-------- Original message --------
From: "qutlx1@aol.com [CBQ]" <CBQ@yahoogroups.com>
Date: 7/15/2016 1:50 PM (GMT-05:00)
To: CBQ@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [CBQ] BNSF Head-On Collision
Pete,
You saved me from typing basically the exact same words.
While I sure didn't like working nights I could usually stay awake. But call me to work in the evening,through the night
And when that rising sun hit my eyes in the morning it was just about impossible to stay awake. I tried
Coffee,cold water splashed on my face and neck, leaving the window open,getting up and walking
Around,etc,etc. nothing lasted very long before the eyes got very heavy again.
The one trick one old Condr. Used was to light a cigar and the smoke apparently kept him awake.
In the Good "old days" every loco cab had the dead man override tool in one form or another and many engineers carried one in their grips.
Apparently crews today have figured out how to override the newest devices of alerters,etc
Meant to keep the human engaged also.
Leo
As someone who "railroaded" for a few years.(I don't consider myself a "professional"..but I do have a bit...maybe just a little bit...of common sense as I would credit most of us who didn't need a Government investigation report to tell us what happened.
If I were a betting man I would bet that the C&E of the eastbound were both asleep...This is the same set of circumstances and later determination of the cause of the rear ender westt of Red Oak IA a couple of years ago as well as the other "head ender" at Guyman OK on the UP..former Rock Island recently.
Although the time of day is a bit later, those of us who worked in railroad train service at irregular hours know that the early morning is the most difficult time to stay awake after an "all nighter" and some previous odd hour tricks. That bright sun in your face after you have been up all night and maybe had something to eat not long before can bring the "sandman" to your brain, eyes and body with a vengeance.
I found myself nearly falling of the brakeman's "stool" in a Q F unit more than once under the same time and circumstances...
Pete
-----Original Message-----
From:
LZadnichek@aol.com [CBQ] <
CBQ@yahoogroups.com>
To: cbq <
cbq@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Fri, Jul 15, 2016 11:23 am
Subject: [CBQ] BNSF Head-On Collision
July 15, 2016
All - For the professional railroaders in this Group who were
wondering what caused the recent BNSF head-on collision in
Texas:
- - - -
Rail News: BNSF Railway
NTSB: BNSF trains
collided after one train missed a red light
Two
BNSF Railway
Co. trains collided head-on in
Panhandle, Texas, last month after one of the trains missed a stop signal,
the
National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) announced yesterday in a
preliminary
report.
Three crew members died when the eastbound and westbound
trains collided at 8:21 a.m. June 28 in BNSF's Panhandle Subdivision. The
collision caused the derailment of the locomotives and several cars from both
trains, and resulted in a significant fire.
Train movements in the area
are governed by signal indications of a traffic control system.
Positive train
control (PTC) was not
operating in the area at the time of the accident, but is scheduled to be
implemented by BNSF by the end of this year, the report stated.
Each
train was crewed by a locomotive engineer and a conductor. The eastbound train
consisted of three head-end locomotives, two distributive power units and 56
loaded cars. The westbound train consisted of five head-end locomotives and 54
loaded cars.
The signal system was lined to route the westbound train
into the Panhandle control point siding at milepost 536.1, while holding the
eastbound train on the main track before the east end of the siding. The
collision occurred about one-half mile east of the east switch of the Panhandle
siding, according to the report.
A preliminary review of signal event
recorder data and tests of the signal system indicated that the last signal the
eastbound train passed before the collision was a red stop signal. The previous
signal the eastbound train passed was a yellow signal.
The locomotive
event recorder data revealed that the eastbound train was traveling 62 mph when
it passed the yellow light at the west end of the Panhandle siding and about 65
mph when it passed the red light at the siding's east end.
The engineer
and conductor on the eastbound train and the conductor on the westbound train
were killed. The engineer of the westbound train jumped from the train before
the impact and survived with injuries.
BNSF estimated damages of $16
million.
Investigators completed sight distance tests of the signal
systems for both trains into the collision point and the results are being
analyzed, the NTSB said. Event and video recorders have been sent to the NTSB
labs in Washington, D.C., for further investigation.
- - - -
Best Regards - Louis
Louis Zadnichek II
Fairhope, AL