Yesterday, I was on the Internet Movie Database message boards, and a while back, I’d replied to somebody’s comment on the movie Unstoppable, which is being filmed and based on the CSX runaway that occurred in 2001. The person had made a comment that the movie sounded like a retake of the 1985 movie Runaway Train. I’d always thought that Runaway Train was fiction, but yesterday, somebody responded to my post and said that the story for the movie was actually inspired/based on a story in the March 29, 1963 issue of Life magazine (page 79) about a runaway incident in Syracuse, New York on the New York Central. I’ve only had time to skim over the story, but apparently four locomotives were coupled together at the fuel pad, and after the hostler started moving them, he somehow fell off the locomotive, and the four units (throttle wide open) took off and left the yard.
The story does seem to have a lot of similar parallels with the 1985 movie:
Runaway consists of four locomotives running light.
Engineer somehow leaves the train, leaving another employee on one of the trailing locomotives to try to stop the train.
Dispatcher having the locomotives routed onto the mainline.
Dispatchers routing other trains off the track that the runaway is on.
Dispatchers considering derailing the runaway until it is discovered that somebody may be on board.
I can think of three movies about a runaway train off the top of my head. Actually, considerably more than that. What ever happened to the NYC runaway?
In any event, I don’t think any of the movies I saw compared to the real life CSX story. The thought of that blue SD-40 running through those derails like a fullback through arm-tackles, the heroic effort of the crew catching her and slowing her down, and the heroic effort of the man who eventually got on the moving train was quite the story.
But, my favorite–unreported–part of the story was hearing the Ohio Lawyers bar collectively groan all the way from Indiana when they heroically brought the train to a standstill without it demolishing property or hurting anyone . . .
Gabe
P.S. The only runaway story that is better than that is the time the GG1 ended up in the basement of Grand Central Station . . . (also no one hurt, thanks to the fact that GG1s are built like tanks).
The GG1 runaway was actually the Pennsy’s Federal Express that crashed in Washington DC.
With the NYC runaway, the employee on it (not an engineer or regular crew member) figured out how to shut down the locomotives and got them to coast to a stop.
There was a similar runaway in the mid-1960s - bear with my fading memory from that long ago - on the Central Railroad Co. of New Jersey one night in the vicinity of the Arthur Kill and Staten Island, etc. in North Jersey, which was somehow stopped by another engine either getting in front of it to slow it down, and/ or an engineer crossing over to it and boarding it while underway. It was written up in Reader’s Digest, and then reprinted in a book of its ‘‘Drama in Real Life’’ or similar stories, which is where I remember seeing it in our elementary school. The illustration at the top of the first page reminded me of an RS-3 in a red color scheme, and had an industrial background at night. One concern I remember is that if the runaway locomotive was not stopped, it might soon run through an open drawbridge and crash onto one of the many tankers or barges passing through on the way to serve refineries in the vicinity, and the risk of a resulting explosion and fire, etc.
The GG1 crashed into the basement of Washington Union Station, specifically the baggage room there. The proximate cause was an anglecock that was partially or totally closed not many cars behind the locomotive, so the train’s air brakes were rendered pretty much inoperative. How that came to be was never conclusively determined, as far as I know - sabotage, vibration, mistake, take your pick. It was not a very high-speed crash, though, because the engineer was trying to slow down anyway as he approached the tower at the throat, and then realized that the train’s brakes were not functioning well. He started sounding his horn, and with that warning I recall that the towerman and/or stationmaster figured out that something was wrong and started clearing people out of the way. The GG1 kept coming and demolished the stationmaster’s office before the floor gave way and deposited it partway into the basement. This was about 4 d
What ever happened to New Jersey Central Railroad’s Engine No 1706?
Engine 1706 was a Central Railroad of New Jersey ALCO RS-3 freight locomotive. In 1959 the locomotive became a runaway as it departed Jersey City Terminal (Part of Liberty State Park today) by jumping a derail and passed through a closed switch!
Moving west onto the mainline with know one aboard. As it approached Elizabethport Junction it was switched south by a quick thinking CNJ dispatcher onto the Perth Amboy Branch of the CNJ. The runaway engine continued south out of control at speeds averaging 40 miles per hour for about 36 minutes, until it was finally “caught” by another RS-3 locomotive, CNJ RS-3 1504, that was on the local drill which got up to speed ahead of the runaway and stopped it west of South Amboy, NJ. The crew on 1504 found that the throttle of the “ghost locomotive” 1706 was notched out to the wide open position, with the hand brakes on the locomotive still applied.
Later in its service with the Jersey Central engine 1706 suffered an electrical fire, deemed to costly to repair the locomotive was removed from the roster and scrapped. This took place prior to the merger of CNJ into Conrail in 1976.‘’
During a safety meeting a few years ago, an audio clip was played to us about a CN runaway somewhere in New Bruswick, Canada. It is the actual recording of the radio communications between the engineer, conductor, dispatcher, etc. I found it on youtube and even though I’ve listened to it many times, I still find it very interesting.
Silly me! I didn’t know that GG1s ran into Grand Central Station. Chicago is a long way from the end-of-wire in Harrisburg, PA. Did you mean Grand Central Terminal in New York? They never ran there, either, except on the “History Channel”. Har!!! Guess I have to assume you meant the PRR runaway into Washington (DC) Union Terminal. Close, but…
Did CV charge the RUT for using their rails from Bellows Falls to Montpelier Junction? I did read, recently, of a runaway in the midwest. The cops, or whomever, ran alongside it and shot at the fuel shut-off button. This might have been a true story.
Washington Union Station about 3 days prior to the 1st Eisenhower inaguration. Temporary repairs were made to the station main platflorm area to facilitate the passenger traffic. Underneath the temporary platform, crews worked to remove the wreckage. I got to see some of the action as my father had been called into DC on one of the railroads for inauguration duty and took me by for a look see.
This unit actually travelled north from Rutland up to Burlington, crossing onto the CV there, and then up the Burlington Branch to the wye in Essex.
I believe it was caught before reaching Montpelier. At least that’s how the CV guys I work with remember the story being told to them when they were children by their fathers (who were also CV guys…)
I copied this from another forum. There is a photo of the engineer and conductor standing at the front of the loco. I read the article in Reader’s Digest some years ago. The loco I believe was limited to about 25 to 30 miles an hour when not pulling anything. They went over that limit by quite a lot. The helper had to hold firmly to the railing while leaning over to see when they had a solid coupling. They managed to slow the train enough so a supervisor was able to jump on the lead loco at a crossing. Nobody was hurt. Trying to find the issue.
I am sure Hollywood is going to add a lot of “Action”.
Rich
Reader’s Digest had an article in the March 2002 issue [(p.130 “Runaway Train - American Heros…”)] about the engineer and conductor who helped stop the runaway last year (May 15, 2001). It was pretty good, except ,as usual, the article may have gotten a little carried away but it was still a very good article. Finally a positive word from the press about the railroad. I’ll bet CSX gave them a pay raise, saved the company MILLIONS in possible clean-up costs.
Paul, don’t you remember the comment in the Trains article that it took some time to get the GG-1 out because the baggage check had been misplaced? In 1974, it was still possible to see where the tile floor in the concourse had been repaired. It might take a geodetic survey to locate the spot now since the interior of the station has been rebuilt.
A minor point, but technically would the GG1 incident really be a “runaway”?? In my mind a runaway is an engine or car that gets loose without anyone on it, whereas the GG1 had a full crew but just lost it’s brakes and couldn’t stop in time at Washington.
A loss of train brakes on a grade, causing the train to accelerate out of control has traditionally been called a runaway. I am not sure if that term would apply to a loss of brakes resulting in the inability to stop as intended on flat track. I suspect the term would not apply to a locomotive set in motion under its own power by malfunction or maliciousness. I would call that a “wild engine.”
I read some years ago in Reader’s Digest about how a loco caught up with this runaway freight but just found this account.
A quote:
While the train was still moving at a speed of approximately 8 mph,
the
engineer dismounted the locomotive and ran ahead to reposition the
switch before the train could run through and cause damage to the
switch. The engineer was successful in operating the switch just
seconds
before the train reached it. The engineer than ran along side the
locomotive and attempted to reboard. However, the speed of the train
had
not decreased as the engineer had expected but had increased to
approximately 12 mph. Due to poor footing and wet grab handles on the
locomotive, the engineer was unable to pull himself up on the
locomotives ladder. He dragged along for approximately 80 feet until
he
released his grip on the hand rails and fell to the ground.
i’d like to respond to the initial query about the nyc runaway out of syracuse; all the other runaways are correct as far as i know, but nobody discussed kevin’s originsl memory. he got his facts basically correct; 4 units lashed up did run away from syracuse westbound ( i think they were U-25B’s), the hostler couldn’t close the throttle but set the independent air; but the tractive power overcame the independent application (which is always cut back from full pressure to avoid sliding the wheels) so he jumped. after a while the brake shoes and even the brake heads burned off. down the nyc main theywent achieving speeds of about 80 mph on any downgrade. the employee on board, an electrician working on the rear unit, finally managed to end this runaway by unplugging the multiple-unit cables one by one, allowing the burned-out handbrakes on the 3 rear units to overcome the tractive effort of the lead unit . they’d covered about 100 miles! i was the editor of an NRHS newsletter at the time and picked up and reprinted the story fron some other exchange newsletter, probably some upstate new york chapter. Arturo
All these reminisses about all these happenings up on the East Coast, and nobody even mentioned the NYO&W’s " Wreck of the Flying Diesel Corps"! Hamilton, N.Y., in 1955; when the FT set # 803 (ON-2) ran thru an open switch, crashed through the coal shed at the Leland Coal Co, and flew 90’/100’ off the coal unloading trestle there.(crew of three, lightly injued, but because of their ‘flight’, gainded some local noterioty.)
Details in the TRAINS , Feburary 1998 issue,by Paul Lubliner "O&W in color".
When a collision was imminent in the earlier age of steam, it was common for the engineer to reverse the engine to help slow it. And it was almost routine for the crew to jump off before impact. Sometimes the collision was very light or the engine stopped short of colliding, and then ran away backward so fast that the engineer could not re-board and stop it.
From the Railroad Gazette:
January 1894
2nd, on Lehigh Valley road near Bloomsbury, N.J., and empty engine ran into the rear of a preceding freight, doing considerable damage. The engine was not derailed, however, and having been reversed and deserted, ran back to Phillipsburg, where it struck an inspection engine. The latter remained on the track and both engines ran across the Delaware River to South Faston, where an eastbound freight train was run into. The inspection engine was wrecked.