If you can lift the flange above the rail then even a small object can derail a train. What caused so much damage was the passenger train striking the locomotives that were on a stone train. The freight engines alone probably equaled the weight of the passenger train. If the passenger train had not hit anything alone the right of way the severity of the derailment might have been much less. Steve On 1/29/05 6:49 PM, "Curtis Brookshire" <curtis.brookshire_@_verizon.net> wrote: > It's not so much the size or weight of the object being hit, but how and > what gets under the train. The flange on those wheels is just a couple of > inches and all you need is for the wheel to run over debris deep enough to > lift it above the flange level. Lateral forces from the impact do the rest > to guide the wheels off the rails and you have a big mess in the making. > Doesn't matter if it's a locomotive or car. > > I agree with anything that increases the engineer's safety factor. Southern > was noted for running long hood out partially for engineer safety. You guys > running those push-pulls have my respect. > > Curtis Brookshire, NS engineer > Manassas, VA > ------------------------------
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