FROM A FRIEND OF MINE:
“Look at this wheel and no derailment!”
“A friend sent this to me. It happened on the BN east of Orin Junction
Wyoming heading toward Guernsey. He said that the speed limit is 50 mph most
of the way.”
At the Chattanooga Choo Choo in Chattanooga, TN, they have a hugh HO layout. My family stayed there several summers ago. The guide showed us some of the HO wheelsets that had worn all the way through because of the literal miles of use they received. He said it was too expensive for them to replace all the wheelsets with metal versions so catastrophic failuer like you show on the prototype can happen in the model world too!
What would cause this a bearing freeze? Track is unbelievably strong, wonder what the alloy is?
Great picture, thanks for posting, Welcome back
That was covered on a segment of Working on the Railroad TV series, John. One of the operator’s of the layout said that the wheels get worn so much that some of the loco’s metal wheels get as sharp as razor blades! The trains run 7 real miles (not scale miles) each day on average!
Is this the ultimate result of a ‘flat wheel?’
I had the experience of watching a freight roll by while waiting for my commuter train - and hearing the ‘wham, wham, wham, wham’ as the car with the flat wheel went by…
Bet you it was one of those covered GRITS cars that sprung a leak?
laz57
There was a big derailment in Franklin Park, IL last night early morning. Franklin Park has a large yard and is a big trainwatchers spot. And wouldnt you know it the cars that derailed were carrying hazardous waste. No spills thankfully. The cars were put back on the track and commuter trains were only delayed 15 minutes this morning.
One of the “engineering Disaster” episodes was on a passenger train that had a wheel fall apart and cause a huge derailment- it was in England, the train was at high speed and hit a bridge. Killed a few too.
Dennis
If I’m not mistaken, that accident happened in Germany… it was the Ice commuter train. I taped a miniseries on TLC a few years ago called “Why Trains Crash” and one episode had a long segment concerning this wreck. Really interesting if you can find it.
obviously a flat tire. They are always to lazy put in more air.
I am also amaized it didn’t fall or anything.
That ICE derailment was caused by a broken tire. Conventional wisdom is that a railroad wheel should be made of one piece. But the ICE designers thought they could make a two-piece wheel that wouldn’t come apart. They were wrong. I believe that they put the original one-piece wheels back on.
Chief : I had an almost identicle situation, about a year before Conrail became CSX in Ashtabula, Oh. Seems I had just got done looking at a train at MP 124, when here come this train & back a few cars, tons of sparks flying ! I stopped the train just in time , I believe, as it was Westboud & Amtrack was coming Eastboud ! A little further down & it may have derailed & bumped into Amtrack. BRAC was that trains’ symbol at the time & the wheel on that car looked just like the one in your buddies photo. Seems It was caused by flat spots, air brks. sticking, or a hand brk. left on & when it went through an Interlocking & then over the Diamond that goes to the now N&S to the harbor, that is when parts of the wheel flew out ! Notice also that those wheels in your pictures probably show a lot of blue from running hot & built up tread also. We found those sections of the wheel, back by the Diamond, which was back 5 miles from where I got the train stopped . That was probably a highlight in my career & I recieved a plaque & 2 top RR offiicials came down & gave me 25 dollars each ! Later that day the car with the broken wheel, I was also out on the Main changing it !! Today we have detectors and or impact machines that find “out of round” wheels & flat spots, before they get in that serious a condition.
Thanks,
I believe the wheels are cast. It could have started with a flaw in the casting. The flaw could have been started by an impurity. For example in the casting process a pigeon flys into the casting building a drops a big one on to the casting as it is cooling. Or a chaw of tobbacco is spit is the wrong direction and ends up on the wheel. More than likely, that raw materials had an impurity. [2c]
Buckeye writes: " For example in the casting process a pigeon flys into the casting building a drops a big one on to the casting as it is cooling. Or a chaw of tobbacco is spit is the wrong direction and ends up on the wheel. "
LOL!
Probably just made on a Monday and the wheel-making crew wasn’t paying any attention to the ingredients.
Is that an old zamac casting?
There were some pictures elsewhere of an Australian train that had run something like 50 miles with the brakes on.
Great job John. Glad they recognized you for what you did.
That’s caused be the handbrake not being knocked off completely or a stuck brake piston.The wheel is on the b end of the car where the handbrake and piston is.We are given heat sticks to check for hot wheels and bearings here on the NS.When a Track Side Analyser (TSA) gives us a hotbox,the conductor drops off,I pull the train by him until the car gets to him.He will check for wheel spalding (cracks in the flat rim of the wheel,rough spots,dug out spots,and a craked flange).He then checks for blueing of the wheel,then checks the wheel and bearing with the heat stick.He will also check 5 cars ahead and behind the car given by the TSA.We had a coal train go about 3 miles over switches and the big Ohio River bridge at Kenova WVa,with a broken wheel before the TSA at South Point Ohio got them for dragging equipment.Alot of ties got cut up and replaced,but the car and the rest of the train stayed on the rail.
Thanks Chief !!
[:D]
Kind of looks like the train ran over some grits.
TomS
I think Buckeye Riveter is correct. There was a flaw in the casting and a section of the wheel broke off. Once this happened, the wheel dropped down and locked into position. The 2 blue spots on the cracked wheel and the single blue spot on the good wheel were caused by heating due to friction.
Daniel Lang