We were talking about runaways a couple weeks back. Here are two true early
BN cases of runaway w/cs.
Honest Pete just like the stove one !.
One fine day I'm in an eastbound w/c w/W.L. Shoener making really good time
down Waterman Hill behind one of those #82s we were running then. We go into
emergency and both of us take the feet against the front wall,knees locked
ready
for the crash position. When we stop and look eastward out the front windows
all we see is air. No train?! Looking farther down the track the train is
stopped and here we sit,just the w/c on the side of Waterman Hill. The pin
lifter
on the w/c had somehow bounced up and uncoupled us from the train. After
taking a walk around the w/c and finding nothing wrong we advised the head end
of
the situation. They wanted us to walk up and turn the angle cock on the end of
the train and then guide them back to a coupling to the w/c.
We said just stay put and we'll be right there. We checked the hand brake to
make sure it was operable and then bled the air off. We rolled along nicely
with an occasional application of the hand brake to keep things from getting
out
of control; coupled onto the train,checked the pin to ensure it had
dropped,coupled the air and said "highball" and off we went.
I believe it was that same year that D.B. Coyle and Bill Kiro were riding
into the East yard at Eola with a unit coal train. In those days the move was
to
cut the w/c off west of Farnsworth on the mainline(west end of the yard
complex), pull the train onto a trk in the east yard for the 'J' to take from
there
and then bring the units out the east end of the yard and back down the main.
Grab the w/c and go lite to Cicero unless there was a little p/u at Nabisco
for Congress Park. Keep in mind that the elevation thru Aurora is up hill west
to east. It may look flat in the photos but there's a definite grade.
This night things were going along fine until D.B and Bill cut the w/c off
(on the fly) as usual. Think about that, give me a little slack to get the pin
on a 110 car coal train ! As the train was being pulled east into the yard the
w/c started rolling west down main 3 ! Much to their amazement D.B and Bill
found out real quick that the w/c brakes had been cut out and neither hand
brake
worked ?! So D.B calls Aurora tower to advise not to run anything up 3
behind him and to line his w/c up for a westward move !
As they pick up speed westbound the Aurora job comes out of the depot yard
and catches them.
Wonder how far west they would have rolled if not caught ?
Leo
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