Busy Weekend
Cecil Rose
"<<Big Charlie>>" <chas...@aol.com> wrote:
>All--
> I had an exciting weekend--was involved in a car-train accident.
>Fortunately, I was running the train. It won.
The train _always_ wins.
> It was kind of weird. We had volunteers from one of the
>Connersville service clubs (Masons or Elks or something) driving vans
>loaned by car dealerships that were shuttling customers from some rather
>remote parking lots to the station for
>our "Thomas the Tank Engine" visit. I was the engineer of record, my
>"second engineer" was at the controls and we were pushing a train of
>four cabooses (50 foot long each) and 3 coaches (two 80-footers and an
>90 footer). We were blowing the horn for the crossing, the brakeman was
>blowing his air whistle, and this guy in the van, fortunatley after he
>had dropped off the people he had shuttled, heard the horn, saw no
>traffic from the left, (the natural direction an American looks for
>traffic) started out on the track and saw our train approaching on his
>right. He tried to reverse, hit park instead, and the step of the first
>coach rearranged the right front of the (very new) van, as the train
>threw the van clear of the track. Also damaged the step on the coach.
>We had a big headlight mounted on that coach, and were going only about
>8-9 mph. Larry (the engineer at the controls) hit the emergency brake.
>I could not see any of this friom my side of the cab. It took us about
>130 feet to stop (yes, even from that speed). There was a bush at the
>crossing that restricted the driver's vision.
Where was this, Charlie. We saw 'Thomas' at Spencer, NC, the weekend
before last. Were you the 'Thomas' train, or a different one (they had
three going at our weekend?
____________________________________________________________
Cecil Rose <ala...@earthlink.net>
Earthlink address temporarily hors d' combat
but you can try cr...@mail.dot.state.nc.us
Cary, North Carolina
Member: Los Angeles Science Fantasy Society, Critters
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Bob Lawson
> The train _always_ wins.
Just a question, what is the average mass of a loaded freight train?
(I hope the question isn't too broad)
If it is too broad, do you know what the mass of this train was?
BOb
--Bob
A highbrow is the kind of person who looks at a sausage and thinks of Picasso.
A. P. Herbert (1890-1971), British author, politician. Mr. Haddock, a witness, in Uncommon Law, "Is 'Highbrow' Libellous?" (1935).
The ballot is stronger than the bullet.
Abraham Lincoln (1809-65), U.S. president. Speech, 19 May 1856, Bloomington, Ill.
Wayne Morgan
Cecil Rose wrote:
> "<<Big Charlie>>" <chas...@aol.com> wrote:
>
> >All--
> > I had an exciting weekend--was involved in a car-train accident.
> >Fortunately, I was running the train. It won.
>
> The train _always_ wins.
>
Depends upon what you mean by "winning". I was on an Illinois Central passenger
train which hit a gasoline tanker at a crossing. Killed the truck driver and
the three crewmen in the lead engine. Eerie thing was, I had a summer job as a
locomotive fireman on that run just the summer before....
Wayne Morgan
<<Big Charlie>>
Eli--
You may assume no injury. But quite a volume of paperwork.
--
<<Big Charlie>>
"The history of progress is a long, long list of specialists who were
dead wrong when they were the most certain." --SIASL
<<Big Charlie>>
Cecil--
Well, the train does not quite always win. We had a accident in
Indiana yesterday in which a two unit commuter trains hit a truck (with
bad brakes, overloaded, improperly secured load, and in\mproper logs)
and knocked a coil of steel off of the semi-traler and it landed on the
train, killing 3 passengers. Charlges against the truck driver are
being considered--
The event was at the WVRR (Whitewater Valley RR) in Connersville,
IN, where I have been an active volunteer for over 23 years. Thomas is
traveling from RR to RR on his tour. Under his extremely well done
exterior beats the heart of a 12-ton Plymouth industrial switcher.
Thomas carried two coaches, but had the help of one of our locomotives
to do so. He was only about half the height of one of our coaches. He
was, however, having operative problems; and even had this not been the
case, did not have train brakes as part of his equipment. He ran a
route of about 1/2 mile round trip. I was on a supplemental train that
ran a 5-mile round trip route.
<<Big Charlie>>
Bob--
Average is a bit of a broad term, but I will give you some ranges.
Your "traditional" 40 foot freight car weighed 30 to 40 tons empty.
Most could carry about twice their weight in cargo. More modern freight
cars ofter run 100 feet and have a gross weight (car + cargo) of up to
250 tons. Most locomotive units are in the 125-175 ton range. Some are
heavier.
A "typical" freight train varies with the terrain. Rail equipment
is usually powered at anywhere from 1 to 5 HP per ton. Less in flat
areas, more, even much more, (helpers, etc.) in mountainous areas. A
typical mainline train in Indiana would be about 5 locomotive units of
about 3000 HP each and about 50-70 cars. (Some will be empties.)
The train I was working with was 4 cabooses (about 40 ton each) and
two "normal" coaches (about 50 ton each) and a combine coach (part
baggage car) weighing about 60 tons. The locomotive was 660 HP and 99
tons. (And 50 years old this year.)
Wayne Morgan
<> wrote:
Hey BC,
Do you work the run to Metamora?
Wayne Morgan
<<Big Charlie>>
Wayne--
You wrote--
>Do you work the run to Metamora?
Yes, I do. I am engineer from Connersville to Metamora the second
Sunday of each month. I am engineer on the Metamora Shuttle the 4th
Sunday of each month. I am in my 24th year as a volunteer there. And
all of our engineers are FRA certified.
Wayne Morgan
<> wrote:
Susie & I road the Christmas Train to Metamora with some folks from
church a couple years ago. Unfortunately, we haven't been able to go back
since. It was a fun ride.
I did a summer as a locomotive fireman for the Illinois Central when I was
in high school. That was an interesting job; hard to stay awake sometimes,
though. I don't enjoy being on a boat of any sort out on the ocean; makes
me queasy. The motion of a train, though, that puts me right to sleep...
Wayne
<<Big Charlie>>
Wayne--
Two years ago when wah I first rebuilt the (controls of) the steam
generator we use to heat the trains for those runs. Unfortunately, a
coil weakened by previous overheating caused by the control panel
needing rebuilding gave out after only a couple of runs. So last fall
the boiler itself was rebuilt; it ran perfectly this past season.
I was on only a couple of trains that year--my car gave out in
Western Maryland and I was involved in repairs and getting it back.