Locomotive mishaps!

Sooner or later something gave way. A bad accident happened when part of the valve gear failed on a streamlined Milwaukee Road "Baltic" (Hudson) roaring along at 100+ mph. I think it tore up track and the engine turned over. I hope the crew survived.

This failure was written up in an issue of the old Vintage Rails magazine.  It was not a valve gear failure; the right crosshead froze in the guide due to lack of lubrication and all sorts of fun things happened, but the engine did not derail and no one on the engine or train was injured, but folks in an auto waiting at a crossing were injured by flying junk. The speed was between 90 and 100 MPH and it happened at Edgebrook, in north suburban Chicago.  The engine was scrap before it got stopped.

EdKing

Sometimes boilers exploded. 

 

I think the 4449 had a broken side or main rod when it first went back into service.  They borrowed a rod from 4460 at St Louis until they got there own fixed.  There have been at least two low water incidents in recent years, one with a former CN loco and the other was with a former SP loco.  UP had the tube failure at Sacramento rail fare on the Challenger.  

I have seen film of a Norfolk and Western Class A Dropping a crosshead guide right as it was passing the man that was filming it.  A crew came out and removed the main rod....you see them carrying it away.  The engine continued on at a much lower speed obviously, to the next terminal where it was taken off the train. 

Years ago when I was a kid at the town liberry.I found a book about train wrecks.There was a b&o passenger train that was going about 79 mph.When the tire or rim came off the main drivewheel.They stoped the train without it jumping the track.They had another train pickup the passengers and take them on.They had the locomotive move very slowly to a repair shop.It was back in servce in a few days.

We had discussed this previously here on the forum.  Gettysburg Railroad boiler failure.

I believe this locomotive is at the Age of Steam Roundhouse Sugarcreek, OH.  Boiler failure operating an excursion train. Train was stopped safely.  Engineer and (2) fireman were seriously injured, (steam burns).  The locomotive did not come apart. 

NTSB report.    1995.  IMO, This incident may have set into works current Steam operation criteria. 

I read this article about the worst U.S. boiler explosion in history.  It happened in Texas and killed 26 people. People where trapped in buildings, and fires broke out injuring many more.
https://www.tsl.state.tx.us/ex...fight/explosion.html

A few years ago a bearing went out on the UP 844, and they had to replace it in Kansas City.  I posted a few shots here at the time.

 

 

Kent in SD

Your "story" about 4449 is NOT TRUE! Besides, the 4460 in St Louis is a GS-6 class, and the rods would NOT have even fit anyway. I can NOT imagine were these screw ball stories come from! While on the Freedom Train Tour, a very small "mark" was discovered on the top edge of one of her main rods. Subsequent magnetic inspection revealed a "slight flaw", which was ground out and rewelded be a welding/metallurgist specialist. Even if I showed you were it was, I defy anyone to find that spot today.

 

Concerning the UP Challenger, that is not true either. During the Monday morning after a weekend excursion with UP 844, 844 cracked 3 or 4 bottom row TUBES, and drained all her hot boiler water right there on the grounds of the California State Railroad Museum.

Stuff can happen anytime, anywhere. 

 

I was near the east end of IRM's main when the packing blew out on 1630's steam turret.  Scared the bejeebers out of all of us.  It took a couple of seconds to realize exactly what happened.  There was no way to shut it off. 

 

I had my fireman dump the fire, raise the water level and we managed to limp back to the depot.

 

Rusty

I recall many years ago Trains magazine had a photo of an Australian steam locomotive which had slipped a tire (wheel rim). The train was stopped without serious incident but the rim was completely off the driver, but inside the rods. Like losing a traction tire.

A rather well known "engine mishap" occured late in the steam era, when the Illini RR Club chartered a doubleheader on the Burlington Route on Sept 6, 1959, employing a 2-10-4 and a 4-8-4, Chicago-Galesburg. "Extra 6315 and the 5632 coupled" (as the Burlington referred to doubleheaders) was sailing along handsomely to about Zearing, IL, when 2-10-4 #6315 snapped it's eccentric rod. A hapless attempt to start the engine on one side resulted in the other eccentric rod breaking. The very competant #5632 pushed the disabled engine and towed the 18 car train on to Galesburg.

        Now probably a number of folks on the train thought, "Aw, poor old, decrepit steam engine". In actuality, the 6315 was a most competant locomotive. Only 10 months earlier, it was hauling 125 car, 8000 ton coal trains, Herrin Jct-Centralia, IL. The real story behind the engine failure was the M4a class of CB&Q 2-10-4's were rebuilt in the mid-30's for high speed freight service, Lincoln-Denver. But, their top speed limit was 55 mph! The fan trip was proceeding at 60+ mph and that exceeded the machinery capacity of the 6315.

        I was fortunate to have been on that train and it remains one of the high water mark experiences of my life!

Absolutely correct Mark. The Engineer on the 5632 just kept going faster and faster, pushing the 6315, and the poor 6315 with her MUCH smaller driver diameter, simply couldn't handle it.

 Must have been the same hotrod engineer who ran 4-8-4 #5631 on a 1957 fantrip, when asked by the DS if he could stay ahead of the Twin Cities Zephyr to Savanna, said "sure". Boy, did he!  Running 90 mph all the way!