe slack runout, and the resulting broken knuckle which set the cars free that were being shoved into the track without air. It is safe to say that, had there been a "real" engineer in the seat, this costly accident would not have occurred.

Go CSX! They sure are saving a bundle with their remotes!!!

Manheim

Good thing a hoghead never got a knuckle doing the same thing. I'm sure that there was a "loss of communication" between the operator and the RCL, that's my story and I'm sticking to it, at least until someone posts a report of one of the event recorders from the locomotive or from the box.

It is unreal to me that the railroads and the UTU (U TOOK
US) union still embrace remote controlled locomotives
without a qualified engineer on them.
Nothing will happen with this until there is a major loss
of life or evauation of a major large area, then maybe
somebody will come to their senses with this needless
dangerous situation.
Even if the above happens, the U TOOK US union will still
embrace these devices.
s

Looks like the "tour of the yard" cost #29 about an hour. Refresh my memory - wasn't there at least one other incident 2-3 yrs ago when the CAPITOL had to run thru the yard because of a derailment. I remember that there was another incident when #30's crew hit the tail end of a train that was either being held out, or slowly entering the yard.

Andy


csx6574 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> CSX experienced a derailment at Cumberland
> yesterday. A remote job got a knuckle and let a
> cut of cars run free through the yard striking
> another cut of cars. Cars started piling up and
> eventually struck the Q130 which was swapping
> power on 2 main. A container and car from Q130
> blocked number 1 main. Traffic stopped on both
> sides of town. Only a few through trains were
> allowed to run through the yard including P029. At
> least 8 westbounds lined up at Brunswick as of
> last night. Should be an interesting day today at
> Cumberland...
>
> Al Moran,
> The SD80MACKing
>
>