Derailments

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hoppercar
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Derailments

Post by hoppercar »

What's going on all over the country with all these derailments.??....the big mess in Ohio,. And now in the news I read about two more in Arizona....and Seattle area...I'm sure that's not all, there have been several more in the past few weeks, after the Ohio incident
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SPSteam2491
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Re: Derailments

Post by SPSteam2491 »

Nothing different other than there is more media coverage due to what happened in Ohio. In each year, the average number of derailments is almost 1,500 (see the article below). Makes sense considering the millions amount of miles train travel, the % of derailments to miles is prob really low.

Even in the small scale we have derailments. It happens.

https://time.com/6260906/train-derailme ... ow-common/
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Steggy
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Re: Derailments

Post by Steggy »

hoppercar wrote: Thu Mar 16, 2023 10:54 am What's going on all over the country with all these derailments.??....the big mess in Ohio,. And now in the news I read about two more in Arizona....and Seattle area...I'm sure that's not all, there have been several more in the past few weeks, after the Ohio incident
In my travels, I see plenty of dodgy track and am not surprised by how often trains end up on the ground. Also, every freight train seems to have at least one car that is not mechanically up to par, judging by the racket made when one of these “flat wheel specials” goes clanking past. Who knows how many cars are running around with bad wheel profiles, high flanges, marginal bearings, etc? Do we yet know why the NS train went off in East Palestine?

BTW, has anyone also noted that we’ve had a number of food processing plants go up in smoke? Strange things have been going on in this country for the last two years.
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tetramachine
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Re: Derailments

Post by tetramachine »

After the toxic derailment in Ohio. A report was published that mention overheated bearing boxes. First report to train conducted was at 150 degrees, then 250, then 450.

Then came the derailment. The article stated that above 400 the train was required to stop. Appears that was not done, or quickly.

Of course it's in the news so may not be true at all. Just what I read.
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jcbrock
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Re: Derailments

Post by jcbrock »

Just had an 8 car derailment here on the Portland & Western near Corvallis, Oregon last week. Low speed, 8 cars of woodchips, closed the line for a week as they cut the cars up in place. It's the kind that is not going to make much news. Anyone need mulch for their garden? Last I saw there was a pretty good pile you could get cheap!
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Bill Shields
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Re: Derailments

Post by Bill Shields »

ok...am I the only person that saw the blurb about 'loose wheels' on axles found / reported by NS on some 600+ known freight trucks built within the last 8 months from one manufacturer? FRA and AAR have an alert out about it, calling to get all of the subject trucks off the tracks.

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/norfo ... wheel-sets

just one of 100's of reprints of the problem...
Too many things going on to bother listing them.
pat1027
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Re: Derailments

Post by pat1027 »

Bill Shields wrote: Thu Mar 16, 2023 4:07 pm ok...am I the only person that saw the blurb about 'loose wheels' on axles found
No I saw it too related to the Springfield derailment. A series of cars have been taken out of service until wheel sets can be replaced.
tetramachine wrote: Thu Mar 16, 2023 12:10 pm After the toxic derailment in Ohio. A report was published that mention overheated bearing boxes. First report to train conducted was at 150 degrees, then 250, then 450.
The temperatures over ambient were lower than that but over the final three detectors there was an increase in temperature. The first two were below the alarm threshold. The car alarmed on the 3rd detector. The engineer began to stop and the derailment occurred shortly afterward. I was surprised that NS did not alarm on the trend, just the discrete value. The NTSB said the crew did what they were supposed to do. While they would be looking at NS's detector policies, the detector's were not causal. Roller bearings should not be operated to failure.
RThomp
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Re: Derailments

Post by RThomp »

Much more media coverage since the OH derailment, probably not any more actual derailments.

However... with PSR railroads are pushed to the limits with train lengths, lack of employees etc. Essentially large PE firms bought substantial stakes in RRs and pushed management to follow Hunter Harrison's approach to maximize profitability by running longer trains with fewer employees.
This has also had a negative affect on local industry service, with service in some cases dropping from 5 days a week to 2 days with little predictability on when the industry will get a switch.

I think also in some situations C1s RRs have reduced maintenance personnel and required the same number of people to cover larger segments of the railroad. That being said, no doubt railroads now are safer than back int he 70s/80s.
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ALCOSTEAM
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Re: Derailments

Post by ALCOSTEAM »

Bill Shields wrote: Thu Mar 16, 2023 4:07 pm ok...am I the only person that saw the blurb about 'loose wheels' on axles found / reported by NS on some 600+ known freight trucks built within the last 8 months from one manufacturer? FRA and AAR have an alert out about it, calling to get all of the subject trucks off the tracks.

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/norfo ... wheel-sets

just one of 100's of reprints of the problem...
This is true. The only cars I know of so far is the coil steel cars that NS recently bought. The removed wheel sets have to be specifically marked so as they do not get put back in as a new wheel set as they still look like a new, no rust and stickers still on them.
As for derailments they go in cycles and right now we are seeing what a period of low maintenance brings about. There are probably 25 little derailments for every one that gets some media attention. PSR has been good for RJ Corman, Hulchers, and the like.

The E. Palastine derailment is also a product of PSR. That train was basically two trains combined (or more if cars were added at Lafayette or Elkhart IN) and had distributed power. PSR means there are so few crews the railroads basically have to be running these 15-18K foot or more long trains to keep cars moving. And yes the FRA is on the NS like flies on cow patties. Like most jobs that take some physical exertion and common sense the railroads are having big problems hiring, used to be a hiring session might have 100 people show up, now its 5 to 10 and of those many will leave when they hear they will get drug tested or will fail a drug test. Railroads will have to change their ways, good workers have so many options right now that don't include all the negatives that railroads and especially ones that went off the deep end with PSR have to offer.
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makinsmoke
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Re: Derailments

Post by makinsmoke »

Specific Railroad jobs just like airlines and other transportation jobs are DOT covered positions. Yes, they will get drug tested, and yes, they have to pass. Those are Federal regulations.

That is one of the job qualifications. If one can’t abide by that, then there are plenty of other jobs available.

And personally, I’m ok with knowing my pilot or engineer has to pass a random drug test.

Just my two cents.
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Bill Shields
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Re: Derailments

Post by Bill Shields »

Amen to rhat
Too many things going on to bother listing them.
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ALCOSTEAM
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Re: Derailments

Post by ALCOSTEAM »

makinsmoke wrote: Thu Mar 16, 2023 10:17 pm Specific Railroad jobs just like airlines and other transportation jobs are DOT covered positions. Yes, they will get drug tested, and yes, they have to pass. Those are Federal regulations.

That is one of the job qualifications. If one can’t abide by that, then there are plenty of other jobs available.

And personally, I’m ok with knowing my pilot or engineer has to pass a random drug test.

Just my two cents.
drugs and drug use are one of the largest societal problems we have in this country. The overall acceptability of that culture needs to end and proper punishment handed out, none of this social worker cure business, that is just dumping money down the sewer. We don't and won't get anywhere with that fake solution.
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