The LNER Encyclopedia

Subject: Rules are Rules!


Good news: It was a normal day in Sharon Springs , KS when a Union Pacific crew boarded a loaded coal train for the long trek to Salina .

The Bad news: Just a few miles into the trip a wheel bearing became overheated and melted, letting a metal support drop down and grind on the rail, creating white hot molten metal droppings spewing down to the rail.

The Good news: A very alert crew noticed smoke about halfway back in the train and immediately stopped the train in compliance with the rules to investigate.

The Bad news: The train stopped with the hot wheel over a wooden bridge with creosote ties and trusses.

The crew tried to explain to higher-ups but were instructed not to move the train!













RULES IS RULES!

Rules are for the guidance of wise men and the obeyance of fools, guess where the fools were.

Anyone else remember the BLEVE (Boiling Liquid Expanding Vapour Explosion) film they used to show on Dangerous Goods courses? This is the sort of thing you never want to see close up:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xf3WKTwHpIU


I was always very wary when attending incidents involving any freight train conveying dangerous goods...

G'Day Gents
I use to like working the Nuke trains when I worked at Eastleigh,we use to pick up a nuke flask near Wereham, had to use the ground frame to get in then did a bit of shunting then back to Eastleigh, where we changed crews, one time the guard who was to take over refused to work the nuke train, so I was asked if I would work it through to Westbury! never been know to turn down a bit of easy overtime, so off I went, no sweat and back pass. The next week I was on nights, did'nt need a torch? ( at Eastleigh nuke trains were nicknamed the -Readybreck trains--- get up and Glow??)
manna