I was riding in a rattle-trap Superliner Dining car and we hit one of those signature CSX rough turnouts. Afterward there was a loud clackity-clackity-clack that didn’t go away until we hit another switch and it promptly stopped.
Did the truck derail and rerail? Was it just some debris clattering on the ties? It sounded metallic.
Thanks for your theories.
(Btw, this was on the Auto Train two weeks ago).
A) could have, may have, is possible. B) more than one frog, switch, raild diamond crossing, at interlocking, so lots of stick rail instead of long pieces of welded rail until clear of the interlocking
I kind of doubt it. Had a wheel derailed for even that short a distance, it would leave evidence on itself, the truck, or perhaps the body of the car that would have turned up at the next pre-trip inspection.
You didn’t feel any unusual vibration with the unusual noises, did you? Trust me, if you were riding with even one wheelset on the ties you would have!
Did you tell a crewman of your suspicions? They would have either been able to give you assurance that this is how that track sounded all the time at this location (if you could identify that it was switches that caused this, they could pinpoint the spot), or notified somebody to check out the track for markings from a possible derailment (I can’t think of any such incident that wouldn’t have left some marks on the ties, or gouges in the rail, if it made as much noise as you heard).
How long did the noise last ? (miles/ minutes)
As George W. Hilton (I think it was, or maybe C. Grattan Price, Jr.) once wrote, “the unmistakable sensation of a derailed wheel bumping over the ties . . .”.
there was an article in Trains magazine a few years ago about evidence of a derailed car running a long ways while derailed. The evidence was some crushed covers over switch motor pits.
I also remember something about a pair of cars where the rear truck of one car picked a switch and it and the front truck of the other rode on a parallel track (a main track and not a siding if I remember correctly) and they moved back to the correct rails at the next crossover. What I don’t remember is how anybody knew it had happened.[B)]
That one seems a bit unlikely since the frames of the cars and corresponding coupler alignments would be at sharp angles to each other and would have pulled knuckles (at least) when the one truck picked the switch point.
There would be telltale signs on the ties. It’s easy to see if there has been a derailment just looking at the ties. Wheels leave a nice groove in ties.
I’ve seen an instance where a switch in our yard was thrown under a long car (pig or auto rack), and the car rolled some distance with one truck on one track and the other on the adjacent track. I’m sure there was a bit of a bind in the brake rigging, though, which would have kept it in the yard. No derailment, no foul…
But the car wasn’t coupled to anything on either end. Although some of those cars have very long drawbars with annoying characteristics for bypassing, I’m not sure they would have been able to tie onto a car on either track (a chain was employed when the engine pulled it back).
(Before anyone asks: no, I’ve never been so lucky!)
Suspect there was some severe truck hunting and the guardrail at the next trailing point switch stopped the harmonics. The only thing that would be seen is a shiny spot on the guardrail or the backside of the wheel flange.
aegrotatio - How fast was the train going ? (should have asked this before) - PDN.
It was probably going at 40 mph. The clackity-clack lasted for about three minutes.
Those used to welded rail (or well maintained jointed rail) might find the clickety-clack of jointed or poorly-maintained jointed rail quite noisy.
We don’t have any welded rail, but we do run over some on the short line whose tracks we use. The difference is quite noticable.
It was a Roadrailer train that had one trailer go off the rails for a while and surprisingly get back on. There are adjustments to the air ride system in them and the one trailer that took a joyride had its suspension turned up a bit high so they turned it down.