Western Railroad Discussion > Runaway Train at Nogales Border Crossing

Some individuals released the brakes on a stopped northbound freight on the Mexican side of the border and it rolled through the border fence onto the US side. I can't link it here but there's an eerie video on Facebook of the train silently rolling down the tracks:

http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/politics/border-issues/2017/01/09/northbound-train-strikes-border-gate-nogales-monday-after-police-clear-rail-crossing-arizona/96361134/

Posted from iPhone

I wonder what the procedures are for tying down an unatttended train?

Tie all the handbrakes on the locomotive consist and lock the doors on the controlling locomotive if equipped. Obviously this applies for engine consists only.

Short of welding the wheels to the rails nothing can stop someone from turning it loose. Handbrakes can be taken off of the cars, air can be bled off.

Lackawanna484 Wrote:
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> I wonder what the procedures are for tying down an
> unatttended train?

Tie handbrakes--release airbrakes and check. Lock controlling cab. Chuck a couple deuces at train as you drive off in taxi.

Posted from Android

Lackawanna484 Wrote:
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> I wonder what the procedures are for tying down an
> unatttended train?

In Mexico? Your guess is as good as anybody's.

I see a new rule coming. Tie every brake on dead trains.

Were Kirk Douglas and Burt Lancaster on board?

That'll just delay the idiots turning it loose by 30 minutes.

upengr21 Wrote:
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> I see a new rule coming. Tie every brake on dead
> trains.

SP4360 Wrote:
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> That'll just delay the idiots turning it loose by
> 30 minutes.
>
> upengr21 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > I see a new rule coming. Tie every brake on
> dead
> > trains.

I think what upengr21 is referring to is what rash decision the carrier's will come to.

Send the repair bill to Mexico... another wall they can pay for! 

Chico43 Wrote:
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> In Mexico? Your guess is as good as anybody's.

Best post of the day!  It made me laugh out loud!  

I thought there were split point derails on both tracks because of the grade. Have to wait and see.

Nudge

Yeah, I know what he was reffering to, just being funny because that is just the kind of rule that will come out of this. No common sense when it comes to rule making, just over reaction.

SLOCONDR Wrote:
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> SP4360 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > That'll just delay the idiots turning it loose
> by
> > 30 minutes.
> >
> > upengr21 Wrote:
> >
> --------------------------------------------------
>
> > -----
> > > I see a new rule coming. Tie every brake on
> > dead
> > > trains.
>
> I think what upengr21 is referring to is what rash
> decision the carrier's will come to.

I am sure this was done by protesters in Mexico on the new high prices of gas.  No matter how a train is tied down, protesters could have taken care of that, just from railroaders that are among the protesters.

They have stopped rail at Cd Juarez & south, and several spots along the rail routes in the State of Chihuahua.  CHP passenger trains have not operated for a good week now through the Copper Canyon.

It was actually about 6 locomotives and 2 boxcars. There was also vandalism to the headlights and ditchlights.

One video shows the units rolling through a barricade made of stones piled on the tracks.

A second one shows the units passing then the damage to the gate.

Michael

Now I know why Missouri Pacific never used to allow their locomotives into Mexico.  The interchanges were handed off mid-way on the bridge over the Rio Grande.  

Maybe that should be an operating practice that U.P. might want to adopt.  

 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/10/17 13:56 by CA_Sou_MA_Agent.

spnudge Wrote:
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> I thought there were split point derails on both
> tracks because of the grade. Have to wait and
> see.
>
> Nudge

No split point derails showing on the 2009 track chart on the UP side, unless they were added since.  It shows a 1.0% grade on the UP side of the border (UP starts MP 65.6).  It's downhill pretty much all the way to Tucson from Nogales, good that it was quickly stopped.  UP should give the U.S. Customs Border Patrol officer that stopped the train a medal!  After 10 miles of 1% (MP 56), it drops to mostly 0.5% to MP 23, then 0.4%.  An 8-degree curve at MP 64.3 or 6-degree curves at MP 63.7 or MP 62.8 might have derailed a runaway. Duffy St. where SP's Cajon Pass potash runaway derailed is a 4-degree curve, but it was going very fast there.

mapboy

"I am free, Rankin. I am free".

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