Re: scales-up the hill slow-down the hill fast-tonnage first-safety last.....
Author: BOB2
Date: 05-25-2018 - 16:17
Yep, 6900 tons of wet trona, and no proper dynamic braking, and a brand new "piglet" (stimulator trained 60 day wonder brakemen, IIRC?) just promoted, who'd never really handled very many actual trains, and no "feel" for the actual tonnage he was handline, who was "set up". The tonnage for the train was "miscalculated" (the polite official terminology the NTSB used in the final report).
I seem to recall the actual train weight was something considerably over by 2,000+ tons more than it was reported to be, which Trona actually knew, when they were loaded an order of 6900 tons, and not the 4000+ tons given to the conductor and engineer.
The manifest indicated that the braking capacity for that tonnage would allow the train to operate down the hill at column one speed, 40 mph. here (IIRC) max, but given the dynamic braking and actual weight it should have been a 20 mph. train, and I'd have probably asked for about 40 retainers to be set as well.....
That weren't done, though....and so choo-choo and train top hill at Summit, attempt to balance train at speed based on reported tonnage, all ability to get it under control already lost by then, brake shoes literally burnt off, and away they went all of the way down Cajon, amazingly staying on the track, until crashing just north of the where 210 now crosses the Palmdale cutoff.....
And then, it gets even better, when engaged in clearing the accident, in front of the NTSB investigators, and all of the media, they managed with all of that heavy equipment dragging choo-choo and cars away, to severe the high pressure gas pipeline adjacent to the ROW, and blew everything to kingdom come...….
A real bad day at the office...………..