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Re: BNSF derailment - wheel fell off Metrolink engine
Author: Bent Rails
Date: 08-29-2018 - 11:38
No grease in the bolster - from the factory?
I could see no grease in the journal causing that? I suppose that could happen on the railroad. It did happen with a Plymouth Volare not long after I purchased it brand new, within the first few hundred miles.
The right front spindle broke off and sent the wheel a flitting down the road all on its own. Very soon after that, the car started the same acrobat act, then it sideswiped a telephone pole and was then captured by a chain link fence. God bless the chain link fences It also came within inches of a 10" surface mounted natural gas valve!
At the shop it was found that the spindle was broken at the bearing point with severe discolorations, consistent with extreme heat. The bearing itself still had the factory cosmoline on it and no grease - JACKASSES!
After that, and numerous other very serious problems before the car was 20,000 miles old, I took Lee Iacocca's advice - I found a better car so I bought it. As apparently did millions of others - hence Chrysler's near demise. It was saved (in 2009 or so) only by an ignorant know-it-all ideologue politician, that couldn't care less that the free market had already spoken.
Actually, railroads are not immune, especially those using fabricated wheels such as BART, and the German Federal Railways:
In BART's case, a northbound train at speed between Union City and the Southern Alameda Yard, cracked a wheel tread; which promptly fell aside. Fortunately, something unknown stopped the train before it got to the switches at the yard, where it surely would have derailed (if not sooner). No wheels derailed and none of the onboard systems was tripped. No cause for the stoppage was ever found, but the consist simply would not move until the wrecker took it apart and moved it piece by piece. I was working there back then (on scene).
The German Federal Railway was not so lucky. In the early 90s (if memory serves), one of their premier high speed trains, the ICE, traveling at about 225 kilometers per hour (140mph), cracked a wheel tread and immediately derailed. As the train jack-knifed, those flimsily built European cars hit an overpass abutment and center pier; splitting open like an aircraft fuselage. Most of the 160 people on board were killed.
And Yeah - it can happen to us too - if someone gets careless - or of we accept lesser design standards or workmanship.
I could see no grease in the journal causing that? I suppose that could happen on the railroad. It did happen with a Plymouth Volare not long after I purchased it brand new, within the first few hundred miles.
The right front spindle broke off and sent the wheel a flitting down the road all on its own. Very soon after that, the car started the same acrobat act, then it sideswiped a telephone pole and was then captured by a chain link fence. God bless the chain link fences It also came within inches of a 10" surface mounted natural gas valve!
At the shop it was found that the spindle was broken at the bearing point with severe discolorations, consistent with extreme heat. The bearing itself still had the factory cosmoline on it and no grease - JACKASSES!
After that, and numerous other very serious problems before the car was 20,000 miles old, I took Lee Iacocca's advice - I found a better car so I bought it. As apparently did millions of others - hence Chrysler's near demise. It was saved (in 2009 or so) only by an ignorant know-it-all ideologue politician, that couldn't care less that the free market had already spoken.
Actually, railroads are not immune, especially those using fabricated wheels such as BART, and the German Federal Railways:
In BART's case, a northbound train at speed between Union City and the Southern Alameda Yard, cracked a wheel tread; which promptly fell aside. Fortunately, something unknown stopped the train before it got to the switches at the yard, where it surely would have derailed (if not sooner). No wheels derailed and none of the onboard systems was tripped. No cause for the stoppage was ever found, but the consist simply would not move until the wrecker took it apart and moved it piece by piece. I was working there back then (on scene).
The German Federal Railway was not so lucky. In the early 90s (if memory serves), one of their premier high speed trains, the ICE, traveling at about 225 kilometers per hour (140mph), cracked a wheel tread and immediately derailed. As the train jack-knifed, those flimsily built European cars hit an overpass abutment and center pier; splitting open like an aircraft fuselage. Most of the 160 people on board were killed.
And Yeah - it can happen to us too - if someone gets careless - or of we accept lesser design standards or workmanship.
