World's Worst Maintained Railroad .

Chad,

 

Yes, it is amazing that the train did not derail. And if that train did not derail, our O-Gauge masterpieces should never, ever derail either on our carefully laid and maintained track.

 

Thanks for posting!

 

Alex

The key is speed restriction and....

Is that the Ivan "Iron Man" Stewart Railway?

I wonder what they transport.  Imagine the lawsuits if there was ever a hazardous spill.  Talk about negligence!  Or bystander injuries resulting from a derailment.

Chewing gum! Lots of it. Keeps the rails stuck to the ties.

OC&E Woods Line Oregon 1990. Track repaired after derailment (note new ballast) but the realignment work wasn't completed before a decision came through to abandon the line.

I think that this video (Of the same railroad) is even scarier. 

two cool videos.  on the first one it said "always be careful" on the engine. kind of gives careful a new meaning.

The videographer was brave; that's for sure! 

That is the biggest fear I have that will happen to my floor layout track if guests keep stepping on it.

OK they are marketing and using this railroad the wrong way. I say buy a bunch of gons to put passengers in....no seats/ nor cushions either.....up the speed to about 40 mph and sell tickets as a thrill ride!

Thanks for the video Chester, but the "World's worst"? No way. I suggest you see some third world railways. Much, much worst. Don

Wow those were cool videos. That would be scary driving one of those diesels on those tracks 

Looks like a railroad version of scrapple

Boy my track looks pretty good compared to that. And I was worrying about those little gaps in the track. LOL  

 

Maybe the creaking could be the next new sound effect

are there not any government track saftey regulations?

That was delicious.  Every nuance.  I loved it.  More videos!

 

I live about a half an hour from this railroad.  I often have to cross the tracks near Cecil, Ohio.  Every once in a while there will be a string of cars sitting on the tracks.  I always wondered how they got there.  The crew must have nerves of steel.  I've seen abandoned track in better shape.

 

Tom

Just waiting for that sucker to roll over right around the 1:05 mark

Final months of the Rock Island in 1980, service tracks at Kansas City Armourdale Yard.

 

Some of you fellas don't get out much, do you? I used to run trains on track like this literally every day. Four units, 40 loads, 2% grades and track that looked like that. You will not understand this, but that track is not actually that bad. It is certainly "EXCEPTED TRACK" (the lowest classification of track there is) but the long lens of the camera tremendously exaggerates the surface irregularities in the track.

 

Afraid of derailments? Or bystander injuries? If there was a derailment it wouldn't amount to much. At those low speeds all that happens is the rails spread, the wheels drop into the gauge and the whole thing grinds to a slow halt. Show's over. Get out the re-railing frogs or call the local crane guy, depending on how bad it is. No big deal...other than the cost to get everything back on the rails and fix the track...with money they don't have.

 

Negligence? Hardly. This is a small branch line struggling to survive on the junk left to them by the Class 1 railroad that couldn't make any money on the line. They are lucky to make payroll, let alone have anything left over for track maintenance. But they persevere in the hopes that they can breath life back into some of these branch lines, servicing industry along the line that desperately needs rail service to survive.

 

government track saftey (sp) regulations? Is that the answer to everything - government involvement? I don't think so. Many industries would be far better off if the government would just leave them alone. In this case, there are no "safety standards" being violated. As I said earlier, this is EXCEPTED TRACK, which IS a Federal standard. They can't haul hazmat or passengers, but they can haul other freight that just might help them make a profit some day.

 

There are THOUSANDS OF MILES of track in this country that looks just like this. And trains run on them every day without incident. Not every railroad looks like a Class 1 main line.

 

I could deal with bumps or occasional swaying, but when the locomotive takes on a steady list to starboard I'm getting off.

...but the long lens of the camera tremendously exaggerates the surface irregularities in the track.

 

I pointed this out in a previous thread showing similar track. Using the long end of the lens compresses the distance which makes the track appear much worse than it is.

I read the description on that second video posted (Maumee & Western), and it turns out I have a friend who was an engineer on that line back in the Indiana Hi-Rail days. He said the track wasn't much better then... 

Anyone modelling "Expected Track" on their layout? I have a siding that may qualify.

Maybe we need to take some long-lens shots of our own layouts' track and see how smooth they are, huh?

 

When I stuck a camera on the end of a 30-car train of K-Line 2-axle ore hoppers and ran it on the NJ Hirailers layout, just sighting down the line of cars as the train ran revealed a bumper crop of bumps, humps, dips and wiggles

 

---PCJ

That looked good compared to when the Penn Central ran by my home

With the Penn Central engines and cars actually fell off the rails.