I was on the southbound Coast Starlight from Seattle to San Jose recently. We left SEA 0.5 hr late but made up time and we were actually on time by Portland. North of Chemault, OR we got stopped and on my scanner I found out that a northbound UP had hit a tree that had fallen on the tracks. It apparently got all tangled up in the wheels and axles. It took 2.5 hours for them to clear the debris.
So my question is, how common is this? I did a search on the archives and did not find anything about this, but I apologize if I missed something there.
It depends on the tree. Old, rotten branches will become so much dust. A large tree is going to cause some problems.
My railroad is perhaps a little more sensitive to hitting trees because we use vintage locomotives that we can’t really spare, and because we’re in the middle of the Adirondack Park, so we have lots of trees.
Wabash1 pointed out in another thread that any tree he’s ever hit has turned into toothpicks, which I don’t doubt a bit. However, given the weather on the left coast lately, I wouldn’t be suprised to have a tree/train encounter with a tree of such size that the train would come out the worse for wear.
Tangled in the undercarriage says vines to me, but anything is possible.
Trains hit trees on the tracks fairly often. I’ve been in the cab of a P42 when we struck an 8" diameter tree, something soft like a willow, it splintered with little damage to the locomotive. I also was on duty one night when a train ran over an 8" diameter oak that did not splinter or break, but ended up between the 1st and 2nd units. Somehow the first unit went completely over it and came back onto the rail. The section gang came out and sawed up the tree before we moved the train any further, needless to say. I’ve had trains hit trees that partially fell over and scrape off all the horns, or knock out the windshields and number boards, and trains that ran over trees and punctured the fuel tank. All resulted in train delays.
It’s up to the crew to decide when they strike a tree if they’re going to stop and inspect the train, and if it’s big, and they can stop short, it’s up to them to decide if they’re going to do that. But on most of the lines I’ve worked on that have trees next to the track that are big enough to matter, in most places a crew won’t see it in time to stop. During storms it’s a good idea to call the roadmaster to inspect the track before you run any trains, but that won’t catch everything. Sometimes trees just fall over on their own.
We have no end of problem with leaves. You’d be surprised how easily they manage adhere themselves to wet rail, and how greasy they are (at least as it applies to traction between steel wheel and steel rail). We have several grades approaching 1%. A rainy fall day is no fun at all.
I’ve been put on the ground by fallen trees – and sending the hi-rail out ahead of you is only partly successful, but usually necessary. I’ve seen damage to units that exceeded their repaired value - they got “totaled”. And you should see the damage when you hit a load of harvested trees (read “loaded log truck”) at even 10 MPH - it can truly be spectacular.
And in the example that sprouted this thread, unless the train was climbing out of the Williams River, the normal operating speed for a train in that area, a tree of
I have a photo copy of a BN train order and a delay report for this situation being discussed.
The train order, from November of 1978, reads:
ON BOTH TRACKS DO NOT EXCEED 5 MPH
AT MP 315.2
BETWEEN MELROSE AND HALPIN
ACCOUNT BEAVERS HAVE BEEN CUTTING ON A LARGE COTTONWOOD TREE
AND IT COULD FALL ON TRACK
NO TRACK FLAGS DISPLAYED
C L L
The conductor on his delay report wrote: “Check a large Cottonwood tree at MP 315.2 as a beaver has been cutting on it and it could fall on westward track with a high wind on north side of westward track.”
I saw a photograph about a year ago of a BNSF locomotive doing some snow plowing. . .with a large diameter tree wedged onto the front pilot. I’ll see if I can find the link somewhere. . . .
A few years ago, I happened upon an Austin & Northwestern engine making a run between Burnet and Llano for the first time in some months. There was a chain saw sitting on the “porch”. They were prepared for fallen trees.
Thanks to all who responded. Interesting replies. I wondered about chainswas on the UP units, but when I asked the Amtrak crew whther they carried them they just laughed.
I’m off to Costa Rica tomorrow for four months. I’ll spend three weeks in Peru in April and will be taking Peru Rail from Cusco to Machu Picchu. I’ll be sure to take pictures and will hopefully figure out how to post them here on the forum.