Of course, if the CP hadn't been so resistant to using fusible plugs, the engine might still be intact today.

Whoever listed the Gettsyburg incident and the Tractor was right on the money. I had the opportunity to purchase excursion insurance for the years after this incident and the insurors were explicit in those incidents as being the main factors for the inherent rising costs. The main emphasis here was the maintenance of the equipment in question. The dismal swamp incident, no doubt a serious one, involved a class-one whereas the others were in the realm of the tourist industry.

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Agreed on fusible plugs. The only time I have ever seen one open, there was plenty of water and everything was OK. I don't use them if it can be avoided. They provide a false sense of security based on some pretty shaky theoretical grounds in my experience.

BTW, Gary Bensman was kind enough to share with me a copy of Porta's handwritten response to his reading of the NTSB report (as well as other things, most likely) and he had many pithy comments to make about the regulatory and management structure that allowed for such a cascading series of compounding errors to accumulate until they reached critical mass. Perhaps it will also be published someday. He had some very sensible suggestions to contribute.

dave

Anybody read that NTSB report? Look at Figure 11 (photograph), there is a HORSESHOE hanging from the gauge glass with wire. Is that some kind of fateful wish for luck?

Converted automobile carrying rack? Anybody have a picture of that? Seems crazy to me.

It's not a good picture, but if you go to this page

http://www.classicrail.com/media.html

and click the middle thumbnail, it's the rightmost car.

My recollection is that it was a standard TrailerTrain two-decker. Gettysburg put a low roof over the top deck, left the side panels in place, and painted it in the Gettyburg's blue/gray paint scheme.

It was truly awful - a car only a mother could love. And it was only the most egregious of the several converted flats and gons that were on the property, in various paint schemes and states of disrepair.

JAC

I would strongly second that comment about its degree of uglyness! It definitly would win top prize in any ugly car contest-hands down!!! And the ride was worse than the looks!!!
Ross Rowland

Yet it was reputadely the most popular car for families with kids to ride (upstairs, of course). Ugly be damned if it pleases the visitors.

dave

Ugly as the double decker was it was definately the favorite car on the train with the possible exception of the caboose when one was on the train. I have seen trains on the Gettysburg where all of the passengers were riding the double decker and the coaches were completely empty. Unless the train was a near sell out or the weather was terrible the coaches normally had very few passengers on them. I have often thought they would have been better off with two of these cars and just pulling one coach. The general public thought the open car was great and did not seem to mind the rough ride.

John Bohon

For a senic railroad, open air cars are the best way to travel. When ever
I ride the Adirondack Senic I prefer the baggage car behind the power.
Excursions are best experianced in the vestibule of the cars when they
let you ride there. Hell I'd ride the pilot of any engine if they'd let me.

A good part of the poor ride quality of that doubledecker was due to various truck components, particularly the bolster snubbers, being completely worn out. The other part was the poor track surface. After we surfaced the track in the summer of 2001, the ride improved, and following a complete overhaul of the trucks during the winter of 2001-2002, the car rode like a Pullman. In that overhaul, we replaced the snubbers, built up worn surfaces, and replaced a number of broken truck springs. All were relatively easy and inexpensive reapirs.

I can possibly top everyone on this:

I rode on that open car behind 3254........ BEFORE they added the roof.

The car would have been the most popular car on any excursion road, and indeed it was--for the first fifty yards. As soon as 3254 opened up, it was akin to standing under Mt. St. Helens! The evacuation was swift and complete, save for three or four of us full-blown masochists with tape recorders and cameras. I have a photo of my fellow travelers, and in a sense we closely resembled Central American revolutionary banditos, with backwards-turned caps, goggles, masks or kerchiefs tied over the faces, and the camera straps resembling gun holsters or rifle straps!

The Gettysburg under Cornell was very literally the epitome of all old-fashioned short-line operations with a "Toonerville Trolley" air--and that applied both to the good characters and the sloppy, slovenly air of decrepitude that surrounded the operation. If ever a railroad was going to finish up like the old Wiscasset, Waterville & Farmington, with the loco derailed on the last run and left in place for years until a scrap drive, this was it! The same run with the open car and 3254 I described above was a 50-miler to Mt. Holly Springs; the RR found two freight cars on the interchange, so they just backed up the returning passenger run to the cars and added them to the consist--a true mixed train! Then they met the regular run at Biglerville and added it to the rear of THAT consist, so what returned to Gettysburg was, in order: 3254 tender-first; two coaches; combine; open-air monstrosity; Railbox car' bulkhead flat of lumber; two more coaches, and 76 trailing stack-out: a Pushmi-Pullyu Mixed!

I consider myself VERY fortunate to have experienced real "old-fashioned" railroading like this in my lifetime. Having read the NTSB report, I also feel very fortunate to have SURVIVED the experience.