An WB UP freight train collided today with an unmanned locomotive on the East West mainline near Ralston, IA. Details still sketchy, but it may have been a roll out from a nearby grain elevator.
Yikes, I hope the crew of the WB are OK, and our forum friends Jeff and Larry weren’t involved.
Edit: A quick Google search found this- at least the first question is answered.
http://www.kcci.com/news/26429396/detail.html
Edit2: Looks like we grabbed the same story at the same time, Sam!
Apparently was a roll out from the Carroll County Coop. Monday, 8:50 AM. Does noty say what size the locomotive was that was owned by the Coop, but the train hit was apparently a UP Train of Auto Racks moving about 20 mph.
Link here: http://www.kcci.com/news/26429396/detail.html
FTA:“…UP spokesman Mark Davis said the train coming from Chicago headed for California crashed with a locomotive that had rolled out on to the main line from the elevator…”
The Co-Op had a bought-new Plymouth MDT for years, but I believe there was a bigger engine there as well in recent history. That place sort-of fans out into a small yard on the west end and look like a bent dinner fork. All kinds of questions here about the status of the derail(s)??? Did they come out on the east end or onto the crossover on the #1 main track in the middle??
Any idea how quickly a split rail derail will be installed there??
I think they were making the sequel to “Unstoppable.”
Here’s what I heard happened, subject to change. West Central Co-Op at Ralston started up one of their engines in it’s shed. Somehow it started out on it’s own, ran through a closed door, ran through a couple of switches. It ran over a derail, but didn’t, then ran through the switch onto main one. Ralston sits at the bottom of a hill from either direction. The east switch is almost the very bottom. Maximum speed is 70 mph.
They have two engines, a small one like Brian said and a GP-7/9 chopped nose. I don’t know which one it was. I didn’t think the larger one fit in their engine shed, but don’t know for sure. The engine off the westbound was still sitting at Ralston when I went by a few hours later. It was dark by then and I didn’t notice damage. At that time I knew of the engine switch, but not the reason. I thought maybe the leader developed problems and that’s why it was set out. I didn’t hear of the collision until I got to Boone.
IIRC, the derail is one that flops over the rail, operated from a low switch stand. It is also tied into the block signal system. So if it was in the non-derailing position, it would’ve shown an occupancy. It’s been a few years since I had to operate it, it could’ve been changed but don’t think so. Why it didn’t derail the engine will probably come out later.
I don’t know the timeline for the events either. I’m thinking it happened such that the westbound couldn’t stop in time. I’m sure it will come out.
Jeff
I found out tonight that it was the smaller engine that was involved.
Jeff
At the point at which the engine forced the switch and rolled onto the mainline, wouldn’t the signal system sense its presence and red light the signals for that block? At that point wouldn’t both the Harriman Center and anyone approaching the block be warned of trouble? The only way I can understand this is if the approaching train was already in the same block when the rollout occured.
The speed at impact was 25mph. In addition to wayside signals, the line is equipped with automatic train control and cab signals. As soon as the engine went past the insulated joints on the side track it would shunt the block system. That would set the wayside signals (about 1 mile east of the switch for westbound trains) and dropped the cab signal to restricting.
If the train was going over 40mph, the ATC would give an audible warning and the engr has 6 seconds to a brake application. If not, the ATC will after the 6 seconds. If under 40mph, the ATC gives a different audible warning and the engr has 70 seconds to get under 23mph. If not, the ATC gives a warning just like at higher speeds with the same result. In both cases the brake application is heavy enough to stop the train.
(Speculation on my part) I’m thinking that when the engine rolled out, they were too close to stop. That the cab signal dropped out and they were in the process of stopping. The system doesn’t allow you to run at 25mph for very long. I think it was snowing, it had been most of that and the previous day. It’s not unusual to get train control between signals for other reasons than an occupancy. Seeing a wayside signal go from clear to red happens once in a while too. Just because either happens (without seeing something else, like an errant engine) doesn’t mean you put your train in emergency.
I saw the engineer last night and he talked a bit about it. I listened, but didn’t ask questions about speed when they got ATC, where, when they first saw it on the main, etc. I’m sure that will all come out later. No one’s said anything about either crewmember being out of service pending an investigation. That kind of says something.
Jeff
Who pays to clean up the mess? Does the owner of the errant locomotive stand to cover it all?
A small Plymouth engine would probably be just punted out of the ROW like a soccer ball, although I’d bet the UP engine will have some damage. My guess with what was reported above track damage would probably be light to non-existant