Rail Crew Tried Brakes Before Derailment (2 dead, spilled thousands of gallons of fuel)

[Omaha Steve]

http://apnews.excite.com/article/20061111/D8LAHKH82.html

Rail Crew Tried Brakes Before Derailment
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Nov 10, 7:32 PM (ET)

By DON THOMPSON

BAXTER, Calif. (AP) - The bodies of two workers were recovered Friday from the smoldering wreckage of a derailed train, and investigators said the dead crew members had tried to stop the locomotive with emergency brakes as it barreled down a Sierra Nevada slope.

Thursday's derailment spilled thousands of gallons of fuel near a thick forest and sparked a fire that sent plumes of dense, black smoke into the air for several hours. The eight other crew members aboard the maintenance train suffered minor injuries.

Crew members told authorities that the men who died had been working together to apply the train's brakes when it ran off the tracks in a ravine about 60 miles east of Sacramento.


Authorities and railroad workers are seen as smoke rises from one of the derailed cars of a train maintaining Union Pacific tracks near Baxter, Calif., Thursday, Nov. 9, 2006. One crew member was killed and several others were injured, authorities said, and two people were missing. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)

The track runs straight and then curves where six of the train's 10 cars derailed.

FULL story at link above.

[Sequoia]

1. Poor guys...what a mess.

[Straight Shooter]

2. Huge lawsuit on its way.

It's hard for me to fathom that there weren't some warning signs that got ignored somehow.

Those men, what a nightmare they went through before they died. :(

[spud]

15. Bad Luck

One of the guys that got killed just hired on with the rail grinder. He had hired on with the rail grinder when they were working around montello nevada about 2 or 3 weeks ago. He has no wife or children. I have known him for over 20 years. I work for the union pacific(28 years) signal maintainer.

[Straight Shooter]

16. Wrong place at the wrong time.

What a horrid accident. I hope you're holding up okay. It's always a shock when someone you've known for that long is suddenly gone. (You've got a job with a helluva lot of responsibility, too.)

Welcome to DU. I would give you the waving smilie, but since it's a smiling image it doesn't seem appropriate right now. :(

edit typo

[Dr.Phool]

3. I'll give you 10-1 odds Harsco is a non-union maintenance contractor.

And from a right to work state.

I ran a locomotive for 31 years, and it only takes one person (the engineer) to apply all the brakes on the train. And in an emergency, he can do that in about 1 second.

What this story tells me, is that they never connected the air lines between the cars and locomotive to operate the air brakes. The train got away from them on a hill, and crew members started climbing on the cars to attempt to wind hand brakes.

A lot of time, supervisors just want a crew to "tie-in, and go". Don't connect the air, and don't take the minute per car (required by law) to charge the brakes.

[AndyTiedye]

4. They Would Run Without All Their Brakes, IN THE SIERRAS??

I wouldn't think it would take looking at pictures like those to see that that is a bad idea.

[Dr.Phool]

9. Believe me, I've seen stupider shit on railroads.

[TheCowsCameHome]

6. Dr. Phool - Don't they use an MW foreman/pilot instead of an engineer?

36 years running here - They were using MW people on these rail grinders/ballast cleaners where I worked.

[Dr.Phool]

8. They are supposed to have a licensed engineer behind the throttle.

And he probably was. But the question is, why the hell was he running without air in the goddamned mountains?!

There's no other explanation as to why two guys were trying to apply brakes. They weren't in the cab.

In my opinion, it was a slight grade. Small train (10 cars) and they didn't follow FRA regulations. Probably due to management pressure.

[wakeme2008]

5. As far as I know the NORMAL UP train crew are union

but I do not know about the contractors running this train....

WakeMe2008 currently on contract at



If you can live the life, I was surprised what Engineers make....

[TheCowsCameHome]

7. They use MW supervisors to pilot these, I believe.

[Dr.Phool]

10. Railroad Retirement is even better.

[Oldtimeralso]

11. Railroad Retirement is even better

Yes it is but remember that we also pay an additional Railroad Retirement Tax and that the railroads pay much more then the social security tax and this has led to some of our wages being held down. I agree that someone in train and engine service can make a LOT of money but will the have a life at home or a family. The shop-craft union workers have been traditionally underpaid in this industry, and the governments railroad (Amtrak) has gone since 1/1/2000 since their last raise

[TheCowsCameHome]

12. Amen, to dat.

[Jazzgirl]

13. 7 more years and I can draw mine.....

JG

[Dr.Phool]

14. I've been collecting for 5 years now

Occupational disability.