B&O had a derailment outside Kent, Oh back in 1962. This was in the days before Hulcher and the use of off track equipment in cleaning up such incidents.
Whoa, look at that tipped crane! What an awful event that must have been, both for the Operator and for the Supervisor. Talk about trouble heaped on trouble. First they have the wreck to clear and now they have a wrecked crane to clear.
I really hate it when I do that!! Prolly gonna be an investigation letter coming soon, via registered US Mail. But really it happened more than you think, they did it many years ago with the DRGW 028 (250 Ton) derrick out on the desert. Operator was in-experienced and had the boom standing a little too tall and the hoist house was heavy enough when he traversed the crane, it just sat right back on its behind. Extending all them outriggers and cribbing them up took a lot of time, so they tried to do as much as they could to expedite the clean up. Sometimes it didn't work out. But look at the detail shot we have of the bottom of a derrick, you can clearly see that the #'s 3 and 4 axles could be driven to tram the derrick. And not a hard hat anywhere to be seen, a child among the derailed cars, man, what a different time. It also seems as we are looking a 2 different derricks, 2 tracks in some images single track in others, also look at the boom on the derrick not laying on it backside you can see 2 hook purchases, the derrick laying down on the job has 3 purchases, maybe 2 derricks working the same un-railment from each end? Some very interesting photos. The more I look the more questions come up.
Ah! Is THAT what it's used for just happen to 'ave another . . Spoiler: Click for Image Unfinished Roundhouse Scene (am thinking, for a start, of covering the bare board with a roll of brown corrugated paper?) There'd be a heavy counterweight in back of that crane's cab? Looks like operator may have turned too far with boom raised too high, with no load on the hook at all? It was same with the airlines when starting in the '70s. No 'safety vests' only a not-so-reflective patch across the back shoulders, a part of the uniform shirt, and remember taking a friend for a ramp stroll under some 747s with no port badge security clearance required at all?
The early 1960's were a different world than what we have in the 21st Century. The wreck crane that was on the rail and operating was out of New Castle, PA. The turned over crane was the Willard, OH wreck crane. Setting the outriggers and blocking them up with adequate cribbing was a time consuming and laborious undertaking. The pictured incident happened when I was still in High School and lived about 8 miles from its location. The location was B&O's two track Main Line between New Castle and Willard. Later in my career I had the opportunities to work derailments both with Wreck Trains and their cranes and also Hulcher and their side boom equipped bull dozers. When it comes to clearing the site and getting traffic moving, the comparison between the two methods are the difference between night and day. In most cases Hulcher is able to get to the derailment site quicker than a wreck train is. For a Wreck Train the crew gets a two hour call at the terminal and the Car Dept. has to have the crane and its support equipment ready to roll as well as calling in the Car Department personnel that are the manpower for the Wreck Train - from the Crane Operator, journeymen carmen and most importantly the Cook for coffee and food to keep on site personnel going for however long the wreck clearance would take. The the Wreck Crane was limited to 25 MPH over the line of road to derailment scene, upon getting near the derailment scene the Wreck Train has to be switched so as to have the crane head out arriving the wreck scene. In most cases it would take between six and eight hours to get a Wreck Train on site and in working condition. Each lift and pull made by the crane had to have its outriggers in place and blocked up with adequate cribbing to provide sufficient stability to prevent cranes failing in any of the many ways possible. Hulcher would have their equipment on the road and heading at nominal highway speed within two hours of getting the call of their need. With the number of Hulcher branches, they would be on site in four to six hours and digging into the clearance operations. Their A frame equipped dozers are equipped with movable counterweight systems to enhance their stability in picking up and moving equipment. Multiple A frame dozers can hook to a piece of equipment and move it wherever the on site Official desire. The hook up only takes a matter of minutes. The dozers can tram on track to sites from the nearest road crossing when the site is not otherwise accessible. Hulcher employees are Hulcher's responsibility, not the railroads like carmen are for Wreck Trains. To the best of my limited knowledge, no US carriers have operating Wreck Trains anymore. RIP!
Wreck Cranes were designed to be able to turn 360 degrees, even with the counterweights that were part of the crane. Railroad rules required the cranes to be moved with the boom trailing when being transported. Upon getting near the scene of the derailment, the Wreck Train would be switched so that the train would get to the active scene with the crane head out and the boom facing the wreck scene.
From your descriptions, it's gratifying to see/hear what private contractors can do without the burden of 100+ year-old rules constrained by bureaucracy. I'm sure you know of many rules whose decade-old legitimate requirement has been obsoleted by evolving technology such that their existence is absurd. Yet, they remain in the rule book and must be obeyed subject to dismissal.
Rules in the Rule Book were created in BLOOD. Technology has its place, but only if its adoption doesn't create more blood that must then get written into a rule. While your signature states you never want to grow up - violating the wrong rule at the wrong time can make that a reality and when that happens you don't have to worry about growing old. With a 51+ year career in multiple operating environments of what became multiple Class 1 railroads and with responsibilities, at one time or another, over most of the CSX system account working multiple CSX Divisions. Having possession of a 1953 B&O Rule Book that was updated to 1965 when I hired out and then Chessie Systems 1973 Rule Book and then a succession of CSX rule books that changed about every two years between 1987 and 2005 - while some rules may seem bureaucratic, on CSX they weren't 100 years old. I can't speak to carriers other than CSX and its predecessors.
There is a 250 ton derrick (ex DRGW/SP, now UP 028) and associated work train cars sitting a couple miles west of me right now. No bunk or kitchen cars, as they haul crews and food in as needed. It was dispatched to a derailment just a few years ago in Byer canyon. But as you say Hulcher is easier and quicker. Those guys look like ants after you kick a red ant hill, at a derailment.
A few shots of Hulcher working a side-swipe incident in Baltimore - notice that the dozer tracks are rubber tired to prevent steel on steel rail damage.
I noticed the kid amidst the wreck, too. In 1960, or thereabouts, when I was about seven years old, there was a derailment at Taopi, MN on the CGW and my dad took us to see it (about 20 miles away). My two older brothers and I were meandering right there, freely, in the wreckage and nobody said a word. I distinctly remember standing right next to a stray truck. I commented to my dad that the forces had to be pretty strong to rip the trucks off the cars, whereupon he explained to me that the trucks weren't attached to the cars, the cars were merely set upon the trucks. I have some pictures of that derailment, somewhere. Doug
