Railroaders' Nostalgia > GCOR Rule 6.5

.   .   .    GCOR Rule 6.5
HANDLING CARS AHEAD of ENGINES  
"When cars or engines are shoved and conditions require, a crew member must provide protection for the movement. Cars or engines must not be shoved to foul other tracks until it is safe to do so"
This is from my more than decade old copy of the GCOR so I am sure there have been plenty of additions but you get my drift. In THIS case, FOR THEIR GO HOME MOVE, a crew at BNSF Watson yard, in Wilmington, CA, was shoving a cut of auto racks into track 31 from the top end to the air spot and calling it a day. Well, they DID call it a day and were long gone before someone called in from the neighborhood at the bottom end of the yard. The crew watched the shove from the top end of the yard forty car lengths away with the rear portion of the cut going around a curve ten car lengths from the derail. The bottom end of the yard is protected by an alligator spring derail because of it's descending grade from top to bottom. You can come into the yard from the bottom end without stopping but not out. The alligator worked as intended. They were VERY lucky as only twenty feet beyond the derail is a street crossing. It is also amazing that the derailed car actually jumped the rail to get into the field AND the top heavy LOADED cars stayed up right? The air hoses never parted so they shoved to the air spot as if nothing had gone amiss. Also of note, today, the car would have been in someones back yard as houses have been built here since the incident. Guess who got stuck correcting their rule violation!
JB
 



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 07/21/19 21:56 by 3rdswitch.

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Definitely a "go home move" - and stay there for a long time!!!

It's been tried many times, trying to shove 50 cars into a track that only holds 40 cars (more cars than the track holds is what I'm getting at) and it never works - never has, never will.
 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/21/19 19:26 by Railbaron.

When I first worked out of Eugene Oregon for SP I was told a rather interesting story.  When the right of way was moved to accommodate a new reservoir (Dexter???) the stub end was left in.  One of the crews shoved a few too many cars in blind.  The stub end was right where a bridge used to cross a road, the bridge had been removed.  The cars went down the slope and a woman drove in to them at night and was killed.  I have to be careful here because I don't know if the Conductor is still alive but rumor had it that he was the Local Chairman at the time and got out of it by showing the company how to save money by putting the Springfield jobs on "in a different location", ie deadheading vs not etc.  If true he saved his skin and cost a huge amount of money to his brother rails.

So in a “minor” derailment like this, does the cargo of new autos still need to go to scrap?

Desmond Praetzel, “4451 Puff”

Good question? I would doubt it but you never know?
JB

Ooh! I had  a few of these myself.And according to the rule, I was at fault.Bill Webb

We had our moments on the Ventura County Railway too. This was the end result of blind shoving part way over a spring switch then pulling ahead. !3 cars worked daily on this move, 14 not so much.

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4451Puff Wrote:
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> So in a “minor” derailment like this, does the
> cargo of new autos still need to go to scrap?
>
> Desmond Praetzel, “4451 Puff”


I think only if the car derails and lands on their side . Or if the autos are damaged or ejected from the rr car.

Posted from Android

Or how not to spot tri-levels!!! 

https://streamable.com/6uqnq

BTW, I have no idea where this is. I do hear what sounds like a Russian voice in the very beginning but I'm sure this is in North America somewhere based on the equipment. 
 



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 09/04/19 18:12 by Railbaron.

iIIRC,there was a report on here one time of such a off eot shoves at end of harbor lead in Redwood City?

Steve Donaldson
Pacific Grove, CA