This will send a chill down your spine...

Sorry, absolutely nothing there to "send a chill down your spine". What...6:30+ of dead air? I was expecting a lot more from the dispatcher.

For a guy whose train had just gone in the ditch with the engine turned on its side, he was pretty well-composed.  I agree with you Big Jim.  Sounds as though the DS thought they just hit a car at the crossing, rather than understanding that the crew was reporting a major passenger train derailment.

Thanks I will embed next time.  Was unsure if we could embed another's work into the post.

 

Well you can skip to the pertinent parts based on the description the poster gives.  I am referring to the "We are about to hit a big truck" @ 1:12.   Knowing that gave only a 1 second warning.  

 

I hope the Trooper called emergency as well...since he didn't call the CSX number posted all over the crossing for the 15 mins they were there stuck on a 30+ train per day rail line.   I can see the phone number sign from street view on google maps. 

I'm not going to subject myself to that boring video again, but, the timing seemed all wrong with what few bits and pieces well out of place in the timeline.

Note the hogger said, "Mercy Mercy Mercy" like it's some sort of radio SOP.

Is it? I've never heard that before but it sounded like something he was supposed to say, more than any declaration of surprise or beseeching the man upstairs for something...

He said..."Emergency...Emergency...Emergency". And yes, it means everyone else is supposed to shut the heck up and let him talk!

 

I will take your word for it, it does make sense, and I'm not subjecting myself to that again either, but it did sound like Mercy, Mercy, Mercy to me too. I will agree to trust you on faith this time.

 

Doug

Yes, I heard Mergency Mergency Mergency.  Which is the way I would have said it and I have a few times.  Never a wreck thank God.  Once when we came apart and once when we got a knuckle and once when we went on the ground and once when an air hose split open.

 

Rick

 Is this the one were the "wide Load" gets stopped on the tracks ?  Being in a engine going on it's side  can't be a pleasant experience. Hope the head end  crew (and everyone else) was alright.  Scary business!

 

If this was double track  how would the other track be protected? rule 99? for outside ABS territory?

 

 

 

 

 

In cases like that we were only required to announce over the radio that "Train XXX is in emergency at milepost XXX". And believe me, with that "Big Eye in the Sky" recording everything, the supervisors will check to see if you did make the announcement!

 

"Emergency...Emergency...Emergency" is to be used only in a real...EMERGENCY.

Probably all of you have heard this, but the first time I heard it (in a rules class) it was quite riveting. What you'll be hearing are the radio transmissions during a runaway freight train. 

The situation was: An ore train was switching at a mine at the top of a grade. The mine branch had a junction at the bottom of the grade with the busy mainline.  During the switching, the Conductor apparently bled off the cars to save time during the switching  moves.  The Engineer, not realizing he didn't have enough "air cars" pulled out to make another switch move, and couldn't get stopped. He then began to head down the grade toward the mainline.

This link is a Youtube link to the audio:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nl07BrckR10

 

Edit: Oops.  And here's PT.2..

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGo1PRvFlWA

 

And this link is to a transcript of the radio transmissions so you can follow along and understand the situation better as it unfolds.

 

http://www.cwrr.com/Lounge/Feature/runaway/trans.html

 

Hang on and go for a wild ride...

I remember this one. Someone had  cassette  copy(s) and they  ended up in bunk houses across Canada shortly after it happened.   Scary stuff.  Apparently they were doubling over (with no air) and things got out of control. I don't know what they had for power.  I often wonder if putting the  reverser  in reverse would help.  or make things worse.

Laming, THAT one had me on the edge of my seat for both parts, **** Wesley must have ICE WATER in his veins, he really kept his calm for that ride.

 

Gregg, I bet if you could ask Wesley, he could tell you, I would have to imagine that he tried at least ONCE.

 

I am really glad that it turned out the way it did, and that Wesley went home upright, and not even stuck to the sticky side of any Band-Aids.

 

Doug

Much worse! 

 

Now Mike W.,

If you listened to both of those videos...that will "send a chill down your spine"!!!

Way to go Wes!
I like how he was barking about having to make out a report.  Wasn't looking forward to seeing yhat typewriter.  Now that's a tough guy.

Yes I agree those videos are very interesting.  

 

With the Amtrak 80 incident though...I can just see the conductors sitting in the lounge car next to some passengers and the radio all of sudden says we "are about to hit a big truck."  

To me it was not that chilling.

 

The crew was very composed. The actual time from hitting the truck to calling the dispatcher was not as long as I thought it would be. Considering they just hit a big truck,(probably diving on the floor for safety) to getting back somewhat upright, checking themselves out and getting to the radio.

 

I still remember the call from the train master when Amtrak derailed in Trego, Va back in the late 80's. I never did like going to Amtrak derailments.

 

 

About the incident in Canada. Please read then entire story:  http://www.cwrr.com/Lounge/Feature/runaway/index.html. There was a lot more to it then a conductor bleeding cars to save time. The crew was doing what every crew for years was instructed to do. The issue started when someone marked loaded cars as empties. The crew picked them up and it got away from them. The key to this is that a day or so later the COMPANY put out a notice that the practice of picking up cars without air, something they had closed their eyes to for years, was now to be stopped. Its quite a story. 

In the 1952 Federal Express crash at Washington Union Station the engineer tried throwing the reverser lever on GG1 4876 in reverse to no avail. All it did was trip the circuit breakers on the big electric. I'm assuming the same would happen on a diesel-electric.

We had a crew stall on the hill with a ore train and the train started to pull him back down the hill. Unfortunately the reverser was still in forward the engines were skidded big time.   Train had to yarded .  That's kind of  why I asked the question. Also in the winter if the  brake shoes are not kept hot when switching you have no brakes. Reversing might be a way of stopping.

FYI, disseminating the contents of radio communications is a violation of Federal law:

 

"Section 705 of the Communications Act generally does not prohibit the mere interception of radio communications . . . if you listen to radio transmissions on your scanner, such as emergency service reports, you are not in violation of Section 705.  However, a violation of Section 705 would occur if you divulge or publish what you hear or use it for your own or someone else’s benefit.".

 

I suppose this could include something as innocuous as shouting to an assembled group of fellow railfans that "765 just passed the detector at Tipton".

 

How vigorously this is enforced is an entirely different matter.