Lake Shore Limited catches fire

[Trogdor]

The crew dorm car on train 48(18) caught fire this morning, likely an electrical problem.

Here's a link to a news story with a video. Based on the images and reports of the events, I'd guess that the car will probably be a scrap.

http://www.wtol.com/Global/story.asp?S=2450309

 

[gswager]

Uh, oh. Probably one of Amtrak employee fell asleep while smoking... h34r:

 

[Trogdor]

Reports say electrical fire.

 

[P40Power]

The report on Trainorders said that the employee heard a loud explosion before the fire began, so maybe an electrical cabinet or something blew up.

 

[Miami Joe]

Oops,,,,,,,,,,,,,! :blink:

Thanks for the video clip, really good coverage.

That's probably the most excitement that town has had in awhile!!!

Can't wait to get to work tomorrow and see if it's our car. Got a gut feeling it is. :unsure:

Will try to get an update on the problem.

There are only a few systems that would create a large "bang" and grow that quickly. Moving down the track fed the fire. Alot of the interior is original and I doubt fire retardant materials were around at the time.

I'm going to go out on a limb and say it was HVAC and the fire started in the ceiling(heat strips) or in a room(floor heat). V/L's have a thermal cut-out behind the grilles in each room and blow frequently. Passengers put luggage against the grilles and the strips get too hot!!!

I haven't worked a crew car lately, but I don't recall seeing a protection device for floor heat in each room. Floor heat uses a 480/240 step-down transformer, so that could be the "bang"!

MJ B)

 

[Viewliner]

Wish I could see the video, I can't get it to load. Any still photographs?

Thanks for that insight Joe. B)

 

[MrFSS]

Wish I could see the video, I can't get it to load. Any still photographs?

If you have a Pop-Up-Stopper on, it won't load and run. Turn it off and see if that helps.

 

[AmtrakWPK]

The idiots that wrote the web site which serves the video clip set it up in such a way that only Window$ Media Player will work with their videos. Jacka$$e$!! They are just helping Micro$oft reinforce their monopoly. Maybe the site owner is a Micro$oft stockholder.

 

[Viewliner]

Wish I could see the video, I can't get it to load. Any still photographs?

If you have a Pop-Up-Stopper on, it won't load and run. Turn it off and see if that helps.

The window pops up, and it shows "Loading..." in the window, I can see the player itself, but the video doesn't load.

 

[railman]

I wish the press would get their facts straight. They keep referring to the burning car as a "lounge car", which implies the car is used and occupied by passengers! Even though they say in the clip that the car is where the crew sleeps, most people would miss that and assume that passengers were using the car...

 

[AlanB]

I wish the press would get their facts straight. They keep referring to the burning car as a "lounge car", which implies the car is used and occupied by passengers! Even though they say in the clip that the car is where the crew sleeps, most people would miss that and assume that passengers were using the car...

Hey, I guess that we should be thankful that the conductor wasn't driving the train. :lol:

 

[battalion51]

The picture says it all:

 

[Miami Joe]

Whas up??? :lol:

Don't have much info, but will add what I know.

The car was assigned to Hialeah and was on the long trip to New Orleans and back. Don't know when the car was last PM'ed, but I know it wasn't by me!! :unsure:

Got some input from others and it makes more sense.

The water heater could have ran out of water and the thermostat was defective. This has happened before on a SuperLiner.

The best guess was that the 480 cables shorted out, possibly in a junction box. When you consider the age of the car, anything is possible!

I don't think the cause will be identified, the car burnt for 8 hrs. If the NTSB investigates the incident, we might find out.

MJ B)

 

[amtrakmichigan]

Wow, I was just on this train on Sat. October 16 from Toledo to New York. And I just drove home today from Cedar Point tonight (Sun Oct 24) passing the same exact location where this happened on the road.