Just a heads-up.. Tonight 8/3/06 at 8PM EST on the National Geographic channel... A documentary about an accident due to a runaway train that lost all its brakes coming down the Cajun Pass in California. A good illustration of the hazards of mountain railroading.
I think I saw that once - - Is this the one where the train wiped out a neighborhood, and then later a catastophic fire re-wiped it out?
It sounds like the same one they had on Discovery channel last week in a show called Mayday. It was an SP freight that had a runaway and of course couldn't make the curve around the residential area. It was a good one and the ending and reason for it will really blow your mind.
I tivo'd it for the next showing at 10pm CST tonight . By the way, its also scheduled for Aug 10th at 3pm CST
Rats! I couldn't watch tonight. Had another commitment. When we're closer to it, could someone post a reminder, for the August 10 showing? :sad: Boxcab E50
I watched the program last night (Thurs, the 3rd). Very interesting, indeed. I found the computerized animation of how the train left the rails and into the houses extremely and realisticly well done. It was almost like watching the whole thing from above! (I used to reconstruct accidents). It's hard to visualize that friction generated between wheels and rails would melt the wheels at 110mph! mg: Thanks for alerting us to the show, Tom.
Truly outstanding production. I was greatly impressed by the use of real locomotives for close ups and cab interior shots. Unlike some Hollywood productions I think this is a great use of CGI (computer generated images) for recreating actual events. If you missed this you should make every effort to watch it next time around. Very educational.:thumbs_up:
Did it melt the wheels or brake pads??? They left me with an unaswered question. How come the Engineer did not realize on the way up, that he had a lot more weight than he thought? Wouldn't it make a big difference in the train handling characteristics. One thing is definately true, things usually happen by a random chain of events.
Great Computer Graphics It was great computer graphics. Just like it was happening again. I didn't understand exactly why it happened. There was both a head end and a rear manned helper engine. They did have radio contact with each other. The train started going too fast. At some point, the helper engineer became alarmed at the speed and put his engine/train into emergency. The film stated that this was a big mistake; the wreck was inevitable after that. Also, the rear engine did stop and did not leave the tracks. I suppose some of the rear part of the train stayed on the track, too. The front engine engineer lived, too.
I've also seen this same problem, with stations such as PBS, Discovery Channel, History Channel..... :sad: Boxcab E50
I believe the exsplanation was that when the emegency stop was thrown that disengages the dynamic brake feature. They further stated that even if all the engines had functioning dynamics (which they did not) the weight of the train was still too much. Maybe whe this replays we can get some professional insight from Jerry DeBene and other real train men on the forum.
Ok, helpers go into Emergency right? shuts off the dynamics...one only the lead helper...wasnt the rear helper not equiped with dynamics. That would leave the fron dynamics on...unless im missing something here. Just seems like a lot of people missed a lot of clues and warning signs and bad things happened like they tend to do....
