Looks like they had a train derailment in Tulsa over by the new ballpark just as the opening party was going on. From the pictures I saw it looked to be on the curve where the old ATSF line came into downtown and joined up with the BN at Elgin Ave. Anyone know what caused it? The railroader they were interviewing said that if there had been hazmat on board or if the wind had been blowing from the south they would have evacuated the ball park.
Saw a pic. Suspect it is on the SKOL's "Downtown" tracks. Back when I was with Watco, I've worked that small yard on the "Downtown Switcher" when on loan-out. Have a link for the video? As for the talkative railroader: IF he was a rank and file member of the Transportation Dept, well... there are times it's best for your career to keep your trap shut about something like a derailment. Comments to the media concerning a derailment are to be stated by Supervisors, not rank and file railroaders. Good way to get your butt in hot water. Andre
From the photo I saw it looked like they streamlined. All the turned over cars were on the inside of the curve and no track damage. Jerome
Terry, From the description provided I believe the term is similar to string line. On a curve or arc visualize the shortest distance between any two points. This is a strait line, on the inside of the curve or arc. With the dynamics of force, weight distribution and braking in train handling, these can combine to get out of hand or become imbalanced. The result can be to shorten the distance between two points, typically the front and rear, and to literally pull a train moving through a curve to the inside of the arc or to "straight line" the train. A "basic law of physics" as my dad, a civil engineer, was fond of saying. Common contributing elements singly or in combination leading to this undesired effect include applying too much power to fast on the head end, too heavy a train at the rear end (lighter cars near the pulling end), too much brake on the rear end (air breaks not fully released) and/or a stalled / slipping pusher while applying too much force moving forward. In addition, the sharper and longer the curve, the more resistance (ie friction) there is in the curve and the more dynamic forces want to shorten the distance between the ends. The straight line effect can been seen and demonstrated on model railroads too. Good reason alone to always check coupler trip pin heights! Today's railroad practice of adding distributed power units (DPU) on the rear of trains is in part an effort to help reduce the possibility of string lining by spreading the force pulling, pushing or holding back (air or dynamic braking) in balance at the same time. Added benefits of DPUs include quicker air brake application and release, shorter train line charging times and more consistent train line pressure (particularly in cold weather) by feeding from both ends. Hope this helps. Thanks! Mark
I discussed the situation with a friend of my brother and he used the term Mark mentioned - string lining. As Mark pointed out the effect is the same as holding one end of a curved string stationary while pulling on the other end - the string straightens out. I have noticed over the years that terminology, unless explained at the moment it is newly introduced to someone, coupled with poor pronunciation can result in newly formed nouns through misunderstanding. Examples: I was nearly a teenager before I finally recognized that my uncle's name wasn't Jerl - it was Gerald. Nearly the same for the name of a ditch formed when material is removed to form a raised section to place a roadbed on; bar ditch is really borrow ditch - from the fact that material is borrowed from an area to produce a raised area.
It was a 130 car SKOL train and I was told it was a train make up issue, loads, empties, loads and they basically laid over on the sharp curve coming onto our main line from the Watco yard into the Urban interlocking. No signal damage cept an old battery tub. |-|
I meant to type 'string lined' not 'streamlined'. Sorry for the confusion. BTW, Mark gave an excellent explanation. Jerome
Guys I heard the whole thing on my police scanner. I was monitoring the BNSF road channel on 160.355 when the dispatcher came on and said that there had been a derailment at highway T and 133 in Swedeborg. The dispatcher said they had 17 cars off the track and two were leaking a petroleum gas. The area near the derailment, and immediately downwind from the derailment, was evacuated until the leak was stopped. Later the dispatcher came back on the air and had the recovery crew bring some of the cars back to Newburg to be placed on the siding. It is interesting to note that the train involved in the wreck came through Newburg around 8:55 AM on April 6th, at a VERY high speed. I even told my wife that the train was going way over the speed limit. Well, about 9:35 AM the call came out that the train had derailed, so I guess the engineer is in big trouble now. FriscoGeorge
A buddy of mine took pics of the derailed cars- they all looked like empty covered hoppers. No hazmat, but as mentioned, the engineer has some 'splainin' to do.........
I agree, these days a heavy brake pipe reduction (15 lb or more) will actually send a road foreman (RFOE) a cell phone call/text and automaticaly download and send the data to the RFOE. An emergency application of the brakes will do the same if set up to do so. Just like the AEI type readers set up all over the RR that I think Terry is talking about, that auto downloads data and sends to someone in front of a desk in a cubicle, with a track chart and tells you if you blew the whistle at least 15 seconds but no more than 20 seconds, for every crossing with a whistle post, rapid throttle changes, more power on-line than needed, the list goes on and on, basically tells you what kind of engineer they think you are, good or bad. Definatley, not my Grandpa's RR anymore, for a long time. Some of it's good, some bad. You can attribute some or most to people that have in the past by virtue of a lawsuit and a (good or bad lawyer) cost the RR a great deal of money, and this is the RR's way to try and curtail that. You can't blame them for trying to protect themselves. You can't be a highballing hoghead anymore. Cant bring em in hot to a crew change, slide'em to a stop and get off anymore, well, you can do it, just not for very long.. There could have been a multitude of reasons things happened the way it did. I will give the crew the benefit of the doubt, and treat them like the professionals they are, until proven otherwise. From my perspective and only mine, I don't like not having my hand on the air on these newer units. Don't like moving a handle and relying on a wire to tell the computer, and if it agrees, then it will make the reduction. As engineer's we really do not have the actual hands on control that used to be. Again some good, some bad I guess. Tom in GJ
I would like to pipe in here with my 2 cents worth. When I was railroading......I would work the Cherryvale yard alot, and as trains came into the limits of the city, I was in charge of helping them get in, set out or pick up, or both, and get them gone. On one occasion....and just to back up a second, when they put the east leg of the Wye back in for trains to go North coming into town from Pittsburg and all points East, they had just put that stretch of track back in and put it in service no longer than 3 or 4 days prior to this incident, The "HAULAGE" train, coming in from the west, would pass the East switch, back up around the Wye, and then head south. On this particular day....When the train arrived, I was at the switch and had a JOB BRIEFING with the crew, then I boarded the rear car and we started the shove, The train had over 100 cars and when the rear car was almost to the crossing on the North end of town, BAM, the Emergency air went. All of a sudden the conductor informed me over the radio that WE WE'RE ON THE GROUND. This was my very first derailment EVER. I walked towards the head end to find a total disaster, in fact, the entire fiasco was witnessed by the Train Club once housed at the Santa Fe Depot in Cherryvale. I got to the head end to find what looked like a bomb had exploded under the tracks on this brand new stretch of rail. When the track foreman arrived, we were all immediately informed WE WERE FIRED!....Well When the Super intendant got there that of course all changed, but anyhow, after "The Tapes" were downloaded, it was discovered the Engineer was shoving in the 8th throttle position (WIDE OPEN) with a 16 pound reduction of the brakes. WOW! That is almost a full brake application. That was enough on that sharp a curve to really mess alot of things up. The Conductor was on the wrong side of the switch which if he hadn't been he coulda seen the derailment begin and coulda stopped the train, but the real problem lay in the hands of the engineer, who.....are ya'll ready for this.......had the train running, the brakes set, and in his hands, was his girl friend who he was.....I guess....trying to impress her as to how well he could run a train! Just a little funny there I thought I would share in light of all that is bein talked about. I guess what I am sayin is, With the new generation of Railroaders, and the technology of today actually catching up to the railroads, sometimes, the new Japanese Conductors as we call them, in short, computers, sometimes it aint such a bad thing to have an extra eye on things!
I hope that I am not ruining this thread, but did not know where to post this? Also did not know if it had been posted before? A list of five train order accidents concerning the Frisco is posted at : http://mysite.du.edu/~jcalvert/railway/trainord.htm#Quin
