I remember seeing a photo of a locomotive that had lost a connecting rod from one of it’s drivers, the damage was incredible, are there any photos out there showing the damage caused by this.
I’m sure there are, but I’m afraid I’d have to go looking, too.
Such incidents were one reason for the demise of the 'Mother Hubbards." At least with the cab at the end of the boiler one was a little distance from the whipping, as opposed to sitting right over it…
There was a picture of a B&O (I think) loco pulling a limited that lost a driver tire at 60+ MPH. The throttle man brought it to a safe stop with not too much damage.
Pete
Losing a tire is not the same as losing a connecting rod – the rods will help hold the tire on until a safe stop can be made. A broken connecting rod can cause extreme damage.
I’m in the process of going through a couple of boxes of photographs my father had either taken or collected over the years before he died. I heard him say that there were a couple taken from the Dorchester ON area (where the CN main makes a wide sweeping turn as it goes towards London ON). This turn apparently had a record of claiming rods as the locomotives would be just hammering along the line by that point. One story I heard was that one connecting rod flew off the locomotive wheel and imbedded itself in a tree about 30 meters from the track-----
Broken rods were always somewhat of a bugaboo with steam locomotives. I have seen some photos of engine cabs having been torn up from a broken rod. I read an old newspaper account of an engine that developed some mechanical failure while running at high speed on a passenger train. By the time it got stopped, a lot of the locomotive had been destroyed by the mechanical breakup.
A broken rod might not come through the cab, but it might come down hard on a tie and pole vault the engine off the track and upside-down.
http://www.martynbane.co.uk/modernsteam/pg/westcoast/anatomy.htm
Article contains a picture of a bent con rod…tremendous forces at work
I found a picture of a locomotive with a broken rod in one of my old books. Maybe I can scan it in later. It broke on one end and the attached piece stripped that side of the locomotive clean including the engineers half of the cab. I bet it took about 5 seconds for this 3,000 lb bat to do it’s work. I’m sure the locomotive would be going at a high rate of speed when most of these things break.
A long time ago from the Railroad Gazette:
April 1887
2nd, early, engine of passenger train on Baltimore & Ohio broke a parallel rod near Tiffin, O., the loose end tearing a large hole in the boiler and badly wrecking the cab. The engineer was thrown from the cab and fatally injured; fireman scalded. The engine ran over a mile before it was stopped.
February 1885
5th, night, engine of passenger train on Virginia Midland road broke a parallel rod when near Brandy Station, Va., and tore up one side of cab, throwing the engineer and fireman back into the tender. The engineer was unable to reach the throttle valve, but managed to cut the air-brake hose, stopping the train in that way.
Some time back there was an anecdotal story in TRAINS magazine. One part of it was a story about a N&W class J that lost a siderod while in the Briastol,Va. area. The J was damaged on the side but was able to complete the trip, the damage not being so great as to disable the locomotive.
Maybe someone with a better memory can fill in the details, or correct my impression, Thanks!
A couple of details:
The rod that broke was the eccentric rod, from the eccentric crank to the valve gear. It broke at the valve gear end.
The generator (which was mounted under the running board) was found about a half-mile from the track, in the middle of some farmer’s field.
The main rod was dismounted and chained up, and the steam supply to the cylinder on the damaged side was cut off. Then the cripple ran ‘one lung’ back to Roanoke for repairs - at speeds up to 85mph!
Different railroad, different outcome. “Hiawatha” lost lubrication at speed. The main rod broke at the crosshead end and cleaned EVERYTHING off the engineer’s side of the locomotive - streamlined shell, brake plumbing, power reverse, boiler lagging, even broke the ends off some staybolts! It didn’t get the cab, but the engineer must have had a VERY INTERESTING view of the destruction. That loco never moved under its own power again.
Chuck
Thanks, Chuck:
I believe that was the incident I had remembered!
As a very young child, perhaps 4 years old, I was on a Milwaukee Road passenger train on the Valley Line some miles north of New Lisbon, WI, when the engine dropped its piston rod. It would have been around 1945.
To the best of my very vague recollection, there were no injuries of crewmen or passengers and the engine and cars did not derail. I don’t remember, but in later years my mother talked of dirt and debris flying past the windows of the car as the train was brought to a stop. I seem to remember seeing men working on the engine and the sound of hammers, probably removing the running gear so the engine could be moved. Being stopped for some hours on a single track line, passengers must have been allowed off the coaches to take a look. (Perhaps it was before attorneys were invented)! [(-D].
Eventually the train was pulled back to New Lisbon where a relief engine could be set on the point and we could continue on our trip north to Merrill, WI. I could be wrong, but I don’t think the damaged engine was one of the streamlined Atlantics. If I am not mistaken, those engines were use on that line at various times.
Thank You.
Knowing Bristol - Probably after roundhouse running repairs probably a switch engine extrated the J nose first, placed it on the main track by the roundhouse, the J rolled backwards (1% grade) to get good side rod up or down the J started uphill (may have had switcher give a push! Once going probable had green boards displayed the 142 miles to Roanoke.
You’re right. The March, 1999, issue of Trains has an article about Clyde Taylor, who was an N&W roundhouse foreman in Bristol. Among otherevents in his career, the article describes this one, beginning on page 47. The damage occurred 17 miles from Bristol, just above Abingdon, as the 600 was bringing the Tennessean up from Roanoke (or, perhaps, from Monroe). The eccentric rod had broken, and the flailing ends had done great damage. After all the damaged parts were removed, the one-sided engine took the train on into Bristol, slowly. It is obvious that the train stopped on a downgrade and there were no stops for opposing trains.
The full repair was beyond the Bristol roundhouse’s ability, so all the remaining running gear on the left side, except the side rod, was removed,the piston was blocked and the main valve was secured. When all was ready for the trip down to Roanoke, Mr. Taylor went along. There was one meet, with the Tennessean. After this stop, the engineer decided to see how fast a one-sided J could run–and he got the speed up to 90 miles an hour for a few moments. The article says nothing of any vibration due to imbalanced parts on the left side.
Johnny