Eastern Railroad Discussion > Just Barely Coupled.... Doesn't Look Right At All

While out on the Atlanta North H Line yesterday just north of Whitaker Yard in Austell on NS 177 Elkhart, IN - Macon, GA while it was holding the main I saw this.
It didn't look right to me but what do I know??  I inserted the car #'s just in case someone with the NS needs to have this looked into??
NSSpike

Phil Maton
Villa Rica, GA

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Maybe they didn’t have one of those Kadee scale coupler height gauges available. 😉

Posted from iPhone

The thing is I made it a point to look at the other end of both cars and the couplers were the correct fit to the adjoining cars.
Thinking it is a sagging draw bar?? But again...what do I know?
NSSpike
 

Phil Maton
Villa Rica, GA



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/15/20 06:44 by NSSpike.

Car numbers would help, when trying to identify the corrective action.

It’s important when reporting such
Hazards, that as much information
about the ‘exception condition’ be reported for rapid response.
Car numbers, municipality location, date, time, your point of contact information.

On this case, if the car number is known, communication about the condition can be relayed in a matter of minutes...

What good is this picture to someone interested in acting on your ‘report’?

Your intent is appreciated, but accurate information is more valuable —- responsible people
always appreciate sharp-eyed critiques, but taking quick action
by responders requires relevant reporting of all the knowable facts..

Wes Camp

Posted from iPhone

Point #2...

Every vehicle, car , loco and container in service has RFID tags... computers know exactly where each RFID & it’s related car/container/ loco is located...

When tracking down this condition,
the party doing the search can
identify the car and it’s whereabouts instantaneously.., ( a jack and a temporary fix could be on the way Immediately; now, time is lost
guessing about the location of hazardous situation!)

A legible snapshot of the car numbers could be critical in this case....

That’s why complete reporting is useful....

This is the 21st century, after all.
Be better, do better, feel better..
Be proud to make reports like this,
Take pride in detailed reporting ..

Wes

Posted from iPhone



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/15/20 07:31 by wcamp1472.

looks like one rough bounce away from disloging the coupler and causing a train separation

nick

I wouldn't worry about it.  You can rest assured it had a quality thoroughbred inspection at whatever yard it came from & the car inspectors didn't bother with it.

nsrlink Wrote:
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> I wouldn't worry about it.  You can rest assured
> it had a quality thoroughbred inspection at
> whatever yard it came from & the car inspectors
> didn't bother with it.
I disagree with you.  This could cause a real problem if it broke besides causing the train to stop, there could be a hidden problem we cannot see.  Report it to the railroad ASAP.  If a car inspector allowed this to go out like this, shame on him.  There are bosses who would fire a person who deliberately allowed a car with a problem like this to be put into a train.
John in White Marsh, Maryland

I once saw two cars (an 86 foot hi-cube box car and a tank car, in pre-shelf coupler days), on a long Penn Central freight, with what admitadlly was probably a greater mismatch than is the case here. About seventy five miles down the line the train crew reported that they had gone into emergency. It was dicovered that the train had parted- between a hi-cube box car and a tank car. Making matters worse, the rear section had run into the front section with such force that the tank car had ridden up the end of the box car and had wedged itself inside the box car.
About a year later I saw a similar situation which I did report; upon inspection both cars were set off.

ClubCar Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> nsrlink Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > I wouldn't worry about it.  You can rest
> assured
> > it had a quality thoroughbred inspection at
> > whatever yard it came from & the car inspectors
> > didn't bother with it.
> I disagree with you.  This could cause a real
> problem if it broke besides causing the train to
> stop, there could be a hidden problem we cannot
> see.  Report it to the railroad ASAP.  If a car
> inspector allowed this to go out like this, shame
> on him.  There are bosses who would fire a person
> who deliberately allowed a car with a problem like
> this to be put into a train.
> John in White Marsh, Maryland

The post you quoted was sarcasm John

 

ClubCar Wrote:

> I disagree with you.  This could cause a real
> problem if it broke besides causing the train to
> stop, there could be a hidden problem we cannot
> see.  Report it to the railroad ASAP.  If a car
> inspector allowed this to go out like this, shame
> on him.  There are bosses who would fire a person
> who deliberately allowed a car with a problem like
> this to be put into a train.
> John in White Marsh, Maryland

You missed the sarcasm; try again.

blanked the in un-edited version,
By author..



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/15/20 12:33 by wcamp1472.

Re: nsrlink...

Yes, on the second ‘read’,
I finally saw the sarcasm...
hint was ‘thoroughbred’ ...

But, the sarcasm was well hidden ...
Let’s all get better at reporting the obvious safety hazards that crop up...

But be sure to include the car numbers, and the relevant specifics
at the date and time the hazard was
identified..

And, yes, it’s common for ‘running separations’ to occur.... but with the diesel motive power reduced to ‘idle’ and the train brakes all in emergency, a heavy cut of cars on the rear will invariably smack into the stopped
front section (with no power) ... the proverbial ‘sitting duck’..

On an early excursion with the NKP 759, ‘69 or ‘70, we had a separation
at the rear few cars.. ( a steam heat connector near the coupler cut-lever was culprit)...

While I was firing for Engineer Charlie Strunk, returning to NJ from
Mauch Chunk, Pa., we were cruising at about 40-per, when the train went into ‘emergency’ —- from unknown cause!

Charlie immediately stood up, pulls the 759’s throttle wide-open,
bailed-off the driver brakes... and dragged the dozen-or-so coaches
( all with brakes applied in emergency) in a determined move
out-run the separation... no matter
it’s position in the train...

Charlie's reaction was instantaneous, immediate, and he was focused on getting away as fast as we could..

Well! The 759 jumped at the opportunity to commit... the ol’ girl
roared to life, the coaches were stretched out and no match for the engine’s momentum... the fire was in good shape... and yes, we escaped a possible run-in from the
separated cars...

Charlie’s steam experience and his
first-hand knowledge of what can happen to the passengers in case
of a run-in collision.

All of his immediate actions
were basically muscle-memory,
reflexive, and reliable...

The Big Engine’s power was the
secret to a controlled stop, without incident. Charlie allowed the train to run a good distance, before stopping.. After, recovering the full recharge and brake test, we cautiously backed toward the separated cars..

We recoupled, moved the offending metal (steam line) culprit, and continued the return trip.

I was thoroughly impressed with Charlie's quick action—- he knew immediately what the danger was, and how to minimize the risk—-
he had no-way to know how a NKP
Berk would react— and he was not disappointed...

The few skidding excursion cars were no effective drag against a full throttle and full boiler pressure..

I learned so much in the flash of
time that it took Charlie to leap into action—- entirely by reflexes, fear and determination to out-run the
break-in-two, all the while not knowing which half of the train was the bigger mass...

The separated section was slowing,
but an unknown rate, the engine was powering away from the slowing section and that’s what avoided any injuries...

Now you know. It’s one life-example of why I’ve never wanted to drive a train—/ there’s too much that can go wrong... and that takes a while to figure out what to do!

Charlie’s experience and training sprung into action without hesitation... and in my experience,
younger, less experienced engineers would have come to s stop way too soon ... with potentially disastrous outcomes..
hey, if the train is in emergency, you want to stop, right?

With passenger trains, the answer is if you’ve got the power, outrun
the separation as fast as you can..

With the P.C. switch on Dismals you
have NO power and run-ins are unavoidable..

I’ll get off my soap-box, now!

W.

Posted from iPhone

 Obviously this joint won't make, another example of what can wrong. It was a bulkhead log car with side stakes loaded with short logs. The big Wagner log loader picked up the last set of logs on the car, logs snagged  on the stakes and kept lifting. The car lifted enough that is came off the center pin and dropped back down off the pin.
Doug

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Not that unusual when there is slack in the train and a load is couple to an empty. Separation do happen but not as often as you might think.

Posted from Android

You know a little Viagra will get that bad boy right back mating couplers again.

It's easy to be an armchair railroader, but as a car inspector for a class one let me explain how this works nowadays. We find high-low couplers all the time, we call them in and a boss goes out and looks at it. If there's the slightest chance it will make it over the road, it goes. God forbid if you're the boss that causes a delay in their precious precision departure schedule. It's VERY frustrating on our end. All you can do is cover your own behind and make sure there's a paper trail and you provide all information over the radio or the phone because they're both recorded. A few years ago the offending car would have been bad ordered, spotted on a running repair track and a new shim welded in place. 


ernie

Could be the car needs a shim on the drawbar housing, could be bad track profile.

We had a mud sag in the rail at an undergrade bridge between Philly and Wilmington on CSX. The spot got worse and worse with the spring rains. Finally, one afternoon, we were coasting through there with 3 SD-40’s and a light train and the engines came apart at the dip in the rail. The walkway chains bent the grab irons so bad that the car department had to torch the railings so we could recouple.

Instead of fixing the soft spot in the roadbed, they slapped a 25mph speed restriction on the bridge after that incident.

wmfan3798 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> It's easy to be an armchair railroader, but as a
> car inspector for a class one let me explain how
> this works nowadays. We find high-low couplers all
> the time, we call them in and a boss goes out and
> looks at it. If there's the slightest chance it
> will make it over the road, it goes. God forbid if
> you're the boss that causes a delay in their
> precious precision departure schedule. It's VERY
> frustrating on our end. All you can do is cover
> your own behind and make sure there's a paper
> trail and you provide all information over the
> radio or the phone because they're both recorded.
> A few years ago the offending car would have been
> bad ordered, spotted on a running repair track and
> a new shim welded in place. 
> ernie

EXACTLY!!  Thank you very much!