In 1904, Southern Railway installed two sets of "safety tracks" to stop runaway trains from tragic endings on their famous Saluda grade.

Are there any earlier instances of similar tracks or safety features on other railroads? Were there any similar installations at any time on any other railroads?

Thanks in advance,

Matt Bumgarner

derailers are rather common on railroads in areas where a protected turnout, location etc is stopped by derailing the car before it enters the area.

I think he's asking about specific installations meant to stop a runaway (like those runaway truck ramps you see on mountain highways) rather than common protection points installed on spurs or the end of passing tracks to keep stuff from accidently rolling onto a mainline.


I don't know about anything earlier than 1904 but the Southern did install runaway protection points on a spur in Tyrone, Kentucky which served a Kentucky Utilities power plant that was built there in the 1930's. The Southern's "LL Branch" between Lexington and Lawrenceburg, Kentucky passed the power plant via a bluff high above the plant which made a very steep almost circular spur which wrapped its way down from the bluff and down to the plant necessary.

Because of the steepness of the grade the Southern installed two protection points at a couple of places above the plant. Standard operation called for the points to be left in the derail position at all times. When a crew came down with a cut of cars for the plant they would have to stop at each point and manually set it for the spur. When the crew came back up they were supposed to reset both sets of points again for the protection track. However, over time the local crews grew complacent and tired of the practice and stopped doing this and started leaving the protection points lined for the plant spur all the time.

This came back to bite them in the 1970's. At that time the local train that brought coal to the plant was powered by an SW-1 switcher (CTC #4 now at the Three Rivers Rambler). For added braking power the Southern stationed a Geep unit at Tyrone which was hooked up to the SW-1 and both engines brought cuts of coal cars down the steep grade and down to the plants staging yard. After the cut of cars was brought down the switcher would haul the Geep back up to the top of the grade and tie it down until it was needed next time.

One day the crew forgot to tie down the Geep's handbrake. They cut the Geep loose and proceed to head back to the main only to look back and see the Geep heading down the grade back towards the plant! The crew on the switcher gave chase (hoping to avoid getting fired) however the Geep made it almost to the bottom of the spur (again the crews had stopped using the protection points) but derailed in the final curve right next to the plant staging yard. It flipped over and took out some of the cars of coal they had just delivered with it. The switcher came running down and hit the rails the Geep tore up when it flipped and derailed as well but stayed upright.

After the incident the power plant quickly changed to trucking in coal which started a string of events that lead to the abandonment of the west end of the "LL" Branch.

The MBTA, at the Everett station, had a switch and non electrified siding. The switch (air operated I think) was always re - set for the siding once the last train had passed. Everett had been the end point for the Orange line trains Monday - Saturday. The system was all third rail, and the siding had no third rail in it and was set up in case a train didn't stop at the station platform. Once the train stopped and the passengers disembarked, the switch was set for the yard tracks, the train passed over and then was re set each time a train came in.

There may have been other like it with in the system, but that is the only one I ever saw.

Cheers--Karl Johnson.

Yes, I am looking for setups more akin to what Boilerwash posted than an actual "derail."

Thanks,

Matt Bumgarner

There was a runaway track on the Baltimore & Ohio's Seventeen Mile by the tower at Bond.

The Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railway had a runaway track just south of the Cumberland Mountain Tunnel at Rockledge tower. No date as to when it was constructed, but it was before 1900. There was a siding on the east side of the main line with switches at each end. The normal position for the north switch was lined for the siding and the runaway track beyond. All southbound trains were required to come to a complete stop at the north switch and wait for at least one minute.

Operations were somewhat complicated due to the use of pushers on this district. If the pushers were working Cowan to Rockledge and the train was a passenger train or to take the siding to meet a northbound train, the pushers would couple on to the head end and run into the runaway track ahead of the train. If the train being assisted was a freight train and was not meeting an opposing train at Rockledge, the pushers would couple on to the rear and cut off while in motion and stop before entering the tunnel-they were never permitted to follow the train through the block ahead.

In 1916, the switches for the siding and runaway track were converted from hand throw only to electric control from the tower at Rockledge. This was to prevent a repeat of the fatal wreck of December 1915 when the signal on the siding at the south switch was inadvertently energized by a foreign electrical current, causing the signal to display a false clear. A freight train that had arrived at Rockledge departed under the false clear and collided with a northbound passenger train. As the switches were strictly hand operated, there was no way for the signalman to keep the train from departing. In fact, he was unaware of the signal displaying the false clear until after the train had departed (signal was around a curve out of sight). At the time of the installation of the electric switch controls, a timer was connected to the north switch.

Arizona eastern has a short runaway track at the bottom of the grade going into the copper mine they serve. It's a spring switch that's normally aligned for the siding, which ends after several car lengths. The grade is better than four percent.....normal procedure is to run thru it going up hill, and stop and realign when leaving.....
AZER was a former SP line. They also have a more conventional switch point derailer at the top of that grade....

1916 arrangement of the track at Rockledge, Tennessee can be seen on this link. The runaway track was apparently relocated at the time that the interlocking plant at Rockledge tower was modified, moving the runaway track from the east side of the main line to the west side. Also, it appears that an engine pocket track was added at that time. Prior to the 1916 modification, the runaway track was also used as a pocket track for pusher locomotives.

http://dotlibrary.specialcollection.net/Document?db=DOT-RAILROAD&query=(select+294)

http://www.comptroller.tn.gov/RRmaps/026-013.pdf

The Canadian Pacific Railway used runaway tracks on the "Big Hill" or Field Hill just East of Field BC, this 2 mile long 4.5% grade was built in 1884 and had three safety switches. A recent issue of Canadian Rail magazine (I don't have the issue handy) had a good article on early operations on the Field Hill. The three safety switches were manned 24 hrs. a day and were left lined for the runaway track, they were only lined for the main after the appropriate whistle signal from the approaching engineer, and the switchtender had visually confirmed that the train was under control. The timetable and special instructions make very interesting reading. The Field Hill was replaced by the Spiral Tunnels in 1909. I would assume that runaway tracks must pre-date the Field Hill, perhaps in very early industrial or gravity tramways.

Pat Hosford

A BR&P (B&O -- today's Buffalo & Pittsburgh) siding at Cramer (also spelled Kramer) had a runaway track in place just before the siding crossed over US 119 and tied into the main line. The mainline switch and - I think - road crossing are gone, but the siding and runaway track might still be buried in the weeds. If the link works, runaway track is on the left, view is north to the former crossing.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Big+Run,+PA/@41.012542,-78.831471,3a,75y,90t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1st0iB-r2zZf9jwGAyLTDMOg!2e0!4m2!3m1!1s0x89cc919b9c0ffd43:0x268a9111010f02ee!6m1!1e1?hl=en

UP has one on a spur to a soda ash mine in Wyoming. It is on a fill and consists of a switch and about a half a carlength of track.

It was tested in the 1980's when a loaded soda ash train coming down to the mainline was not able to stop short. Ended up with 2 two SD40-2's on their roofs and several cars
piled around them.

I think the Canadian Pacific had the Southern beat by two decades, since, as I recall, there were runaway tracks on the original "Big Hill" over Kicking Horse Pass, that was later replaced by the Spiral Tunnels. Here we go:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Hill

The runaway track at Rockledge was occasionally used for it's intended purpose. Back in the 50's a couple of the road's J-3 Dixie 4-8-4s ended up on it-one of them going off the end and ending up in a creek.

Public Service Rwys. (of N.J.) had a gauntlet runaway track partway down the Palisades above the Hudson River. Each runaway rail was buried in a long and narrow sand box. Hopefully, the sand would stop the runaway trolley car without derailing it too much.