Ride Amtrak, America's De-Railroad

This is just another example of how our infrastructure is slowly going downhill. While there are no reports, yet, of how/why this latest accident occurred, I would not be surprised to hear that there was a problem in the rail bed. There have been some major rainfalls along the east coast this Winter, and it would not be unusual for the railbed to suffer damage, and allow the rails to shift, etc. It does not appear that this occurred on a sharp curve, etc., so speed or control of the train by the engineer should not be a issue.

A few days ago, I saw a news report saying that over 58,000 of our highway bridges are in need of substantial repair. Our entire transportation network is relying on facilities that were built 50 or more years ago.
 

Don M. said:
This is just another example of how our infrastructure is slowly going downhill. While there are no reports, yet, of how/why this latest accident occurred, I would not be surprised to hear that there was a problem in the rail bed. There have been some major rainfalls along the east coast this Winter, and it would not be unusual for the railbed to suffer damage, and allow the rails to shift, etc. It does not appear that this occurred on a sharp curve, etc., so speed or control of the train by the engineer should not be a issue.

A few days ago, I saw a news report saying that over 58,000 of our highway bridges are in need of substantial repair. Our entire transportation network is relying on facilities that were built 50 or more years ago.
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Yes, Don...it could well be an infrastructure-related problem.

Hal
 
A new report...a few minutes ago...says the Amtrak train was on the Wrong Track! It looks like either Human error, or some technical problem that failed to divert the Amtrak onto the proper line.
 
When I was eighteen (1968) and stationed in Panama with the Army, just prior to going to Vietnam, I let a local gal that I was seeing at the time talk me into my very first train ride.......we went from one side of Panama to the other, spent the night and then returned the next day.



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My Father (long departed) was a Fireman on the Pennsylvania Railroad's Steam Locomotives in the early 1940's during the War years.

His job was to keep the boilers hot, with a reserve head of superheated steam always ready.

Out on the main line, with the big, powerful Mikado locomotives (2-8-2 wheel arrangement), shoveling coal was impossible due to the voracious appetite of the furnace, so automatic stokers were used with a worm drive that brought coal from the Tender directly into the firebox. No shoveling!


When he had yard duty, I would accompany him (if I was off from school), and I would climb up into the cab of an 0-6-0 switcher and spend the day with Dad and the Engineer shuttling freight cars back and forth to build a train for the next run to distant war plants where steel was turned into weapons for the War. (The fireman did use a shovel on the switching locos.)

What a ball I had, as a 6-to-8 year-old kid spending the day up in the cab of hot, hissing, clanking Steam Locomotive, learning what all the valves, levers, and gauges were for! OSHA would never permit that today!

Hal (PRR 2-8-2 Mikado shown ...Pennsy designation L1)
 

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This is the UP Bigboy, the most powerful locomotive ever built. Right now, 4014 is in the UP steam shop in Cheyenne in the midst of a complete restoration.

https://www.up.com/aboutup/special_trains/steam/locomotives/4014/index.shtml

Read the Tweets. They're almost as interesting as the president's.


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"Most Powerful" in Steam railroad terminology is defined as "Drawbar Pull", not speed or horsepower.

In this respect, the Big Boy's sixteen drivers and the 325 pounds of boiler pressure combine to produce the clear winner in drawbar pull.

The diesel locomotive's horsepower is derived from its engine's RPM and Torque.

The steam locomotive generates its maximum drawbar pull at ZERO RPM, therefore Horsepower is a meaningless term.

Here's Big Boy#4014 at a stopover at the Victorville Depot before continuing on its way from Colton, CA to Cheyenne, WY for its restoration.

The bottom photo is of a Canadian Pacific 2-8-2 Mikado. (2 Pilot wheels, 8 Drivers, and 2 Trailing wheels)

Hal
 

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DaveA said:
I rode that same train, Manatee, from Colon to Panama City and back. This was in the summer of 1956. We were tied up in Colon along with the US Coast Guard's training ship "Eagle". I've only been on a train once since then!!
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Have you never been on the Cape Cod Railroad? I was only there once; it was winter and the railroad wasn't running. However, Cape Cod in the winter was great.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cape_Cod_Central_Railroad
 
I didn't know there was a Cape Cod railroad. Only been to Cape Cod once which was a side run on a trip to Nova Scotia.
I sailed through the Cape Cod canal in 1953 on a sub chaser.

We took the train from Melbourne to Sydney once. Never knew there were that many sheep in the whole world.
 
This makes me sad...Amtrak seems to be having a tough time of it recently.
I took that train to Charleston SC to spend Thanksgiving with my daughter,I enjoyed the entire trip.
BTW,I don't do planes
 
No Hal ..he's not quite that old ! He started out as a fireman . He was the young kid that did all the work while the older guys were taking it easy ! LOL
 
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