Railroaders' Nostalgia > The Wreck of the Interbay Hook

There's a lot of discussion about the train/truck collision at Halifax NC and the fact that the police were there handling the movement...and apparently standing around and making noises that sound like duh as the train wiped out the truck and itself.

Back in the early 80s, BN had a big wreck at the horseshoe between Trinidad WA and Quicy WA. The hooks from Interbay (Seattle) and Spokane were sent to clean it up.

After it was all cleaned up, the Spokane hook went back to Spokane, or at least started to. The Interbay hook left the wreck for Interbay.

Hours later, the hook was out of Baring (WA), bearing down (sorry, couldn't help it) on Gold Bar. Meanwhile, down in Gold Bar, there was a lowboy with a Cat on it hung up on a crossing. The State Patrol stepped in and took charge. The cop commandeered the tractor from another semi that was blocked by all of this nonsense. The second tractor was chained up to the first and under the supervision of the cop, the two trucks managed to drag the trailer off of the crossing. Whew! The cop saved the day.

A few minutes later, the scene was being restored to normal. The helper tractor went back to his trailer, and with the aid of the traffic directing proficiency of the law enforcement folks on hand, traffic was moving.

The lights started flashing, the gates came down, the approaching train was blowing for the crossing, and our intrepid police officer had a front row seat, well....actually he was standing, as the engine, the hook, and most of the tool cars derailed and turned over at 35 mph.

It seems that missing in the Police Manual of Important Cop Stuff was that in addition to two rails, trains need rails that are upright and 56 1/2 inches apart at the top. The cop's hero move ripped up the south rail, partially turning it over. A quick check of the cleared scene showed two rails: yup, it's all good.

The Interbay hook was scrapped if I remember correctly. The Spokane hook was intercepted as it approached Spokane and sent to Gold Bar to fetch its fallen colleague and locomotive out of the ditch. If I remember correctly, upon completing that chore, it continued west to become the Interbay Hook.

TAW



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/12/15 11:26 by TAW.

Good job of story telling!

Jim B

TAW Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> There's a lot of discussion about the train/truck
> collision at Halifax NC and the fact that the
> police were there handling the movement...and
> apparently standing around and making noises that
> sound like duh as the train wiped out the truck
> and itself.
>
> Back in the early 80s, BN had a big wreck at the
> horseshoe between Trinidad WA and Quicy WA. The
> hooks from Interbay (Seattle) and Spokane were
> sent to clean it up.
>
> After it was all cleaned up, the Spokane hook went
> back to Spokane, or at least started to. The
> Interbay hook left the wreck for Interbay.
>
> Hours later, the hook was out of Baring (WA),
> bearing down (sorry, couldn't help it) on Gold
> Bar. Meanwhile, down in Gold Bar, there was a
> lowboy with a Cat on it hung up on a crossing. The
> State Patrol stepped in and took charge. The cop
> commandeered the tractor from another semi that
> was blocked by all of this nonsense. The second
> tractor was chained up to the first and under the
> supervision of the cop, the two trucks managed to
> drag the trailer off of the crossing. Whew! The
> cop saved the day.
>
> A few minutes later, the scene was being restored
> to normal. The helper tractor went back to his
> trailer, and with the aid of the traffic directing
> proficiency of the law enforcement folks on hand,
> traffic was moving.
>
> The lights started flashing, the gates came down,
> the approaching train was blowing for the
> crossing, and our intrepid police officer had a
> front row seat, well....actually he was standing,
> as the engine, the hook, and most of the tool cars
> derailed and turned over at 35 mph.
>
> It seems that missing in the Police Manual of
> Important Cop Stuff was that in addition to two
> rails, trains need rails that are upright and 56
> 1/2 inches apart at the top. The cop's hero move
> ripped up the south rail, partially turning it
> over. A quick check of the cleared scene showed
> two rails: yup, it's all good.
>
> The Interbay hook was scrapped if I remember
> correctly. The Spokane hook was intercepted as it
> approached Spokane and sent to Gold Bar to fetch
> its fallen colleague and locomotive out of the
> ditch. If I remember correctly, upon completing
> that chore, it continued west to become the
> Interbay Hook.
>
> TAW

Thomas similar story here in jersey with the rehab of the former P-RSL then Amtrak now NJT Atlantic City Line but an incident was averted ... during the rehab non revenue work trains were running albeit at restricted speed back and forth while MW and C&S forces brought the line up to class 4 standards ... all the crossings were on the schedule to be rehabbed but in no particular order of importance so crews were bouncing all around according to the permits being approved ... well one day at Linden Ave in Lindenwold,NJ same situation sans law enforcement a low boy got hung up on the crossing that hadn't been redone yet ... well with some brute force by the tractor and truck driver he was able to free the trailer and backed up and with the gerbils in his brain running at full force the driver gets a running start thinking it won't happen again if he goes faster and he was right he made it ... only problem was took 9ft of rail head with him in the process leaving a 9ft gap of rail base that had continuity to activate the crossing protection ... LUCKILY there were a lot of railroad workers running back and forth the 60 mile line for various reasons and one took the Linden Ave crossing and just came upon the broken rail in the crossing by happenstance ... it would've never been detected because it was in the crossing and not really visible unless you were lokking for it ... so by the grace of God it was found before one of the work trains ran over it and turned a normal good day into a really bad day

Posted from Android



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/12/15 14:43 by Out_Of_Service.

Ya Know, truth is stranger than fiction, and you just can't make this stuff up! More stories please!

Did the BN send the WSP the bill?

WAF Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Did the BN send the WSP the bill?

Don't know, but I hope so. I was working the Coast Line job in the next room. There were a lot of pretty upset folks in suits in the office.

TAW

Oh no, not the mighty D-253:

http://www.pbase.com/clivew/image/105044779

http://www.pbase.com/clivew/image/109203063

Had never heard that story, pretty amazing. This may be the replacement hook, I'll have to look at the dates on the slides.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/12/15 18:01 by TCnR.

In the early 1980s we rebuilt a road crossing at Rice, TX, between Corsicana and Dallas.
This is a secondary line with maybe six moves a day.
After we were done that afternoon and everyone left the scene, a lo-boy truck came over the crossing and ripped out one rail
BEFORE EVEN ONE TRAIN HAD USED THE NEW TRACK.
It's not even funny 30 years on.

This may be the wreck, looks like a grain train stringlined on the loop after colliding with a car at a grade crossing. Article says 40 freight cars and two engines, May 25, 1989:

http://sdp45.blogspot.com/2013/04/quincy-derailment.html

http://sdp45.blogspot.com/2013/03/1989-quincy-derailment.html

Had not seen this site before, could be interesting.

My big hook photos would be 1980/1986 or so.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/21/15 21:20 by TCnR.

TCnR Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> This may be the wreck, looks like a grain train
> stringlined on the loop after colliding with a car
> at a grade crossing. Article says 40 freight cars
> and two engines, May 25, 1989:

Not the one, but I sure remember that night. I knew what it was as soon as I way the OWY on its side. I was Pacific Chief. This isn't at the loop, although the one at the loop in the hook story was indeed a stringlined train if I remember correctly. This one was at the East Siding Switch at Quincy.

The guys in the car were drinking and also running from cops (although the story doesn't say that-maybe the cops didn't want to admit it). They tried to get across ahead of 600 (I think that is the number, used to be 130: Interbay-Yardley drag) to put some space between themselves and the cops. They didn't make it. The engine hit the car and instead of getting hung up on the engine, it shot down the track ahead of 600 and wiped out a switchstand, cocking the switch. 600 then split the switch at track speed. The crew walked away from it, but had to climb the ballast and dirt as it was accumulating in the cab as the engine was sliding along on its side. If I remember correctly, when it came to a stop, they got out by climbing out the window on the fireman's side (that's an old term, isn't it-for the younger folks, that's the left side of the engine). There were beer cans spread all around...and the guys in the car didn't make it.

I don't think I called the hook for this one. It was in a very accessible place and all we used was Mid Mountain (one of the original wreck services, before Hulcher)

TAW



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/22/15 11:38 by TAW.

What a fascinating story Mr. White. I enjoyed reading it very much, it answers a few questions i've been pondering, and also opens up a few new doors for me to explore. Thank you very much for taking the time to post and share it with us.

Now...if only somebody had some pictures showing any of the local big hooks working the Quincy wreck....or any others on the hill. Somebody's got to have some.

Dow