Andy -

Make it two persons.

Les

No offense here. Too many people are "offended" too easily. I just learned a lot about the Aloha disaster and a better understanding of what happened, thanks to his post.

I would also hope that it wouldn't take photos of body parts or trapped bodies/appendages in another train wreck (I've seen said photos from gruesome LIRR and PRR disasters) for us to take seriously the potential implications of a vintage passenger car coming apart at 25 mph..........

OT, train-wise, but an interesting analysis of how the Aloha Flight 243 disaster may have actually happened in comparison to the NTSB analysis, but the animated skull graphic is too sensational and offends me, too. I have enough imagination to be able to visualize what happened by just seeing the "halo" picture without having the poor woman's skull materialize before my eyes.

I rode that car in the summer of 2000, 8 years ago and noticed the same flexing. It was not as bad then, but did notice the walls around the door and observation platform moving in the joints. I thought the same thing that it should not be moving around that much. As for the historical integrity of the car I don't think there is much left of the interior that is original, but it is nice that you can still pay to ride on a passenger car like it.

On the same website is a very interesting report on a locomotive boiler explosion.

http://discity.com/explosions/boiler/atsfrrtex/

OK, maybe I am too sensitive having been on the Fire Department and spent more time than I care to remember picking up body parts and dealing with MVAs. I think I need a break from the website if the moderators believe that post is acceptable.

AN

As moderator I find the skull graphic unnecessary.

I also think that the 737 event has more in common with a boiler failure than with the flex of a wooden car... As I understand this event it was a classic lap seam pressure vessel failure. This was a high cycle aircraft operating in a salt rich enviorment.

In a perfect world things would not have to come to the loss of human life for man to improve on his technology. The start of the industrial revolution is filled with terrible accidents where conditions were tolerated by people who knew better yet though a lot of issues decided to move forward with a marginal product or because of a lack of knowledge things occurred that they did not anticipate. The results are people are injured or killed before we improve our standards of construction or maintenance.

Sometimes owners and operators do not always have an objective eye to see issues which they face. We see it time and time again in life. Do you realize it only takes 3 week to kill the number of people killed in 911 on our nation’s highways? What outrage do you hear about this? People do not like cold facts. We take risk each day that endangers ourselves and others many times without even considering it.

As we accept things without an objective eye, our mind can create a cloud over issues that we may need to address. A lot of people despise government oversight. The best deterrent to government oversight is everyone taking a diligent proactive role for safety. We all must take a safety minded role in everything we do. As we work with antique equipment we must recognizes the issues it faces as it ages.

Robby

If such is the case, it proves other than the annual COT&S and weekly cleaning of the car, it has received little structural work in the last 8 years.

I think someone from the RR's mechanical dept needs to ride and observe this car, without bias and determine it's future. Looking at it while stationary is pointless.

If something should happen, God forbid, while passengers are in this car, it will have a domino effect across the board for tourist railroads using similarly constructed cars (save for the SRR)....the outcome of which could be good, or bad.

The pressure vessel failure of the Aloha 737 also demonstrates that the Boeing tear stopper technology worked as designed. Instead of allowing the tear to progress beyond the next series of airframe members, it stopped the tear-thus preventing a total disintegration in-flight as had been experienced by the DeHavilland Comet.

As for wooden cars, they should not flex excessively. An inch might be fine, but two or three inches should be an indication that the car should be inspected. Out here in Arizona, I have found that wooden streetcar bodies will require shimming and adjustments to the frame members as the cars age-the lack of humidity here draws moisture out of the wood, causing it to shrink up to half an inch or more. Thus joints that were nice and tight become loose.