On the floor again, Bert

[hq1hitchin]

and quite spectacularly so...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFe0846RgWc

[Flamingo]

Spectacular but puzzling.

Presumably that footage was shot from the rear cab of a locomotive? Track and ride quality in the US tends to be somewhat variable but there was no sign of lateral or vertical movement by whatever vehicle the camera was on. Yet the next wagon was bouncing around all over the place, as might be expected. The other puzzle is why the rear part of the train, which seemed to have become uncoupled from the front part before the initial derailment of the wagon immediately behind the camera position, was not brought to a halt by the severance of the air brake pipe.

What's the explanation? Maybe Richard can tell us more.

[hq1hitchin]

Yes, looks that way, not sure how many people realise that modern traction units in this country as well now often have cameras fitted (as do buses!) as standard so that they can be downloaded in the event of an incident. Who'd have thought it? Regarding the fact that part of the divided and derailed train seemed to keep going and collide with the stationary loco, no doubt a stewards enquiry would be held into that. Like you, Flamingo, I always thought one of the basic principles of the automatic brake was to prevent this occurring. Over to our American correspondent....

[richard]

My guess would be that the tornado took out the middle section quite cleanly. Although the brakes would have come on for the cars at the end, they had a lot of momentum and kept moving.

Which means the locomotive brakes acted to slow the loco(s) quicker than the brakes on the cars - which is probably what you would expect.

The train *might* have had a pusher loco, although I'm sure the consist controls on such systems would also stop the loco when the connection is lost.

As for the wobbling: Track quality does vary quite a bit in the US, but the bad track is usually things like industrial spurs which are very slow. If you look at the trees, the train is moving at a fair speed. So the trackwork is going to be reasonable if not 'mainline'. I think we're mainly seeing the effects of suspension on the cars. Remember US cars can be quite tall due to the larger loading gauge.

I also note that the sound is turned really far down - there's little running noise, and the horn isn't too loud (the horns will also be on the roof with nothing between the camera and the horns). Still, the debris hitting the camera can be heard...

Richard

[owd sweedy]

Scarry stuff ! When that UTLX tank car came off its front truck and plowed down the track into the loco I was expecting a big flash and bang. My guess is that the train was made up of empties, hence the bouncing around in the wind and the ease with which that airslide hopper was pulled over. The locos emergency brakes really slowed it down but the trains momentum kept everything else moving. Could have been a lot worse.

[Ferrybridge Flyer]

Hells-bells!1-0 to mother nature.

[Deltic18]

Memo to self - Do Not Drive Through A Tornado! Wouldn't mind driving one though.......

Keith