Interesting response to one of my YouTube vids

[Greg]

I had a guy reply to one of my YouTube videos and thought his reply and pics are worth sharing. The video he responded to is one I filmed from when I was operating a track-bound brushcutter for Union Pacific a few years ago.

Here's the video, for those that haven't seen it...

[YOUTUBE]gvAGPDtl_qg[/YOUTUBE]

There have been a handful of comments, but nothing really caught my attention until this one...

Hit one of these in June 2000. They had track & time on Main 1 and had the other boom sticking straight out across Main 2. We derailed 2 locomotives and 15 cars! (Jacksonville, AR)

Great video, nice to see one still in operation!

My response-

Holy sh!t! You hit one!? How did the operators come out? These things are sketchy to run, you need to balance the machine by keeping both work heads out right about the same. I can't believe the one you hit was fouling a main track... dumb!!!

His reply-

Was a heluva ride! Boom snagged front of engine, when it did, we snatched the brushcutter off main 1 and it slammed into the side of the lead unit derailing us instantly. Then the machine flipped up in the air and pretty much landed in the front door of the 2nd unit. Conductor was bad ordered, i was off 6 months and the operators got beat up and cut up pretty bad but everyone lived! gonna send you some pics of the aftermath!

His photo album from the event-

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?a...php?aid=50157&id=100000504850719&l=9df3a2c396


The last photo is a screen shot from my video, showing how the work head of the brushcutter was out, fouling the track that his train was running on.

I'm amazed the guys in the brushcutter lived, after taking on a train! Pretty crazy how badly things can go, by making what seems like a little mistake.

 

[Herzog]

Damn, that's crazy!

 

[gijohn40]

you would think that there would be communications back and forth that a train was coming down the tracks...

 

[Greg]

you would think that there would be communications back and forth that a train was coming down the tracks...

Well, the guys operating the brushcutter were in the wrong. They shouldn't have been doing what they were doing. Train Conductors are supposed to high-ball (call out) the stations on the radio as they approach them and the guys in the machine should have heard that, but it doesn't always happen. If the train crew called out to the brushcutter that they were about to hit it, there probably wasn't enough time to get it moved.

You're supposed to call the dispatcher to obtain track authority ANY TIME you foul a track with equipment. These guys in the machine were working on track 1 that they had authority on, with one of the work heads hanging over onto track 2, that they didn't have authority to be on. The train was on track 2 and that's where we have the problem...

Fouling a track with equipment without having authority to do so is crazy stupid.

Some of the guys I work with had an interesting accident in the Glenwood Canyon, while I was working on the brushcutter in Denver. They were hauling a 40' rail with the big hy-rail work truck. The rail was resting on the rear bumper of the truck facing backwards, hanging from the boom (you're not supposed to do this). They stopped the truck on a curve, on a siding to let a coal train by. They didn't check the rail before the train arrived and the boom bleed off, leaning towards the downhill side, towards the main track. The rail ended up sticking out onto the main track, which the train then hit.

The train stayed on the track, but it destroyed the rail, punched the rail thru the truck and tossed the truck off the track. Mind you, this was a 30,000 # Freightliner we're talking about. Nobody got hurt, but it scared the HELL out of everyone involved.

 

[SAMI]

^ Holy sh!t... I don't believe in accidents, just poor decisions.. The Allstate commercials speak the truth.

 

[4554x4]

Greg, I need a Christmas tree. Can you hook me up?

 

[Greg]

Greg, I need a Christmas tree. Can you hook me up?

Yeah, but it might be a bit battered by the time I get done with it.

 

[YOUKNOW]

I didn't realize how much went into the railroad operations. Crazy, first angled wheels and tracks, now this!

 

[TRNDRVR]

I didn't realize how much went into the railroad operations.

Bingo!!!

Most folks don't.....and it can be a b!tch at times. I sometimes say it's the next closest thing to the military minus the uniform. You do have to have the commitment though. You either railroad or you don't. There's in in between.

Some days I don't get paid enough for all the crap I do and other days I almost feel obligated to give some back. We take the good right a long with the bad.


I'm writing this response at 01:35 am and I'm on my way to Grand Junction.

 

[Coreshot]

Bingo!!!
I'm writing this response at 01:35 am and I'm on my way to Grand Junction.

There are rules against that....



We had a crew working between Pocotello and McCammon, ID, they were cruising along about 50mph down the main, passing a train going the other way on the other main. Both trains were on a curve, with our boys on the outside of the curve. A bulkhead flat loaded with lumber on the other train had shifted, and as they saw it there were a bunch of 2X4s fouling the other main. With both trains doing around 50mph (100mph impact), there was no time to react by the time they saw the problem. Crew hit the deck, and the fouling lumber hit our locomotive in and around the windsheild. Turned it all into toothpicks, but other than that, no damage to the engine. Woulda scared the crap outa me, as that right where I sat.

 

[TRNDRVR]

There are rules against that....

I was still at home. I usually leave the house for work at about 1:30 am.

.....and the fouling lumber hit our locomotive in and around the windshield. Turned it all into toothpicks, but other than that, no damage to the engine.

Bullet proof glass.