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Level Crossing Accident VIdeo

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Level Crossing Accident VIdeo 14/04/2015 at 13:09 #71054
Jersey_Mike
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The cycling video reminded me about a pair of videos of a level crossing accident captured about a month ago near Louisville, Kentucky. I was waiting to see if someone else would post about them, but I guess they didn't get much play in Europe. What make these interesting is that it is one of the few times that a rail enthusiast managed to record a level crossing accident as opposed to a fixed or vehicle mounted camera. In fact there were two enthusiasts shooting video so the incident was recorded from two different angles.

Here is view number 1 that just shows the collision.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9RdVMi-83E

Here is view number 2 that shows the lead up, collision and aftermath.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSrT_ll2vg8

What is particularly scary is that if the car had been only a fraction of a second later it could have been pushed into the person filming the first video. Also note that the engineer doesn't put the train into an emergency stop condition because doing so could cause a derailment. That's why the enthusiasts back away from the tracks.

The actions of the vehicle driver ignoring both the crossing lights and assembled people with cameras out say to me that they may have been distracted. The second video also shows a pair of "late model" Southern Railway mast signals with an "economy" ladder consisting of rungs strapped to the main pole. The signal facing the camera appears to be an absolute holding signal as opposed to an automatic block signal.

Last edited: 14/04/2015 at 13:11 by Jersey_Mike
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Level Crossing Accident VIdeo 14/04/2015 at 14:18 #71062
Muzer
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718 posts
Oh yes, I did see this, I'd forgotten about it.
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Level Crossing Accident VIdeo 14/04/2015 at 21:17 #71092
Gwasanaethau
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509 posts
" said:
…Also note that the engineer doesn't put the train into an emergency stop condition because doing so could cause a derailment…
Just out of interest, why would this cause a derailment? Genuinely intrigued…

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Level Crossing Accident VIdeo 15/04/2015 at 10:18 #71107
LucasLCC
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94 posts
" said:
" said:
…Also note that the engineer doesn't put the train into an emergency stop condition because doing so could cause a derailment…
Just out of interest, why would this cause a derailment? Genuinely intrigued…
I'd hazard a guess that the time delay between the front brakes kicking in and the later wagons brakes kicking in would be long enough to cause a bunching of wagons at the front.

But not being able to use the emergency brake in an emergency seems a bit counterintuitive..

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Level Crossing Accident VIdeo 15/04/2015 at 11:23 #71110
Jersey_Mike
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250 posts
" said:
" said:
…Also note that the engineer doesn't put the train into an emergency stop condition because doing so could cause a derailment…
Just out of interest, why would this cause a derailment? Genuinely intrigued…
The largest problem is the effect of slack action between each of the freight cars. There is about 6 inches to a foot of slack in each coupling and with 100 plus cars in a train that becomes a significant distance. When the engineer dumps the air the emergency brake application propagates at between 600 to 900 feet per second so on a 5000 foot long train the rear end can keep moving at speed for 5-10 seconds before the brakes begin to apply. Since long trains cannot always be assembled with loaded cars towards the front so you can have a heavily loaded rear of the train running into empty cars on the front and just causing the cars or coupling to buckle.

This problem has been somewhat alleviated by the end of train device having the ability to get a radio signal from the cab to begin a simultaneous emergency brake application that starts from the rear of the train, but derailments can still occur. Any time a train goes into emergency, trains on adjacent tracks must proceed prepared to stop within vision until the other train can be inspected.

" said:

But not being able to use the emergency brake in an emergency seems a bit counterintuitive.
The engineer was certainly free to and most probably would, but this one decided that it wasn't worth endangering the local community with a derailment since the damage had already been done.

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Level Crossing Accident VIdeo 16/04/2015 at 08:27 #71154
kbarber
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1712 posts
" said:
" said:
" said:
…Also note that the engineer doesn't put the train into an emergency stop condition because doing so could cause a derailment…
Just out of interest, why would this cause a derailment? Genuinely intrigued…
The largest problem is the effect of slack action between each of the freight cars. There is about 6 inches to a foot of slack in each coupling and with 100 plus cars in a train that becomes a significant distance. When the engineer dumps the air the emergency brake application propagates at between 600 to 900 feet per second so on a 5000 foot long train the rear end can keep moving at speed for 5-10 seconds before the brakes begin to apply. Since long trains cannot always be assembled with loaded cars towards the front so you can have a heavily loaded rear of the train running into empty cars on the front and just causing the cars or coupling to buckle.

This problem has been somewhat alleviated by the end of train device having the ability to get a radio signal from the cab to begin a simultaneous emergency brake application that starts from the rear of the train, but derailments can still occur. Any time a train goes into emergency, trains on adjacent tracks must proceed prepared to stop within vision until the other train can be inspected.

" said:

But not being able to use the emergency brake in an emergency seems a bit counterintuitive.
The engineer was certainly free to and most probably would, but this one decided that it wasn't worth endangering the local community with a derailment since the damage had already been done.
Same kind of derailment mechanism that was possible with an unfitted freight. Having a guard in a bug box at the rear end helped; he was supposed to be sufficiently awake to wind the handbrake on and prevent the surge getting out of hand :whistle:

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Level Crossing Accident VIdeo 16/04/2015 at 10:56 #71156
jc92
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3631 posts
God bless America. For a Country with a high level of belief in creationism, they sure are good at demonstrating survival of the fittest.
"We don't stop camborne wednesdays"
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