Passenger Trains > emergency,emergency,emergency

Whenever you hear EMERGENCY EMERGENCY EMERGENCY on the railroad radio, it immediately gets your attention. Especially when it's Amtrak. This morning Amtrak #22 was doing the calling.

Seems somewhere around Shipman Illinois today, the northbound Eagle experienced a train separation. Like, they broke in two!

Happily they reported to the dispatcher that nobody got hurt, but that's a terrifying incident. If anybody happened to be crossing that joint right about then, well, it's just a scary thought about ending up underneath a Superliner car. (rolling 79mph)

I can't imagine how this happened. Freight trains can occasionally hit a bad spot on the track and the bounce will be enough to jostle the cut lever enough to pull the pin if there is any slack. Passenger trains have a key way to prevent the cut lever from bouncing up.
Sometimes, freight cars can slip out of the grasp of the car behind them on bad track, but passenger trains have tight lock couplers that would prevent that. Add to that, that the track this train was on is pretty darned good. (concrete ties, heavy rail, thick ballast, etc. After all, this will be high-speed rail someday)
Passenger trains are not heavy enough to break a knuckle under normal circumstances (unless it was a old break ready to fail?) I can't even imagine what kind of rough handling it would take to break one of those knuckles. But, it didn't even break the knuckle. They coupled the train back together and went along their merry way.

Anybody out there able to find out more regarding this? I ride Amtrak as often as I can, and the idea of pushing the button to open the door between cars and stepping off into oblivion with rest of the train receding into the distance isn't a pleasant thought.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 10/29/14 17:58 by ecoyote.

back in the 90s i watched the wb Broadway Ltd out of NYP have a seperation right on the middle of North Philadelphia interlocking directly in front of the tower ... the train seperated at speed (60mph) between the 3rd mail boxcar behind the power an E60 and the lead baggage car ... the headend part of the train ran outside interlocking limits after going into emergency ... the rest of the train i vaguely recall consisting of 2 baggage cars and 9 plus passenger cars coasted to a halt within interlocking limits after also being in emergency ... took 1/2 hr- 45 mins to get everything back together and on its way ... looked to me that the train hit a low joint but i still couldnt figure the cause of the seperation

Posted from Android



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/29/14 18:18 by Out_Of_Service.

Impressive that they didn't have any HEP cable and Comm Line problems afterward.

I experienced a separation on El Tapatio in Mexico a number of years back--it took all of 10 minutes to put the train back together.

ecoyote Wrote:

> I ride Amtrak as often as I can, and the
> idea of pushing the button to open the door
> between cars and stepping off into oblivion with
> rest of the train receding into the distance isn't
> a pleasant thought.

When the train breaks, the air dumps. I wouldn't think the pneumatic doors would open for you.

Back in the years when I was listening to the scanner (late '90's) our friend Tommy the ROcket was running #11 the Starlate and they broke apart just as they were coming off the Mulford line (or whatever line that is, I forget) at Santa Clara. We were on our way somewhere and went down to Cahill Station to see what was going on and Tommy, of course, was there and we all watched and listened to the powers that be in Omaha have a major cluster etc getting the train back together. What a fiasco!! Fortunately there were no injuries etc involved. It was just a classic corporate joke listening to everyone try to figure out how to do something very simple (put train back together) in stupid complicated way. Love big corporations!! :-)
C.

Carol Voss
Bakersfield, CA

It will be interesting to hear the details, if they ever come out.

Although not common a worn cut lever support bearing and worn lock lifter can cause a coupler to open. If they hit a rough spot in the track and the linkage bounced up the car can uncouple. When I take my car out on Amtrak a pin is inserted in the lock lifter to prevent any upward movement. On freight cars without a keyed cut lever the free play or lack of it can cause a train separation.

Back in the day when the Pennsylvanian was running with roadrailers, I was listening to the scanner as it went into emergency just
as it was going around the curve at the west end of Rockville Bridge. They looked bac and the roadrailers were sitting a ways back of
the train.

Another time I was on the Texas Eagle southbound. The train went into emergency several times because of an airhose problem. The
next morning they had to set out one of the coaches in a siding in Arkansas because it had flat wheels.

ecoyote Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
>
>
> I ride Amtrak as often as I can, and the
> idea of pushing the button to open the door
> between cars and stepping off into oblivion with
> rest of the train receding into the distance isn't
> a pleasant thought.

I ride Amtrak when I can but not often enough but when I walk between the cars I usually maintain three points of contact as I cross the buffers. One hand on the grab iron of the car I'm leaving, one to the car I'm entering, and at least one foot on the floor. I could walk without holding anything but it's just safer to have your hands on something while the train is moving. I imagine that if the train parted while I was between them I would be able to hold on to one car or the other (but not both. I aint that strong!) I've taken a few friends on their first Amtrak trip and I usually show them how to cross between cars safely.

John

KA7008 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> When the train breaks, the air dumps. I wouldn't
> think the pneumatic doors would open for you.


Car accessories are run off of Main Reservoir pressure and not Brake Pipe.

On the old steam heated equipment, it wasn't always a quick trip in between cars. Some of those doors were hard to open, especially for elderly. I remember standing on the plate as a kid. Little did I know what could happen. It could have been a high road crossing. Even with the best of track, many road crossings are not always level.

If it was at a joint for cars off the Sunset or picked up at STL, they'll pull the tapes to see if they can fire the crews for an insufficient double stretch, even if they did it right.

I posted some photos of a break-in-two of No. 6 at Berkeley in August of 1977 on the Nostalgia & History Board.

I had a memorable conversation many years ago with the late Lillian Bistline, wife of the late James A. Bistline, who, among other titles, was General Manager-Steam Operations for NS.

Mrs. Bistline accompanied her husband on many steam excursions over the SOU and NS through the years. I casually asked her if she had any special memories from those trips or if a particular event stood out above the others. To my surprise she mentioned an incident identical to the one described here, where the cars separated at speed. She said she was near the end of the car when it happened. Fortunately, no one was hurt but her resurrection of such a memory almost brought her to tears.

Awkward.

One has to be careful in asking certain questions during a conversation.

What is a double stretch? Stretching ahead and shoving back?

PumpkinHogger Wrote:
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> If it was at a joint for cars off the Sunset or
> picked up at STL, they'll pull the tapes to see if
> they can fire the crews for an insufficient double
> stretch, even if they did it right.

Posted from Android

Yup. Amtrak rules require a double stretch when making a joint.


trkspd Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> What is a double stretch? Stretching ahead and
> shoving back?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/30/14 13:15 by PumpkinHogger.

There are plenty of idiots who while waiting in line for the diner, will stand right on the plates between the cars, and even allow the end doors to shut ahead and behind them.

That must be fun at every joint. Thanks for answering that for me, I saw the term used in my SSI but I don't do passenger so I didn't know.

PumpkinHogger Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Yup. Amtrak rules require a double stretch when
> making a job joint.
>
>
> trkspd Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > What is a double stretch? Stretching ahead and
> > shoving back?

Posted from Android