Eastern Railroad Discussion > Another day, another train in emergency at Nemo.

Back in June, I posted about the problems caused by a train stalling going through Tunnels 22 and 24 on the CNO&TP:  https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?2,5047983,5047983

Today, NS 167 (Louisville - Chattanooga) was the unlucky train.  At approximately 1345 EDT, while heading down the hill from Lancing, TN, the train went into emergency with the head end in Tunnel 24, and the rear of the train still north of Tunnel 22.  The crew cut away their head end power and exited the Tunnel, where they were able to reestablish communications with the KY Dispatcher.  While waiting for the exhaust fumes to dissipate from the tunnel, the brainstorming on how to deal with the situation began.  Options were limited as the nearest available train was still over 100 miles away in Chattanooga (215 and 229 were around Burnside or about to leave, but I don't think anyone was even going to entertain the idea of using a hot pig train for this).  Things seemed to move rather quickly - Emory Gap Mechanical and a trainmaster were dispatched to assist, and a relief crew was called at Burnside to get a pair of light engines (7719 and 1192) and head south.

While waiting for the relief crew, the culprit was found - an air hose on an autorack - and fixed.  The relief crew arrived about 1730 and tied on to the rear of the train, the plan being to slowly shove the train through the tunnels so that the head end power could recouple.  Quick thinking by the dispatcher prevented another problem - it was decided to have the head end crew move their locomotives down to Oakdale, as he was concerned that when the DPU reestablished comms with the leaders, if the air pressures weren't matched the train would go into emergency again (my understanding of the side of the conversation I could hear).  The shove south started about 1830, and the single track was finally clear around 1930.

Meanwhile, 229 and 215 were waiting on 167 to get out of the way, and they finally made it south of Lancing a little before 2000.

I don't really see how things could have gone better given the situation.  Had another train north of them been closer, it might have been cleared up sooner, but that clearly wasn't an option.

Pic 1 - 167 Relief southbound at Andy Cooper Rd
Pic 2 - 215 sitting at Sunbright waiting to go south (229 had just run around them but I missed them)
Pic 3 - 167 head end power at Oakdale, staying out of the way of the shove south, about 1915.

Dan

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Nice heritage unit there.

Never rule out using a hot train to help clear up a mess.  I did it more than once.   Sometimes that's the best solution for everyone, including the hot train(s).  

In railroading, one never knows what may happen out on the road.