Runaway Trains

[gatorback]

So how does a train runaway?  And I'm not talking about a train on a bride! 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/1332724.stm

I'm lookging for a video on the latest runaway train.  Has anybody seen one?

This one hits close to home. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KnPdtHl9ZQ&feature=related

This one is cool.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFSIdi5_4tU&feature=related

wow

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9u9Vl2tPJaQ&feature=related

[Ocklawaha]

So how does a train runaway?  And I'm not talking about a train on a bride!

It is usually the combination of several things going wrong in some weird order. Much like ANY accident. My #1 would be someone tampering with the locomotive itself or the track. This is a common problem with railroads in remote locations, but much less so in developed nations. Sometimes joy riding teens pick up enough info off the net or games to pull it off. Others just beat or cut the locks off the track turnouts, but even this signals the train so the hit is usually not hard. There is also a dead man control on locomotives that sounds a beep at different times throughout the operation of the engine. Something like 10 seconds, 70 seconds, 44 seconds... no way to predict it. If you hold it down or do not respond with a tap, it kills the engine and sets the brakes. I'd like to know how THAT failed in the first video.


One of the last of the GREAT Alco models, some later ones had big troubles. Local Jax roads were also big Alco buyers, except FEC.


A typical shortline Alco, today, doing what Alcos do in a pull. A few seconds quicker and the smoke may have been black as soot.


As for the "cool" red locomotive, probably still intact and nothing wrong here, in spite of the comments! Alco diesels from locomotives power the NASA crawlers too. They are infamous for overloading on acceleration and the fans take some time to blow out the smoke, resulting in the railroad community calling them honorary steam engines. They were nasty beasts, dirty as hell, sound just like the video running high, running low more like a coffee pot that chirps. Out of production since the late 60's many shortlines still seek them as HP to HP they will pull the socks off almost any other engine on the road. Moreover, they can tip-toe over track that would scare a roller coaster designer without derailment. I miss them, never found out where we stashed the Colombian stock of them, but probably in some river fill project! Ugg! #!*&%@*!+

Ocklawaha

[gatorback]

This one is not for the faint of heart.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktPB7wI2hIc&feature=related

So, how often does this happen...surely there's statistics.

[Lunican]

Runaways are typically cuts of cars, not full trains. They start rolling and keep moving until something bad happens.

[gatorback]

I see that.  I would think the breaks would apply if the airline is cut?  Turns out the runaway today was caused by somebody starting up the power and letter 'er roll. 

[Ocklawaha]

Gatorback it's impossible to tell from the film quality what happened here. It looks like the pavement where the people are standing (in the middle of the street) might be or have been another line to the left? There are a couple of things that can cause this type of wreck with rail vehicles, ALL avoidable.

1. This is a trailing move through a turnout. Keep in mind that most/many streetcar turnouts only have ONE moving point-rail where regular trains use two. Something afoul with that point might have lifted the wheel off the rail and onto the flange long enough to go completely nuts.

2. The flangeway on streetcar track is kept clean of hard debris, like a train, it will simply crush most "junk" that gets in the wheel area. However, something like a large bolt, or spike rolled under or vibrated from the pavement into the flangeway would foul it enough that something MIGHT crawl over it.

3. Rails on sharp turns take horrible abuse and must be rotated, as well as ground down. Lack of proper attention to detail may have caused a slicing in the side of the rail which was never properly ground smooth. Rather like hacking the surface of a carrot or running a plane against the grain of a piece of wood, the resulting slivers can be huge, and dangerous.

4. Rails on sharp curves should be kept greased to prevent said cutting action and to encourage the wheels to glide along the surface without a flange cutting into them.

5. Older tram cars such as these screach as they round these tight corners because the wheels on the inside of the sharp curve travel a much shorter distance then the outside wheels on the curve. This causes slippage which can also result in the above track abuses. Newer cars have automotive type wheel/axle arrangements that avoid this problem.

6. In proper track work, a turnout like the one shown, a trailing movement, (that is one coming from the back of the moveable rail points, rather then head on into them) the spur track that the car is coming off of would really be just a fraction higher then the mainline rails, as the track merges, not only do the rails merge, but the wheels from siding to mainline, are lowered, or gently sat down onto the mainline. This is NOT your lionel train set.

7. Lastly, the wheels themselves could have been worn, the flange cracked or broken on such a curve could lead the entire boggie to follow off the rail as it "hunted" through the curve. It was a similar problem to this that cause the horrific wreck of the German HSR train a few years back. Believe it or not, they were using an old American trolley car wheel trick, "re-designed" for High Speed... NOT! These were quiet paper wheels, or wheels with layers of paper between tire and wheel. Worked great on old streetcars to keep them silent, but at 170 MPH they started to crack, and one flew apart... Duh?

Ocklawaha

[gatorback]

Thanks for contributing to my understanding of this matter. I'll have to take a peek at the RedLine cars to see the new wheel design.  The MF is around the corner from where I live.  I'll go to there now.  I hear them testing....

[Lunican]

http://www.youtube.com/v/9KnPdtHl9ZQ