Fortunately, this never happened to me, though we did have an engine break open the enginehouse doors and start rolling toward the pit after the air leaked off (the previous crew did not apply hand brakes or wheel chains). Photo info says UP, but I think it is actually a former N&W engine on the D&RGW, at Minturn, Colorado:

http://abpr2.railfan.net/abprphoto.cgi? ... 6/3554.jpg

There's more than one pic out there of an entire loco in the pit. That would be a bad day!

I once had saved a website, about railroading of course, and when I returned to the saved url some time later the opening page had changed. The new page informed you that you have reached a non-working link. What got me was that there was a picture of a steam engine sticking out of the side of a two story building. What I figured is the rails and platform were on one level and the street was below. Of course that image and page are long gone. The picture seemed to be in the 20's or 30's by the clothing on people in the picture.

There appears to be damage to the roundhouse with the roof sagging. Look over the rear sand dome and below the rock outcropping. The roof appears to be sagging and the sheeting on the facade is seperated. The door frame is also low.

It looks like an N&W engine to me but I do not know who it is working for. The cab numbers look Rio Grande to me.

John Bohon

If I recall, the turntable was still there and usable when I was last at Minturn in the late-1960s. It is likely gone today. D&RGW kept helper engines there well into the diesel era. A great grandmother that I never knew ran a boarding house for railroaders at Minturn into the 1940s. I think the town today serves mostly as residence for service workers at the nearby expensive resort of Vail.

I agree with the damage. Also there is a welding rig just off the pit and a hole in the lower left of the tender. Looks like they decided to drain the tank before lifting.

can anybody tell what the wheel arrangement on this loco? im guessing a 2-8-8-0? UP did have a 2-8-8-0 numbered 3554, but it just doesn't "look UP" to me...

If Bob is correct that the photo was taken in Minturn, D&RGW 3554 was one of 15 L-109 class 2-8-8-2's purchased from N&W in '43 and '48. D&RGW number sequence was 3550 through 3564. They were all off the roster by 1951 The N&W classed them as Y-2 class and 20 of the class were build by BLW in 1919 and N&W built five 1918 through 1921, and the last six were built by N&W in 1924 and were class Y-2a. The BLW engines were all upgraded to Y-2a's. N&W numbered the class as the 1700 series.

The nice thing about D&RGW classifications is if you add three zeros to the number, you know the tractive effort the engine was rated for.

I found some other pictures of the L-109 class of D&RGW locomotives at http://www.drgw.net/info/index.php?n=Main.L-109. If you compare the photos, its definitely a 2-8-8-2 from the N&W (N&W #1729). In the picture you can't see the trailing truck because its hidden by the step on the tender. In my previous post I was mistaken in thinking that it was a 2-8-8-0.

Also, if you look very closely, you can make out "Rio Grande" with the lettering appropriately tilted towards the locomotive. With comparison, even the trucks on the tender seem to be a match.

The lid on the water hatch is also damaged. I would love to know the story behind this one.

John Bohon

"I once had saved a website, about railroading of course, and when I returned to the saved url some time later the opening page had changed. The new page informed you that you have reached a non-working link. What got me was that there was a picture of a steam engine sticking out of the side of a two story building. What I figured is the rails and platform were on one level and the street was below. Of course that image and page are long gone. The picture seemed to be in the 20's or 30's by the clothing on people in the picture."

I use to see, from time to time, a shot of a Santa Fe EMD F3A which had over-ran the end of its track at Union Station in Los Angeles, and ended up hanging over the upper-level directly above the street below...

To me it looks like a case of a night walker.

For those that don't know this term in reference to steam engines, Some locomotives had the throttle rod pass through the boiler to get to the valve in the steam dome. As the boiler cools and the pressure drops the boiler will shrink slightly, which since the throttle is locked into notches means that the valve will open. If there are no chocks or chains around the wheels, over time the pressure can build up in the cylinders enough to move the locomotive. Give it enough room they can gain enough momentum to push through a brick wall.

Robin, it sounds like the photo is that of the French saddle tanker that over run the end of the track in the station. Nose of the engine is on the street below and the first car is half out of the wall. Someone made a recreation of this event either last year or the year before for some art studio.

Rich C

That may be also how a Southern Pacific switcher and it's train ended up in the river near Morgan City, Louisiana, where it still sits today.



The real event, in Marseilles, France where a loco plunged through a station wall onto the street below. The person manning the newspaper stand was killed:



The re-creation of the accident at Mundo a Vapor, Canela, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil:



More on it here:

http://www.geocities.com/vapor_br_sp/saiu610.htm