Maybe you can see this video showing what caused the derailment near Lucasville, OH today.
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Looks like the side frame of the truck somehow dropped down and contacted the rail causing the sparking just before the derailment.
Chief Bob (Retired) 
PUFFRBELLY posted:Looks like the side frame of the truck somehow dropped down and contacted the rail causing the sparking just before the derailment.
Chief Bob (Retired)
That's what I'm seeing too. It suggests that the wheels jumped the rails and dropped the near wheels inside the rails, allowing the side frame to slide along the near rail causing the sparks. Possible cause, a broken wheel on the opposite side or a broken axle. Probably not a rail defect as it seems to be confined to just that car. Wonder how long it took them to figure out that it was dragging and stop.
Any chance this made onto a non-join to view site or news reel.
If you arent a fb user, this is a dead end link.
I will try......
An overheated journal box.
Gary: Rail-fan
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Yeah this happened coming into Portsmouth,Ohio.
Haven’t heard the official report on what the railroad has determined yet,but looks like what happened to me some 9 or 10 years ago and it was a burnt axle bearing that let the side truck frame drop.
Fourtanatley the detector had caught the hot bearing and we could look back and see the car smoking but also leaning towards the six foot .
I had ahold of 256 loads of coal running 40 mph .The troubled car was 16 cars deep and it had just turned daylight when this happened.
I was already in dynamic braking and when we noticed the car smoking and leaning I started applying the air brakes to bring it to a nice slow stop.
It took about 1 1/2 miles to do so and stopped one mile before a double crossover and several private crossings.
trainroomgary posted:I will try......
An overheated journal box.
Gary: Rail-fan
Gary,
That is not a "Hot Box".
In the video, you can plainly see where the sparks are coming from where equipment is dragging the track structure...not the bearing.
It does appear that a hot journal has wrung off on the lead axle of the truck, thereby allowing the frame to drop down and drag the track structure.
Adriatic posted:Any chance this made onto a non-join to view site or news reel.
If you arent a fb user, this is a dead end link.
Sorry non-Facebook subscribers, but, that is the best that I can do.
Back in the old days this would have been spotted by the conductor, switchman and/or brakeman in the caboose. So much for the removal of the caboose and the addition of the FRED. AFAIK the FRED can only check brake line pressures but not defective wheel signs, fires or some hot box incidents.
Dennis LaGrua posted:Back in the old days this would have been spotted by the conductor, switchman and/or brakeman in the caboose. So much for the removal of the caboose and the addition of the FRED. AFAIK the FRED can only check brake line pressures but not defective wheel signs, fires or some hot box incidents.
You are generalizing way too much. With such long trains today, the occupants in a caboose are no longer able to see most of the train towards the middle (and neither can the occupants in the locomotive). One of the biggest factors in the elimination of cabooses was the installation of automated defect detectors, which are able to detect everything from dragging equipment, to overheated journals, to high/wide loads.
