Posted on 02/14/2023 2:24:38 PM PST by libstripper
deo is raising questions for people in East Palestine, Ohio, CBS Pittsburgh reports.
The video, which captured the train 20 miles before it reached the site where it derailed, is raising questions about when the crew knew there was a problem.
The video, obtained by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, was taken by a security camera at an equipment plant in Salem, Ohio. What appears to be sparks and flames can be seen in the video under one of the train cars as it passes the plant. The National Transportation Safety Board referenced the video at a news conference last week.
(Excerpt) Read more at msn.com ...
Nothing to see here, just because trains are 200 cars long now when they used to be 100 cars doesn’t mean anything.
Yeah I remember them going from four man crews with the Caboose, to three man crews in the engine, and now two man crews.
Check this out... About ten years ago they put in a series of radio towers every 20 miles apart. They were going to implement crewless remote control trains. But they never did do it for some reason. I’m sure it was a good thing they didn’t.
Used to be two in the caboose, the brakeman and the conductor, and two in the locomotive, the engineer and the fireman. At least four humans and sets of eyes on each freight train.
Most trains now run with two, the engineer and the conductor and they both ride in the engine. Railroads really wanted to cut crew size down to one, but I believe they are required to have two aboard.
It also used to be that brakemen worked their way to conductor and firemen worked their way to engineer, its taking a long time to get the promotion, so crews had many years of experience.
My grandpa and one uncle were engineers and one uncle was a conductor on the UP back in the day. It was dangerous work and required tough men.
That’s basically the reason that Elon Musk won’t hire MBAs.
He believes that their fixation on numbers alone results in foolish decisions that end up destroying companies.
Precision Scheduled Railroading may have leapt beyond that to destroying an entire town and a lot of its resident’s health.
Yep, And now the conductor does the work of the Brakeman too.
Thx.
Pothole Pete will don his cape and get right after this, unless he takes another vacation.
It’s in the Ohio now, on its way to the Mississippi
Check this out... About ten years ago they put in a series of radio towers every 20 miles apart. They were going to implement crewless remote control trains. But they never did do it for some reason. I’m sure it was a good thing they didn’t.
I can only imagine. Easily hacked Android or Microsoft. The Blue Screen of Death will literally become just that.
*another segue*
Open up the switch I’m gonna let him through the hole,
Cause the monkey’s got the locomotive under control.
I don’t think that railroads have ever examined the trucks of individual freight cars. There’s too many of them. They have always watched for hotboxes, both visually and with defect detectors.
But today’s trains have become incredibly long through the use of distributed power units, DPUs. They are too long for effective visual checks, and to make that problem worse railroads have been cutting the size of their crews, making them do more with less.
This is a result of not bothering to get any input from their work crews and allowing suits without any operational knowledge to make bad decisions. And it will end badly, with railroads being found liable for disasters like Palestine Ohio.
I wouldn’t want to be Norfolk Southern’s insurer.
Thanks!
My grandfather hired on with the railroad when he was 13 years old. It was around 1915, he told them he was 17. Because WW1 was in full swing he got hired.
The tough old bastard was shoveling coal on a steam engine at the age of 13. By the time he turned 17 he was an engineer.
The good ole days. I have my grandpas railroad watch. I’m saving up to have it restored to original condition.
I suspect that even most Boomers don’t realize how major a part of American life that railroads were prior to the 1950s. If you wanted to travel any distance at all you did it by train. Passenger trains covered the country. Both of my WWI vet grandfathers worked for the Southern Railroad, although their paths never crossed.
Some of those small houses along the rail line are "hot box detectors", which spot those failures when they go by. They send a message that identifies which car and which axle has failed.
Those trains don't always make it to the next stop before the failure causes the car's "truck" to fall apart.
*
Very interesting and informative! Thank you!
“A Failed Defect Detector and the Train Derailment at East Palestine”
The discussion of what might have caused East Palestine begins around the 2:45 mark. “Dave” is a veteran railroader and this video is well worth watching.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RNe3QW3aHI
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