What do you all think about the Derailment of those 4 UP loco’s in Chicago? Looks like they rolled out of Canal ST. intermodal facility at a little after 8:00AM. Were they remote controlled? If so I will be angry.
Just wanted to know your thoughts.
Justin
Justin, you beat me to posting by a couple of minutes. Don’t be angry–these are road locomotives, and unlikely to have been remotely controlled. Let’s wait until we get more details, please.
Why wait when jumping to unsupported conclusions is much more fun.
LOL thats what we did at BNSF! Jump baby jump! I know a few people getting a few days off. I dont know if our FRA guys here in my neck of the woods is the same as yours up there ut they were big on handbrakes on locomotives.
I thought that those locomotive’s looked like road power, but I thought they could have been older, and were converted to RC.
I wonder what would have caused these locomotives to just roll on out of their rightful positions? I thought that most yards are constructed with a “Bowl” shape to them to avoid accidents such as these. Apparently not. The article says there were 8 locomotives. Today I’d say that the average weight of a locomotive is… 150tons. If there were 8 locomotives, that would come up to a total of 1,200tons! That is a lot of uncontrolled weight. I forgot, does the article say what caused the wreck?
Justin.
150 tons is a little heavy for a 4-axle, but not close enough for a 6-axle. Most of your 6 axles range between 190 and 215 tons.
They were road engines being switched by a third party switching outfit, Chicago Rail Link, that works the Canal St yard. Not RCL. Not UP crews.
It was too bad they weren’t RCL , I wish the FRA would ban them all together . I have been in an accident involving RCLs , my kids first day on the Railroad was involved in an accident with an RCL ( nearly run over because of blind shove into a blue flag and derail protected track ) plus they cause plenty of derailments and car damage .
Amen to that!
I also believe that RCL’s are unsafe. Humans may make errors, abut a computer that goes haywire can really screw things up. Also If these RCL’s are dangerous in yard situations imagine an RC locomotive taking an intermodal train from Chicago to LA with no one inside it. Imagine what might happen then. Plow into a car, and just keep on going! Also it would ruin the chances of future generations becoming locomotive engineers.
Also sorry about the weight misconception. Thanks for clearing that up for me.
Ok, I hate RCLs as much as the next guy (and I even got forced to get qualified on them), but you can not blame the RCL on blowing the blue flag. That is an operator error, pure and simple. Plenty of manned engines have blown flags and run over derails, too. They may cause car damage due to the inexperience of operators, but I worked with plenty of hoggers that made sure the car repairmen always had plenty of work.
If all rules are followed with them, incidents would be minimal. now we do have remote zones that do not need to have on-point protection, but they have all switches locked out and transponders in the track to stop a remote from going beyond its limits. What happens when a trespasser is run over in one of those RCO zones? Hello, lawsuit. Now if you want to talk about the cultural attitude regarding how remote incidents are handled, and how remotes are forced to certain jobs that they can not perform as well as a full crew, or how they spit on certain crafts and seniority… better make a bowl of popcorn.
there’s plenty of issues with remotes without resorting to the generic “they are just unsafe, period” arguments.
PS> Justin, we are a long way from no-man operations on the main. Will we be there some decade? I’m sure of it. But I doubt in my lifetime (although I predict I will see one-man operations). As it stands now, RCLs only go 15mph max, and the operator has to be within range of it functioning. (approx 1 mile without rep
I’m sure they’ll overcome the speed issue, and range will be tackled by having the engineer in a small two-person plane flying directly above the train…the conductors will be trained as pilots to fly the plane as the engineer runs the train below. [swg]
Thank you for flying Renzenberger airlines…
Boy, that’s going to give me nightmares!
Just what we need, more distracted low-altitude pilots!
“I was watching the train. How did I know there was a power line there?”
For power line, substitute first-time solo pilot in a Cessna, commercial liner having to take an aborted approach, hot air balloon…
A lot of yards are under the approach paths of major airports, or other kinds of FAA-controlled airspace. Suddenly finding yourself surrounded by F-16s could ruin your day.
Chuck, MSgt, USAF(Ret)
Ok, I hate RCLs as much as the next guy (and I even got forced to get qualified on them), but you can not blame the RCL on blowing the blue flag. That is an operator error, pure and simple. Plenty of manned engines have blown flags and run over derails, too. They may cause car damage due to the inexperience of operators, but I worked with plenty of hoggers that made sure the car repairmen always had plenty of work.
If all rules are followed with them, incidents would be minimal. now we do have remote zones that do not need to have on-point protection, but they have all switches locked out and transponders in the track to stop a remote from going beyond its limits. What happens when a trespasser is run over in one of those RCO zones? Hello, lawsuit. Now if you want to talk about the cultural attitude regarding how remote incidents are handled, and how remotes are forced to certain jobs that they can not perform as well as a full crew, or how they spit on certain crafts and seniority… better make a bowl of popcorn.
there’s plenty of issues with remotes without resorting to the generic “they are just unsafe, period” arguments.
OK ,I will agree it is usually operator error and non RCO crews also make mistakes . but there just seem to be more with RCOs , maybe it is training , it also seems the FRA don’t t
That will only happened if the federal government nationalizes the RRs.
Next thing you know, the conductor turned pilot will be navagating with his laptop!!![swg]