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Not as uncommon as one might think. In my 40 years as an engineer I saw this sort of thing perhaps a half dozen times at various terminals I worked out of or into. No, none of them were my doing. Reasons vary. Air leaks off of dead parked units that nobody set a hand brake on, somebody fires up a dead unit in the shop and doesn't  wait to get enough air pressure in the main reservoir before attempting to move it, trailing units have been uncoupled and somebody neglected to cut in and setup the air brakes on them, just not paying attention as to where you are and how close to the pit you are, somebody else turned the table after you lined it for your move but before you made that move, etc. Most of these incidences happen at night butget photographed the next morning in daylight.
The closest I came to such a disaster was when we were moving a business car (passenger car) to t he turntable for turning. I was shoving it towards the as yet unlined  table with an SW15. The car's buffer touched the SW's pin lifter and uncoupled itself on uneven track. It was pretty scary to see the fancy business car rolling towards the edge of the pit when I stopped the switch engine. Luckily we were switching it with the air cut in so it stopped itself in emergency right on the brink. Whew!

Last edited by Wyhog
Dominic Mazoch posted:

Not at a roundhouse, but there was an ATSF incident at LA Union where a locomotive or train went too far, and almost fell over the retaining wall!

Guess the ultimate was the PRR runaway SENATOR which ran into Washington Union.

I've seen that photo - it shows a Warbonnet F Unit (I think) hanging over the wall with a busy roadway below!

Wyhog posted:

The closest I came to such a disaster was when we were moving a business car (passenger car) to t he turntable for turning. I was shoving it towards the as yet unlined  table with an SW15. The car's buffer touched the SW's pin lifter and uncoupled itself on uneven track. It was pretty scary to see the fancy business car rolling towards the edge of the pit when I stopped the switch engine. Luckily we were switching it with the air cut in so it stopped itself in emergency right on the brink. Whew!

We had an incident with a baggage car and the turntable at Redondo Junction (Los Angeles) roundhouse.  The coach yard was about 3/4 mile west*, and it was gently descending toward Redondo Jct.  A switch crew at the coach yard bottled the air on a heavyweight baggage car and, while making another move, noticed that the baggage car was rolling away and they could not get to it to stop it.  They called the Yardmaster on the talkback speaker, he got the Roundhouse Foreman on the phone, who yelled on the loudspeaker for the Herder to line the car towards the table, which, by good fortune, was lined straight across into an empty stall.  The baggage car rolled across the turntable, through the roundhouse and through the rear wall, stopping in the dirt.  When they repaired the wall, they inserted green corrugated plastic where there had previously been windows.

* By Timetable.

Last edited by Number 90

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