Gary H

Indeed, that's really summat else! That boy is lucky to be alive if it wasn't for the cat!

Spotted this in our Tavi Junction office the other day- Its not bad stuff either.

Make the most of it then because judging by that it wont be working for much longer! How can it be sustained for that money? 752 QUID A MONTH!! That's like a living wage for some folk!

Jim will no doubt confirm but im certain its the same AAR system. Association of American Railroads.

No no no, I said IF the loco was in 100% condition, it should have been able to deal with a curve not fitted with a lubricator or check rail. Please try and keep up! As I said, lets just just agree to disagree eh!

I do respect the points you make but you could also turn the above on its head, thus- If the loco was in 100% condition, (ie no frame or bogie twist pre incident of which we will never really know for sure) it to should have been able to deal with a curve with no rail / flange lubricator and check rail, especially at a mere 15 MPH or so just like the lead loco did and the dozens of trains before it. I think we'll have to agree to disagree on this one!

We have an extremely sharp curve going into Liskeard yard from the mainline. Its so sharp that any passenger train that traverses it must not be carrying passengers when it does, ie, railtours etc. Passengers have to disembark and walk across to the Looe platform and wait until the train is reversed into the platform before they rejoin it. Up until recently, PCA tanks would use it which are right mares for derailing at the best of times! The curve has zero cant, no check rail and no lubricator yet we have never had a derailment on it.

The upshot of it all is the fact that several contributory factors very unfortunately came together to cause the derailment. I think it would be unwise to blame it on one single cause alone, eg, the track.

I agree. You've made some good points there Mike. I don't remember reading anything in that report that mentioned the loco's wheel loads being recorded post derailment! Or for that matter, the presence of any frame or bogie twist post derailment! All of which as we know can and has been attributable to many freight vehicle derailments in the past.

Im not sure how this knid of thing works but one would assume they (WCRC) would receive the market value of the locomotive from NR's insurers. Obviously taking into account engine hours, last general overhaul, extra equipment fitted like GSMR, etc etc.

This is a fascinating thread. Thanks for taking the time to scan and upload these pictures. Excellent stuff.

Well I suppose there's one thing to be said for it Jim, variety! It must be more interesting than driving from A to B day in and day out, the same train over the same route for weeks on end as it were!

Crikey, its abit dark there Jim! Well off the beaten track by the looks of it.

The "5371" was the last SD40-2T "Tunnel motor" to survive in Denver & Rio Grande Western paint that was in operational revenue earning service with UP. UP actually donated the loco to the museum. 5371 acquired a fairly big following come the end of its career about 4 years ago. Ive got abit of a soft spot for it and have the Athearn model.

Got you! I just followed that route, its more direct than I first thought it was. Still a fair old treck at what, 30 mph?

Jamie, any idea roughly how long (in miles) this move is? I just looked on Google maps and there is far from any direct rail move from Salt Lake city to Cheyenne, by road its just under 500 miles but by rail it looks to be about double that. Maybe the UK equivalent of heading from the west country to London via Scotland!

Death by train?? Lucky to be alive? Hardly I doubt as what was probably a move a little above walking pace! I would have been more concerned about the possible damage to a very expensive brand new locomotive and all the "please explain" paper work Big Jim would have had to contend with should worst have happened. I think im correct in saying these loco's don't have forward facing CCTV. Saves a heck of a lot of bother if they did have it.

Our loading gauge here in the UK does make me laugh when I see pics like that, look at the width of the deck on that flat car! It was the first thing that struck me when I started buying American out line H0 models, if you pick up a freight car to place it on the track, you have a job to feel the trucks / bogies with the tips of your fingers to align them with the rails!

That's just it though Eddie. Due to being on "delivery driver auto pilot", (aka fatigue) he probably didn't have the first clue that he was in danger! I don't believe for a minute he saw the train and thought **** it, sod the train, im going for it!

yep! Otherwise known as "Fassetta" clamps. Second row down on the left here - http://www.btukltd.com/HandTools.htm 60 quid each in case anyones interested!

Amen to that! Its about time it was clamped down on! The way some of these firms treat their staff, you'd be forgiven in thinking they were exempt from any form of rules or regulation.

Knowing CL, I can categorically guarantee that driver would have been under pressure! CL treat their drivers like crap and the put massive workloads on them whilst being paid peanuts to do it. Same can be said for most of these delivery company's. Most of these guys are out until 8 at night and will have done something like 50 to 70 drops during the day and maybe 30 odd collections aswel in some cases. He was probably fatigued to the hilt making his decision making skills and general awareness of his surroundings non existent. There's nothing quite like multi drop work to knock the **** out of you!

Im not entirely sure how often Don. I was on an HST some years ago that done the same. I would imagine that the Voyager could have been running late and missed its path and to avoid making it later by following the 143 under restrictive aspects all the way to Newton, the signaller crossed it over to pass the 143. Its a clever way of increasing capacity, letting a late train gain some time or indeed to prevent making a train late!

I bet they were relieved to be inside a 190 ton loco rather than a car or truck!

3 cool machines on the left there!!