This happened this morning in a city near mine, the train slammed into the rig and dragged it 1/2 a mile before coming to a stop. There were no injuries thank goodness, but as of this minute, they are still trying to remove the trailer from the train. I dont know what the hell the dumbass was doing on the tracks. Due to the oil boom, there have been a lot of people coming in to our area to drive trucks. Some of them don’t even have lisences to. (Scary i know!)
I’m not sure about over there, but here trains travel at…10 miles an hour. If that.
Now I know a big ass, heavy train travelling at 10 miles an hour still takes a loooonnnggggg time to stop. But he seemed to be going pretty fast. Is that normal?
P.S. Not blaming train conductor at all. Just wondering.
I have a friend who works for CSX “Maintenace of Way”, he’s told me that engineers almost never apply emergency braking due to the very real chance of derailing cars. He said that in most cases they will apply the breaks but depending on whats on the track its sometimes best to hit it with enough force to knock it clear to further avoid a derailment. I don’t know anyone who could confirm the information, but it seems plausible.
Looked like casing or drill pipe to me. Regardless, what a mess.
Years ago I was pulling a pipe trailer for my brother with about 2000’ of drill pipe when the trailer started fishtailing on me going down I-90. In my worst nightmares, that’s kind of what I imagined it would have looked like had I lost that trailer. Fortunately, I was able to get it shut down without incident. I did, however, come very close to shitting my pants.
I heard a Burlington Northern specialist speak at a regional Coroner’s conference a few years ago, and he said that same thing. The other thing that I recall is that he ran through a mathematical correlation that demonstrated that a 20-car train hitting a car on the tracks had about the same energy relationships as a car hitting a soft drink can in the road.
5" casing pipe. the pipe alone was worth at least $85,000
what i was told as a possible cause, is that he was crossing when the arms came down across the trailer and didnt allow him to cross. there are several pipe yards in that area.
We’re on the UP main line, and 200 car coal trains rumble through here at 60 mph. Through towns and all. I wasn’t aware they slow down for anything, ever.
They average one every 3-5 minutes, so if you put something in their way, it won’t be there long. I’ve seen them try to stop for things like that, but 55,000,000 lbs takes MILES to stop.
They’re gearing up to start reusing a rail that’s been defunct for about 10 years now. This week they’ve been replacing ties. It’s a stones throw from my house and I’m really looking forward to it.
I was thinking the same thing. Maybe he was on the phone. Maybe he is the kind of guy that lions, tiger and bears used to cull from the herd.
There was a school bus accident in Chicago (IIRC) a few years ago. Substitute driver didn’t believe the kids when they started screaming that they weren’t clear of the tracks. Sometimes stupid hurts, but the wrong people.
People vapor lock over trains. There’s a crossing 1/4 mile from our shop. Last year, a truck started across and the arm came down between his cab and trailer. The guy was still trying to lift the arm out of the way WHEN THE BIG, SCREAMING COAL TRAIN HIT HIM!
