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Train Trouble
Feb. 16th, 2023 03:44 pmThis morning as I started work, I noticed that there was a train stopped on Fernley siding. This is not unusual. Trains are often held here to allow other trains to meet or pass them. What was unusual was the talk on the radio scanner. If I followed it correctly (and I might have misheard things), the train had been stopped here while plans were being made for a "patch" crew to relieve this train farther east of hear; however, when they started to move, the train went into an emergency stop.
( This was the train in question )
The conductor started to walk back along the train to see if he could figure out what was wrong. Along came another train that rolled by slowly trying to spot the problem. The crews of the passing train radioed to say that it looked like the stopped train had broken into multiple pieces. The conductor on the ground confirmed that he had found a break.
This explains the emergency stop. In case you didn't know, trains are braked by air. The fail-safe nature of the Westinghouse (now WABCO) air brake is that the brakes are held open by air pressure. When the pressure fails, in this case when the brake hoses part when the cars pull apart, the brakes go into emergency stop. (In non-emergency situations, the engineer partially releases air pressure to partially apply the brakes, then pumps air back into the system to release the brakes.)
The conductor had the engineer re-couple the separated cars and then he reconnected the air lines. However, there were multiple breaks in the train. The conductor said over the radio that he thinks that someone deliberately disconnected the cars. There is a handle on the side of the train that if you lift it, lifts the pin in the knuckle that connects the cars, and when the train moves, the knuckle disconnects, the air lines disconnect (they're designed to break away; it's not like they tear apart), and your train stops.
I think that this crew's hours of service (which were running out anyway) expired around this time, and the dispatcher had to have the patch crew redirected to Fernley. After an hour or two, they finally got the train put back together and got moving again.
The crew told the dispatcher that trains being deliberately stopped here by vandals happens a lot around here. That surprised me because I didn't recall seeing it happen before. I'm aware of it happening in the Los Angeles area, where gangs have been known to deliberately stop container trains so that they can break into the containers and ransack them before a crew (or railroad police officers) can get to them. A sign that this was that sort of deliberate vandalism or theft attempt was that I later hear a UPRR police officer on the radio; however, I never heard anything else, so I don't know if anything more happened other than the train being delayed for hours.
( This was the train in question )
The conductor started to walk back along the train to see if he could figure out what was wrong. Along came another train that rolled by slowly trying to spot the problem. The crews of the passing train radioed to say that it looked like the stopped train had broken into multiple pieces. The conductor on the ground confirmed that he had found a break.
This explains the emergency stop. In case you didn't know, trains are braked by air. The fail-safe nature of the Westinghouse (now WABCO) air brake is that the brakes are held open by air pressure. When the pressure fails, in this case when the brake hoses part when the cars pull apart, the brakes go into emergency stop. (In non-emergency situations, the engineer partially releases air pressure to partially apply the brakes, then pumps air back into the system to release the brakes.)
The conductor had the engineer re-couple the separated cars and then he reconnected the air lines. However, there were multiple breaks in the train. The conductor said over the radio that he thinks that someone deliberately disconnected the cars. There is a handle on the side of the train that if you lift it, lifts the pin in the knuckle that connects the cars, and when the train moves, the knuckle disconnects, the air lines disconnect (they're designed to break away; it's not like they tear apart), and your train stops.
I think that this crew's hours of service (which were running out anyway) expired around this time, and the dispatcher had to have the patch crew redirected to Fernley. After an hour or two, they finally got the train put back together and got moving again.
The crew told the dispatcher that trains being deliberately stopped here by vandals happens a lot around here. That surprised me because I didn't recall seeing it happen before. I'm aware of it happening in the Los Angeles area, where gangs have been known to deliberately stop container trains so that they can break into the containers and ransack them before a crew (or railroad police officers) can get to them. A sign that this was that sort of deliberate vandalism or theft attempt was that I later hear a UPRR police officer on the radio; however, I never heard anything else, so I don't know if anything more happened other than the train being delayed for hours.
