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VANITY POST: I am curious, how could a Jeep Cherokee derail the train in LA?

Posted on 01/27/2005 12:39:34 PM PST by kyperman

Would the train not have just pushed the SUV out of the way like a fly....or am I missing something. Was this a subway type of train?


TOPICS:
KEYWORDS: trainderailment

1 posted on 01/27/2005 12:39:34 PM PST by kyperman
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To: kyperman

If a train can be derailed by a rock on the track, why couldn't a Jeep Cherokee do it?


2 posted on 01/27/2005 12:41:18 PM PST by TommyDale
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To: kyperman
The train was being pushed by it's locomotive. There was nothing in front but a light passenger car.

So9

3 posted on 01/27/2005 12:41:59 PM PST by Servant of the 9 (Trust Me)
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To: kyperman

They say a penny on the rail can do it.


4 posted on 01/27/2005 12:42:23 PM PST by RightWhale (Please correct if cosmic balance requires.)
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To: kyperman

The Metrolink trains run both ways, engine in front, and engine pushing in the rear. A passenger car hit the Jeep and the engine kept pushing it until it derailed.


5 posted on 01/27/2005 12:42:34 PM PST by oldleft
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To: kyperman

The engine was in the rear pushing the cars so the car in the front had no real bumper or "cow catcher" to protect the undercarriage.


6 posted on 01/27/2005 12:42:39 PM PST by IncredibleHulk (Courage is the Price that Life extracts for granting Peace. –Anne Morrow Lindberg)
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To: kyperman

Also I think the car was down on the tracks and not on the crossing plate where it could have been more easily pushed aside.


7 posted on 01/27/2005 12:44:34 PM PST by BillyBonebrake
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To: IncredibleHulk

OK...I can see that....I have seen car train accidents before and the car does not stand a chance and the trains don't derail....but thats with the engine in front.


8 posted on 01/27/2005 12:46:25 PM PST by kyperman (Hows this for a face you love to hate.)
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To: IncredibleHulk
The engine was in the rear pushing the cars so the car in the front had no real bumper or "cow catcher" to protect the undercarriage.

Oh, no. I'd been asking around earlier today how the ambulance-chasing lawyers were going to make millions for themselves out of this when it was the fault of some total idiot. But now I can hear the "no-cow catcher" law suit coming. What a shame, because Metrolink is an excellent, inexpensive rail service - or was until these lawsuits get through.

9 posted on 01/27/2005 1:03:24 PM PST by xJones
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To: Servant of the 9
Would it be practical to include an unoccupied 'crushable' car on the leading end of a pusher-train? The control cab should be rigid, of course, but the rest could be filled with some compressable fluid medium.

Would that be at all helpful in reducing the difference in risk between 'puller' and 'pusher' trains?

10 posted on 01/27/2005 6:21:30 PM PST by supercat (To call the Constitution a 'living document' is to call a moth-infested overcoat a 'living garment'.)
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To: supercat
Would it be practical to include an unoccupied 'crushable' car on the leading end of a pusher-train? The control cab should be rigid, of course, but the rest could be filled with some compressable fluid medium.

Would that be at all helpful in reducing the difference in risk between 'puller' and 'pusher' trains?

It wouldn't help. What is needed is the weight of the engine to stay on the track and push the obstruction away. The other problem is that once the front stops, the pushing engine plows the intervening cars off the track.

All that is needed is for the switch yard to make up all trains with engine forward. It's just a matter of convenience which way they are connected.

SO9

11 posted on 01/27/2005 7:06:15 PM PST by Servant of the 9 (Trust Me)
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To: Servant of the 9
It wouldn't help. What is needed is the weight of the engine to stay on the track and push the obstruction away. The other problem is that once the front stops, the pushing engine plows the intervening cars off the track.

I'm not saying it would be a panacea, but I would think that having something to absorb some of the energy would reduce the severity of crashes.

All that is needed is for the switch yard to make up all trains with engine forward. It's just a matter of convenience which way they are connected.

Many railway lines don't have facilities for reversing trains at the ends of lines.

12 posted on 01/27/2005 7:13:27 PM PST by supercat (To call the Constitution a 'living document' is to call a moth-infested overcoat a 'living garment'.)
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To: supercat
Many railway lines don't have facilities for reversing trains at the ends of lines.

All it takes is a siding to let the engine bypass the cars.
These boondogles are all built with Federal Tax dollars. The least they could do is spend the money competently.

SO9

13 posted on 01/27/2005 7:26:58 PM PST by Servant of the 9 (Trust Me)
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To: kyperman

Once I happened upon a train that had just driven right through the middle of a semi trailer loaded with cabbage and carrots. No one got hurt luckily, but the front of the engine was covered with cole slaw!


14 posted on 01/27/2005 7:33:06 PM PST by Trteamer ( (Eat Meat, Wear Fur, Own Guns, FReep Leftists, Drive an SUV, Drill A.N.W.R., Drill the Gulf, Vote)
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To: Servant of the 9
All it takes is a siding to let the engine bypass the cars.

I don't know what California's railways are like, but can you imagine any plausible way of efficiently handling such a reversal at, e.g., Union Station (Chicago) where all the railway platforms are on dead-end spurs?

15 posted on 01/27/2005 7:41:50 PM PST by supercat (To call the Constitution a 'living document' is to call a moth-infested overcoat a 'living garment'.)
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To: kyperman

Every object persists in its state of rest or uniform motion in a straight line unless it is compelled to change that state by forces impressed on it.

Force is equal to the change in momentum per change in time.

For every action, there is an equal and opposite re-action.

F = ma. It's not just a good idea, it's the law.

16 posted on 01/27/2005 7:42:45 PM PST by Lonesome in Massachussets (Deadcheck the embeds first.)
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To: kyperman

SUV's are EEEEEVIL!


17 posted on 01/27/2005 8:05:11 PM PST by sweetliberty
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To: kyperman

According to one news account, the SUV was tightly wedged between the rails.


18 posted on 01/29/2005 7:38:27 AM PST by Rudder
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