Did someone loose their coach?

EJ Berry · **Posted:** Sat Apr 22, 2023 8:49 pm

CNJ steel cars also had hooks and chains next to the draft gear.

Phil Mulligan

QJdriver · **Posted:** Sat Apr 22, 2023 9:35 pm

You know, what I'm about to say may be obvious, and it must be prehistoric, but in my time, here's how it worked: If you caught a hotbox detector, YOU STOPPED AND CHECKED IT OUT. If you found anything questionable, you had to reduce speed and set the car out at the first opportunity. If there was nothing obviously wrong, you could proceed normally.

It never occurred to us to ask if the FRA or anybody else mandated this, we just knew to do what needed to be done. Period.

Alexander D. Mitchell IV · **Posted:** Sat Apr 22, 2023 11:37 pm

Kelly Anderson wrote:

Overmod wrote:

They had better, because if they can't, the mandatory car inspections every trip are going to involve checking the drawbar and knuckle attachments, using the same inspectors they're going to check every inside roller bearing and seal at every carman's inspection.

I hope not, since the only way to see inside a roller bearing is to press it off the axle, and the usual way to do that is to press off the wheel and have it push the bearing off. Not too practical.

Since when has practicality and cost-effectiveness ever entered into the dictates of a government that "HAS to [be seen to be] do[ing] SOMETHING--if it saves just ONE life, it's worth it!!!!!"?

(Hint: Chatsworth 2008.)

choodude · **Joined:** Wed Jun 29, 2016 11:58 am **Posts:** 327

QJdriver wrote:

You know, what I'm about to say may be obvious, and it must be prehistoric, but in my time, here's how it worked: If you caught a hotbox detector, YOU STOPPED AND CHECKED IT OUT. If you found anything questionable, you had to reduce speed and set the car out at the first opportunity. If there was nothing obviously wrong, you could proceed normally.

It never occurred to us to ask if the FRA or anybody else mandated this, we just knew to do what needed to be done. Period.

Welcome to "Modern" Wall Street vulture capitalism, where extracting cash from ongoing concerns takes precedence.

What could go wrong with an Operating Ratio under 60%?

Even Jay Gould would be embarrassed by present day events.

Brian Helfrich.

Tim Moriarty · **Joined:** Thu Jun 22, 2006 4:25 pm **Posts:** 372

"loose their coach?" Was the coach not tight?

or

"lose their coach?" As in, having been lost?

Trainlawyer · **Posted:** Sun Apr 23, 2023 3:30 pm

Tim Moriarty wrote:

"loose their coach?" Was the coach not tight?
or
"lose their coach?" As in, having been lost?

Both would be correct as they happened to lose control of the coach when it was loosed from the train. Fortunately it was not lost as they were always in possession of it and were aware of its general location, i.e. 'somewhere between the locomotive and either Strasburg or Lehman Place'.

GME

Overmod · **Joined:** Thu May 24, 2012 1:37 pm **Posts:** 2492

Quote:

""loose their coach?" Was the coach not tight?
or
"lose their coach?" As in, having been lost?"

Actually, semantically, the pin or the drawbar failed and the car came loose.

Obviously they didn't lose the coach; they knew exactly where it was at all times. It just wasn't connected to the train they wanted to be operating...

Christopher Stone · **Joined:** Wed Jan 26, 2022 11:23 am **Posts:** 74

co614 wrote:

Frisco is correct. On one of our HICO steam excursions we had a separation caused by a " high/low" action as we went over a road crossing between the 14th. and 15th. car in the 18 car long train.

Thankfully we had a very experienced hogger running who immediately bailed off the engine brake, applied emergency sanders and full throttle so that the head end stopped about 15 car lengths ahead of where the hind end did.

VERY fortunately no one was crossing between those 2 cars as they came apart.

Of all the trips we ran that was the only time we suffered a separation. Thankfully !!!

Ross Rowland

I recall a trip in Indiana with the 2101 which broke three times.... The car we were riding in was deemed the culprit and was set out at a grain elevator spur.

PaulWWoodring · **Posted:** Tue Apr 25, 2023 5:51 am

Since we're going there, this has been mentioned before here. When the infamous 2102/4070 Horseshoe Curve eccentric rod separation happened in May of 1977, 4070's engineer threw down the air, the train separated in two places with broken knuckles, which was the major cause of the hours of delay in getting back to Wilkinsburg - trying to scrounge up replacement knuckles.

co614 · **Posted:** Tue Apr 25, 2023 9:42 am

Some years later when we proposed the 614 powered trips over NJT from Hoboken to Port Jervis NY ( a portion of which uses Conrail trackage) we encountered strong resistance from Conrail as their operating people hadn't yet gotten over that debacle.

It took considerable effort ( and lots of behind the scenes arm twisting ) to convince them that we had the professional team members who would ensure a smooth operation.

Thankfully our 24 trips were safely operated and the 614 certainly acquitted herself in spades.

Thanks, Ross Rowland

isaksenj · **Posted:** Tue Apr 25, 2023 9:44 am

Safety chains were an accessory even up to the lightweight era - they were a feature on the 1950 passenger car orders for the Nickel Plate Road coaches and 10/6 sleepers.

Overmod · **Joined:** Thu May 24, 2012 1:37 pm **Posts:** 2492

And if I recall correctly, 614 suffered a far more serious road failure on NJT than "just" an eccentric rod -- and it was handled professionally and with minimal 'trouble and delay'.

Kelly Anderson · **Joined:** Tue Sep 14, 2004 7:52 am **Posts:** 2477

co614 · **Posted:** Tue Apr 25, 2023 4:00 pm

Yes, we did suffer one road failure ( out of a total of 24 trips) when a lubrication issue caused the engineer side valve rings to fail and thus take the locomotive out of action.

As was the case on all 24 excursions we had a pair of GP-40 " ghost engines" running 2 blocks ahead of us and they quickly came to the rescue and took over the train while the 614 limped out of the way to allow the crew to effect the needed repairs.

Thanks to the rescue units the customers got home on time. Always pays to have a plan B ready to go.

Ross Rowland