Nostalgia & History > SP story: When 22 was too much [1994]

SP had a little boo boo when 5 loaded vehicle flatcars derailed and tipped over at Newcastle 7-26-1994. To get the line cleared, the decision was made to hold all wetbound traffic via flagman at Colfax and use the Colfax Helper power to drag unaffected loaded autoracks back to Colfax. It was a very slow trip since very little traffic would ever run on the wrong main, save for MoW detours and occasional emergency moves. Hence, large amounts of flange oil had accumulated and caused the power duo to slip. Witness SP 8367 and 7381 stall while trying to drag 22 loaded autoracks eastbound back to Colfax.

And no I didn't grease the rails to make my video more entertaining.

West Applegate CA
July 1994

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When a train stalls from slippage how do you get it started again?   Get out and throw more sand under the locomotive wheels?

Todd Clark
Canyon Country, CA
Trainorders.com

webmaster Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> When a train stalls from slippage how do you get
> it started again?   Get out and throw more sand
> under the locomotive wheels?

Or do you release the brakes and let gravity drag you backwards a bit to try again?  Can you reverse to try the same thing, or will the rails be too slippery for the engines to even push backwards?

Nathan