http://www.ajc.com/news/news/7-children-burned-on-gwinnett-field-trip/ngRZS/
Gwinnett fire Capt. Tommy Rutledge said the seven children, who were part of a day care group visiting the museum, “were on a full-size train ride when hot embers blew from the train’s stack and landed on the group.”
All the children were assessed and treated by paramedics at the scene, with none requiring transport to the hospital, according to Rutledge.
I hope that they can accept their experience with equanimity; after all, it’s almost like a war story from a bygone era. Imagine being able to relate to grandkids that you were deluged with hot embers from a working steam locomotive and have some scars to prove it…well…they used to be right there…
-Crandell
These days a lot of people have their lawyers on speed-dial, unfortunately.
At least one will point out that “other operators” are using more user-friendly fuels…
Was it from a steam loco? I’ve seen “hot embers” (or something else that was red hot) blow from a diesel and set the landscape on fire.
I assumed so, Falcon48, but I could be wrong.
-Crandell
Lucky the embers didn’t get into someone’s eyes.
This article indicates that it was a GP7.
The steam loco they’d been using has been out of service for a while. They have a few operable diesel locos though. They either need their spark arresting manifold cleaned out or then need to put some spark arrestors on the stacks.
and says: “He says the 1950’s era GP7 locomotive recently had its fuel-injectors replaced and suspects it could have been old fuel in the line that solidified can caused the fire.”
Say, what? I don’t think so… Probably more due to souping up and never getting a good stint of full horsepower work to do. Lots of goo accumulates in the exhaust manifold. Wonder if they have a load box?
That happened to my dad when he was a kid… He took the train to school and one day got zapped in the eye with a hot ember. He said he lost a week of school because of it but luckily not his eyesight.
Betting that the only thing a loadbox would do is flashover the generator…
A better plan is to put some real effort into cleaning the carbon traps and stacks
Amen Randy. somebody might want to take a peak at the rack settings and see how long the thing had been sitting idling in place?
Yeah. Probably! [:D] I forget, sometimes…