- IMPORTANT BULLETIN -

rush2ny Apr 4, 2003

  1. rush2ny

    rush2ny TrainBoard Member

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    Keep your eyes peeled! :

    The theft of nine devices used to derail railroad cars prompted federal authorities Wednesday to issue a virtual all-points-bulletin to area law enforcement agencies.

    The device "seems to have a solitary usage - to derail trains," said Mike Moriarty, chief deputy U.S. marshal in Shreveport. "Since there are so many of them missing and we have such a high amount of railroad traffic through this area, it bears our notice."

    Since January, seven of the derailing devices were taken from the Greenville, Texas, area, one from near Lake Hubbard just east of Dallas and one from a Kansas City Southern rail yard in Winnsboro, Texas. There have been no reported thefts of the derailing equipment in Louisiana, Moriarty said.

    The bulletin fell on the heels of a report earlier in the day from the Caddo-Bossier Office of Emergency Preparedness that locally the risk of an act of terrorism is considered "elevated" but not as high as the homeland security threat level nationally. The Homeland Security Advisory System is at "Orange," which means there's a high risk of terrorist attacks.

    The derailing devices, portable hinged-type blocks, are used to prevent equipment from accidentally rolling onto the main rail route from a secondary track.

    Kansas City Southern officials declined comment on the stolen derailing devices Wednesday and referred questions to the Association of American Railroads in Washington, D.C. Company officials did not return telephone calls from The Times.

    "The railroad industry is aware of this. They shared this information immediately. And we're trying to make sure law enforcement is aware of it as well," Moriarty said. "And since these devices are so identifiable, we feel the public should know."

    Moriarty called it a "pretty serious" homeland security threat.

    "The devices are quite small and can be deployed by one individual and could create havoc with any train."

    Small, and yet the devices can derail a loaded rail car.

    "I'm afraid so," Moriarty said.
     
  2. Johnny Trains

    Johnny Trains Passed away April 29, 2004 In Memoriam

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    Russ, hopefully it's just some fools looking to make a dollar on some scrap metal.........
     
  3. rush2ny

    rush2ny TrainBoard Member

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    It probably is but this reinforces just how easy it would be to perpetrate something. I think that us foamers need to act as a first defense.

    Russ
     
  4. cthippo

    cthippo TrainBoard Member

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    Remember when that COnrail unit (CR 8888 I think) got away and went for a ride by itself? They set out a bunch of these portable derails and the train punched right through them. Seems that they areen't mych of a barrier to a train moving at track speed. Probably just someone who thought he could sell them.
     
  5. BoxcabE50

    BoxcabE50 HOn30 & N Scales Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    I'm surprised there hasn't been a big TV movie made about that runaway. (BTW- It was CSX 8888.)

    Maybe we should watch eBay. Stolen RR stuff has shown up there previously. And the seller promptly has been nabbed.

    Appropriate punishment might be to make them get down on hands and knees, then pull weeds from 100 miles of right-o-way! [​IMG]

    Boxcab E50
     
  6. Alan Walker

    Alan Walker TrainBoard Member

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    On the other hand, at very slow speeds locomotives and cars have been known to climb over derails without going on the ground. Many years ago, the 0-4-0 owned by the Southern Wood Preserving Co. in Chattanooga, Tennessee crawled off on its own one night. The next morning the company was contacted by the Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railway who had the locomotive at Craven's Yard. The locomotive had crawled away from the tie yard, hopping at least one derail and running through several switches without derailing and eventually ending up on the main line of the NC&StL where one of their crews found it.
     
  7. watash

    watash Passed away March 7, 2010 TrainBoard Supporter In Memoriam

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    As I understand it, most de-railing devices were made to derail freight cars, not engines. There was something about one not stopping a guy's private car that rolled out onto a yard main because the de-railer would not operate correctly on six wheel trucks, nor powered engine trucks of either size. I believe the article stated it was the weight that made the difference. As the derail lifted the one wheel up over the rail head, the opposite wheel was tilted to enough angle that it would have had to slide sideways in-order to fall off the rail head, but the weight of the passenger car was greater than an average loaded freight car which prevented the necessary sliding allowing the raised flange to ride up over the de-railer and continue. It was noted that it was even more true of an engine under power, because the wheel riding on its flange would have tried to turn back toward the rail like a sewing spool with one flange cut off so would have been even less likely to slide over sideways to fall to the ground.
     
  8. watash

    watash Passed away March 7, 2010 TrainBoard Supporter In Memoriam

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    As I understand it, most de-railing devices were made to derail freight cars, not passenger cars or engines. There was something about one not stopping a guy's private car that rolled out onto a yard main because the de-railer would not operate correctly on six wheel trucks, (nor powered engine trucks of either size).

    I believe the article stated it was the weight that made the difference. As the derail lifted the one wheel up over the rail head, the opposite wheel was tilted to enough angle that it would have had to slide sideways uphill in-order to fall off the rail head, but the weight of the passenger car was greater than an average loaded freight car which prevented the necessary sliding allowing the raised flange to ride up over the de-railer and continue. I

    t was noted that it was even more true of an engine under power, because the wheel riding on its flange would have tried to turn back toward the rail like a sewing spool with one flange cut off so would have been even less likely to slide over sideways to fall to the ground.

    A steam engine has its full power even when the throttle is merely "cracked" open, so has plenty of horsepower to climb even id creeping at an almost imperceptible rate.

    I don't think a diesel would ride up over a derail if just idling, because it would have to lift it weight up over the derail at too steep an angle, but if it had power enough the flange would then also try to turn the wheels back toward the track.

    We only had two, and I never saw one derail a car, although I did see one car that had rolled down against one, but stopped still on the rails. I used a hand-walker to roll it back to the dock and chock it. That was a funny feeling to be moving a loaded box car all by my self.
     

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