The last couple of weeks have been a run of bad luck for the BNSF, at least through Western Springs over here. About 3 weeks ago, at almost exactly 5 am, a westbound UP container train went into emergency (I heard the call on the scanner) and came to a stop, blocking both Gilbert Ave, and Wolf Rd. for 2 and a half hours. Later that same week, an eastbound BNSF coal train did the same thing at a bout 9:30 in the morning. The following week, at a bout 2am another freight train did the same, stopping in Western Springs for nearly 40 minutes, and finally, just this past week, I was coming home from picking up my 17 year old from his part time job… Anyway, we were driving along Hillgrove through LaGrange, and my youngest son saw a couple of locomotives stopped at Stone Ave Station. He had a green signal, but was not proceeding. As we drove past him, he reversed the locomotives, and headed back toward Western Springs. I pulled into my driveway just as the locomotives were crossing Gilbert Ave, as we all got out of the car, it took us a second to notice the idling locomotive, in front of the house, and then another second to realize that it was connected to the rest of a container train… Apparently the lead locomotives became separated from the rest of the train…(I am sort of guessing here, but it makes sense) and the rest of train came to rest in Western Springs, and the lead units stopped up at Stone Ave Station (about 3/4 mile away) We watched the crew try to recouple (it was dark so we couldn’t see everything). We went in the house, and it took 15 minutes, and perhaps 3 attempts to get moving again, and when the train finally did, they crept towards the city at about 10 mph…
I have never seen this many disabled trains in town ever… its 4 in about 3 weeks. Talk about a run of bad luck…
With the weather starting to warm as Spring approaches and the ground begins the freeze/thaw frost upheaval times and the grade and subgrade being at their most unstable time of the year I would expect there are some rough spots developing in the area which are causing various train dynamic forces that are causing the problems.
Probably not an undesired separation. They may have had issues with their lead engine and had to swap it out for another. Then if its in multiple-track territory, they probably ran around their train to arm the marker to the new lead engine, keeping one engine attached to the train to keep the air pumped up.
That’s my guess as I (and every other RRer) has had it happen to him/her multiple times. Trains have issues every day. 4 in 3 weeks is really nothing remarkable. Trains are always goign into emergency for one reason or another.
I was wondering if the track would/could be at fault. In the case of the UP stack train, I was listening to it on the scanner, and the conductor had to walk the train to find the problem. When I first heard the train apply the brakes, and the call for “emergency” over the scanner, I feared that someone had been hit at one of the grade crossings. It sounded like a broken air hose, or something. What ever it was took 2 and half hours to correct.
I’ll take Zug’s word on it not being an undesired separation, since I didn’t witness it, I really dont’ have any idea what happened.
That’s the great thing about having a railroad running through the “front yard” as it were… I never know what is going to happen, and I usually see something interesting from time to time.
I have no direct knowledge of the size trains BNSF is running through your area…most carriers are using 9-10K feet as the maximum length. To inspect such a train for what ever put it into emergency, the conductor starts from the head end and walks to the rear, hopefully finding and correcting the problem…now he is at the rear and must walk back to the head end. All in all a 3.5 to 4 mile stroll along a right of way with the dedicated purpose of inspecting the train for mechanical or air brake defects that caused the problem…all the while traversing Main Track Ballast (not a smoothly paved walkway)…a night all the illumination to see where one is going and to inspect for the problem comes from the traditional brakeman’s lantern. 150 minutes for a 18-20K foot inspection is about the norm, especially when you consider that a ‘power walker’ on a smooth surface and no other responsibilities other than walking would take almost one hour to walk the distance.
When I was listening to the scanner, the conductor found the problem like 10 minutes after beginning the walk… he read off a number on one of the container well cars…
Where Tim lives is one of the luckiest places for a conductor to have to deal with a UDE–he has streets to use on either side of the tracks (making the walk easier–perhaps not as close to the train as he should be, but he still should be able to see something out of line or hear where the air hose parted), and perhaps a kind-hearted soul who knows what’s going on would give him a ride back.