As I was filming NS Train 15R departing Chester SC on the NS R Line heard the train go into emergency and got the footage as the train came off the track.
It was definitely pulling with the sound of those GEs chugging like that. I've heard an EMD start whining just like that as well on and off while going up a grade. Why it does it intermittently? I'm not sure (maybe it's the cooling system), but it was definitely going uphill since I was at an area where the 7,000ft train's front and back end were about 300ft from each other after it rounded a horseshoe curve on the mountain grade it was climbing. What is interesting to me, is it broke with only three engines pulling it with no changes in slack action. Usually knuckles start breaking with four engines without any slack action happening. That hopper must have been really rusted out.
He 'lunged' it. Just pulled the end of the car right out. I'm surprised that the truck went with it. Wasn't slack action, he was pulling at the time. Probably an unnoticed defect of some sort.
Possibly the car was already damaged (cracked weld/plates) and just failed. Years back there was an incident where a tank car split in half due to a bad weld. Dumped acid everywhere. Pretty crazy.
Lots of these defects are often found when a train is “ made up “ and the car inspectors walk the track coupling the hoses and inspecting each car, car inspectors know what to look for and PSR has to go…..
I heard the leading locomotives go into notch 8, which could mean that they pulled too hard, causing the train to slack and shove the lead truck of the hopper out.
Those are computerized units. You can go from stop to run 8 and the computer only allows a certain amount of load. More likely stretched the train in undulating territory. Poor train handling...
I don't know what you think you heard but he didn't go from dynamic to a number 8 power position I can hear as well . I don't know the terrain but he was leaning hard on the dynamic when he crossed the crossing and continued to do so till it come into . bad train handling that's possible but I highly doubt it. My guess is bad maintenance and the hopper was pushed off the center pin .
First off those GE's are MU'ed so if the lead (master) goes run 8 so do the slave units, Next those locomotives are MCU controlled or computer controlled and monitored, this means they have coded parameters that set load limits based on different conditions, You can go in to run 8 but the computer may not allow the engine to increase RPM or allow the generated power to be delivered to the traction motors, this is all efficiency, safety and failsafe systems. The likely cause is neglected car inspection and maintenance, and the cars age sand condition does not do any favors. I would have to say that the care was just worn out, old and tired so it gave up
They were definitely pulling and reached for notch 8 as the SD70ACC cleared the crossing. Maybe some are thinking dynamic braking because the EMD's radiator fan sounds just like an EMD dynamic brake grid fan. Keep in mind they were traveling close to 9 mph which is the speed which the manufacturer reports the locomotive's maximum continuous tractive effort. Not saying that's why the car failed but it does correlate timing of the failure. I suppose more obvious proof is the large gap immediately created after the failure. Anyways, lucky catch!
Could have been a spike in the mu plug. The control center at GE can check the feedback from the transponder coordinates between the units and figure what happened.
NS has all but shut down mechanical operations in their quest to mimic Hunter Harrison. They’re begging the 100’s of Carmen they unceremoniously dumped in 2020 to come back to work, but the response is almost universally “NO!”. The railroads of this country dug theirselves into 😂a massive hole that they can’t crawl out of when they jumped headfirst into PSR! I spent 41 years as a CARMAN for Southern/NS, and left in mid 2020 after seeing the scorched earth program NS was putting in place! Just sickening
He was pulling at the time, so I doubt that it was slack action. Sometimes a wheel slip can cause a knuckle or drawbar at slower speeds. Didn't really hear that, though.
There are way too many old cars out there. Rusty outside might mean everything under is corroded/rusted too. Half these LO cars look like they belong in Russia.
No. It was AEX112220, an old Pullman Standard car, the one with the blue graffiti that starts to pass the screen at 2:10. Note how the contents (sand?) are pouring out its front end at the very end of the video as the end slope sheet continued on with the car ahead of it.
