Nostalgia & History > Maroon Monday

A little different Maroon Monday.
Slide date on all is May 1974.
The train (don't recall its symbol) was Eastbound at Minooka, Illinois.
The cars ahead of the caboose rocked off the track and in so doing took the caboose along with them.
The crew rode it out and was not seriously injured.
The RI had a TT special instruction that cabooses could not be coupled to covered hoppers because
covered hoppers were susceptible to harmonic rocking.  Generally on grain trains. they would have a 
40 foot box car ahead of the caboose.  The thinking was that if the hopper rocked off, the box car would
not take the caboose with it.
zr190

---

---

---

Oh well.........so much for that idea.  ;)

There were so many of these derailments in the mid-west and east during the mid 70's.  In many cases the rails were maintained to 3rd world standards as bankruptcy was the standard for many once proud railroads.

A former trainmaster at Alliance NE told me of the same problem with grain hoppers 'walking' off the jointed rail on Crawford Hill NE.  Welded rail cured it but was probably not an option available to the RI as it began the long slide into oblivion.

Wasn't my fault.
Never was in a derailment on the Rock in my four years there. (1972-76)

Bob Krieger
Cheyenne, WY

I bet they definitely spilled their coffee. Trainmen hate that!

Looks like the suits in photo 2 are using up their pack of cigarettes.
Any one ID them ?

Looks like the derailed cars just missed taking out that signal box by the signal.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/09/21 06:26 by Englewood.