Texas Eagle separates

[lthanlon]

Just as the eastbound Texas Eagle was about to reach the Fort Worth station on Friday, Oct. 5, I heard a loud POP! and felt the emergency brakes engage. The power went off and when I looked, our car and the transdorm sleeper had disconnected. Amtrak personnel eventually got everything reconnected and we resumed our journey.

 

[Gfoley4]

Any idea what happened?

 

[TimePeace]

How long did it take to get rolling again?

 

[OlympianHiawatha]

Good pics! You can see the protect engine that is kept at FTW in the top one. At least this happened near the station where "ground crew" are available to help.

 

[MattW]

Oh my, well it's good to see the Westinghouse air brake system still works like it was designed to!

 

[lthanlon]

Any idea what happened?

No idea. Several onboard crew said this sort of thing happens occasionally, but not too frequently. Our SCA has several years experience and had never seen this happen.

 

[lthanlon]

Any idea what happened?

If what another passenger said is correct, the couplers detached first, then the airhoses.

 

[lthanlon]

How long did it take to get rolling again?

The eastbound Texas Eagle is supposed to leave Fort Worth at 2:20 p.m. We left at 3:35 p.m. I believe we were already behind schedule somewhat. This helped contribute to our late arrival in Chicago on Saturday -- 3:20 p.m. vs. 1:52 p.m. scheduled. The TE left late from Los Angeles on Wednesday, as well, delaying departure until 10:33 p.m. because of a late Coast Starlight arrival.

 

[lthanlon]

Has anybody ever died in a situation like this?

 

[NW cannonball]

Has anybody ever died in a situation like this?

Not likely. A year ago the westbound EB had the air hoses part and we did an emergency stop somewhere on Marias pass - yeah - the Westinghouse air-brake system works real good. We stopped fairly quick - no sparks, no load noises, just stopped quickly in emergency. Not a serious problem. The crew got the air hoses reconnected and we went on our way.

No way there was any risk to passengers.

 

[Gfoley4]

Yeah without air brakes you'd have to have a brakeman scurrying on top of cars and changing the hand brakes on each ear! That's what they used to do at least.

 

[cirdan]

Has anybody ever died in a situation like this?

It could be nasty if you're just in the gangway when it separates.

 

[JayPea]

This past July while on the Silver Meteor, the air hoses between two cars were separated twice, once near Sebring, FL and the other in the middle of the night somewhere in South Carolina. In both cases the emergency brakes were activated, the hoses were reattached, each car inspected, and we continued on our way. Both times about a 20 minute delay ensued. The braking system worked as it should and there was no danger of any sort to passengers or crew.

 

[henryj]

My question would be why is this happenning???????????????????????????

 

[cirdan]

My question would be why is this happenning???????????????????????????

It happens on freight trains too. Probbaly due to the couplers being out of spec.

 

[Amtrak George]

A Word to the Wise: there is a danger if you are going between cars when they separate. You could fall through the opening created by the separation. For this reason it is a good idea not

to fool around while going between cars--if you have to stop and wait for someone else to meet you coming the other way, stay back and then get on through. :mellow:

 

[TimePeace]

A Word to the Wise: there is a danger if you are going between cars when they separate. You could fall through the opening created by the separation. For this reason it is a good idea not

to fool around while going between cars--if you have to stop and wait for someone else to meet you coming the other way, stay back and then get on through. :mellow:

Good points.

 

[OlympianHiawatha]

Also follow the advice they always give about holding onto the Candy Cane safety bars. I always grab the one ahead of me before stepping across the striker plates and pull myself over, taking care not to step right on the plate boundary. I have never thought about the freakish chance of the cars separating but this way if they do at least you are hanging onto to something solid.

 

[roomette]

Another good reason to wear shoes. If you fall to the ground you'll be glad you have shoes on. Should probably always carry a first aid kit, too.

 

[manchacrr]

I was on the westbound Eagle that same day. We were actually sitting in the station waiting for them to switch tracks in front of us so we could proceed south toward San Antonio. The eastbound was only running about ten minutes late when it reached Fort Worth, but was held just south of the station for a Union Pacific freight to clear the diamonds.

We were in the station and could see #22 just beyond the diamonds. As soon as the freight cleared our conductor (Train 21) told us to reboard so that we could depart as soon as 22 cleared the switch onto the other platform. A few minutes later he came on the intercom and told us that we would be delayed slightly because the other train was having mechanical problems. About 15-20 minutes later, I saw #22 pull up on the platform beside us. We departed a couple of minutes later, but ran consistently about one hour late south of Fort Worth. On a good note, thanks to the padding in the schedule, we arrived into San Antonio at 9:40pm, approximately 15 minutes early.

Thanks for the info as to what was going on with #22 and why we were late leaving Fort Worth even though we had arrived about a half hour early.

 

[gswager]

It is possible that the coupler may not be fully locked in. Most common problem for the freight is broken coupler, either by strong jerk movement or too much stress on long train set.

 

[SP&S]

If this were to happen at speed I don't think I'd be able to hit the ground running, shoes or no shoes.

 

[Gingee]

I guess we have seen too many movies where the train separates and it goes out of control.