https://www.autoblog.com/2020/09/16/freight-train-hits-low-bridge-memphis-video/

The incident caused $2 million in damages

Bridge looks ok though.

Walmart greeter...... " I used to be an engineer"

oddly satisfying to watch.

I don’t know how railroad planning works for each load but it seems that there should have been a point in the process of loading that train that kept it off that line and away from that bridge. Who would be responsible for that?

As a bridge engineer I'm always amazed at how tough these steel bridges are after an impact. I've seen tops of modular homes obliterated with narely a scratch on the bridge girder. Even had a drill rig shear the head off the rig one time that barely bent the bottom flange of the girder. They have interior lateral diaphragms between the girders that help against lateral forces like this, but it is still amazing to see how strong they are.

They are not indestructible though as we have had to hire contractors to come in a heat/straighten girders from impact in the past. You don't want to be on the receiving end of that bill!

one engineer to another.... hey, do you hear something weird sounding?

That wax that the guy uses on the cars in the junkyard on tv should buff that right out.

The person responsible is nowhere to be found.

Was Biden the engineer?

That is unbelievable. Somebody screwed up.

By the way I had a bad time on a freight train in Memphis. We were riding through on a freight train on the way to Denver. Got spotted by the Memphis yard cops and got taken to the Memphis city jail. The cops told us if they caught us again, they would stop the train on the high bridge over the Mississippi, and they would throw us into the river. That was kind of scary but they were just kidding.
I think.

That’s awesome! Can they do it again!!

Well, I never destroyed a whole freight train load but I can tell you a .22 long rifle put a pretty good dent in the drivers side door of a brand new 1950 Chevy that was on a passing freight train. One of my earliest memories as a three year old.

Those steel bridges might be strong, but I don't think I'd be dumb enough to be standing on it filming the cluster f--k. If the bridge decided to go down, that probably wouldn't be the best place to be.

As a railroad engineer, I'm betting this is the conductors fault. In the video the roof of the autorack is already damaged by previous contact with the bridge, this tells me they are moving back and forth. Also the speed at which the train is moving tells me this is probably "other than main" track (OTM) or it's a long lead to a yard track. If this was a "main" track the train with extreme dimension cars such as auto racks would have to have a route clearance for the entire route on the trains paperwork, if operating on OTM or yard track the train crew is responsible for checking the yrack charts or time table for close clearance, and protecting the train and personnel from them.

Now as to why I'm betting it's the conductors fault. If the train was pulling ahead the engineer probably would have noticed a low clearance and would have stopped the train without damage or less damage to the cars. My guess is the contact with the bridge happened at the rear of the train during a "shove" (backup) move. When making a shoving move the person on the ground conductor or brakeman has to provide protection for the rear of the train, as tbe engineer can't be responsible for what he/she can't physically observe. The conductor is also ultimately responsible for all the cars in the train as he is technically the job foreman of the train crew. A vehicle train usually doesn't require brakeman as well for the crew makeup.

My best guess is that the conductor was nowhere near the rear if the train a a it was shoved into the bridge. Where the engineer might be considered at fault is if he can physically see the conductor in the trains mirror, knowing the rear if the train isn't being protected. If the conductor wasn't in the engineers range of vision then all he can do is trust the conductors instructions.

Interesting, thanks for that post.

I don't really understand your input but in my simple mind, if the load was too tall going forward, it would be too tall going backwards.

At the point of the collision, why didn't they un-couple the cars and pull them away from the bridge?

Messy.

Gonna be some slightly used cars for sale cheap!

You see this all the time with 18 wheelers. You need 13-5 to clear a bridge. Dumb ass took the wrong road, or maybe his GPS sent him down the wrong road, and he ignored three signs, in one mile, that said LOW BRIDGE CLEARANCE 12-4. You see that all the time, dumb ass driver.

But it is hard to figure out how that could happen with a train.

How you doing today hooker?

I worked for a Ford Predelivery Service company when I got out of high school and after I got out of the army for a while. We would fix things the manufacturers screwed up and get the Ford vehicles ready to go to the dealers for sale. Our lot was next to a rail delivery yard where every make of car I could imagine at the time were delivered for dispersal to dealers in the area around Portland...

We would witness all kinds of mishaps, including the guys unloading the cars and getting in a hurry and knocking off the ramps between rail cars and dropping cars between the rail cars and holding up the whole process until they could bring in a crane to dig the car out and get it out of the way... one day a few rail cars come in and at that time, covered rail cars was pretty unusual, and the tops of about 30 Ford Mavericks were sheared off right at the top of the body where the A pillar attached. Once in a while we would also see Ford Trucks or Vans with their tops caved in and windows/windshields trashed, but those Mavericks were unusual in that below where the tops were sheared off by assumedly a bridge, the bodies were perfectly intact. You could have welded on a new top and no one would have known anything happened... of course, that's not what happened- they had to be sent out to be crushed...

Bob

Sort of cool watching the corrugated roof crumple.

What a can opener !!! 😳

That stuff crumples just about perfectly.....grin

Whoever planned that route must be a younger person who studied the 'new' math.

What I'm saying is we don't know from the video where the locomotive engines are. What I can see from the video is that the first car seen striking the bridge had been moved away at some point as the roof of the autorack is already crumpled before it hits the bridge. Then from the end of the video when the camera pans right you see a very long train that goes around a curve. I'm just guessing, but I think the engines are up around the curve.

This was in Memphis so a vehicle train would have a 35 mph speed restriction on the main track for a High Urban Threat Area (HUTA) normal main track speed for a vehicle train is 60-70 mph. Yard and OTM track have a 10 mph speed restriction on them. Since this train isn't moving above 10 mph I'm guessing it's OTM track.

Since the the first car in the video striking the bridge is already damaged, I'm again guessing that they are building this train up around the curve seen in the video. This means that the train will be moving back and forth while doing the assembly. First thing you do after coupling into cars is you pull ahead to make sure all your joints are made correctly. Then you shove back how many cars you need to to add to the train or to clear an ajoining track if you need to set out or pick up from multiple tracks.

What I'm also saying is if you're building a nearly 10K foot long train, sometimes people get complacent. Especially it's a two man crew (conductor and engineer) that dosent have a yard van to help them. If the conductor does their job by the book they have to walk to the rear end of that train before it ever moves backwards if they dont have a vantage point where they can see the rear car and the track in front of the backup move.

What I'm ultimately saying is that if they were pulling ahead both engineer and the conductor are probably going to investigation for termination. If this was a backup movement the only person who will be in trouble is the person who should have been at the rear end of the train protecting the movement and that person is not the engineer. I'm also saying if the conductor was making a blind shove and the engineer knew what the conductor was doing then the engineer is to blame for the damage as well.

Biden has never had a real job Been on uncle sugar since Moses was pooping yellow.

Concrete, not steel but...some years back, a truck on I-84 near here was toting a crane. Somehow the boom came up on the crane between overpasses. He hit the next one at 65 or 70 and the boom cut the concrete 2-lane overpass over half way through. It just sliced right through it.

Running a rail line is not highly scientific - quite simply, you do not run cars that do not fit under the bridges, and you KNOW the height of every bridge on the line and every car in the train. DUH ! And, tin roofs on those boxes - I could hear The Tin Roof Blues.

You absolutely do not know any of that information, it isn't given to the train crew. At least not the railroad I work for. No dimensions are given on railroad cars, and none of the overpasses or truss bridges are labled with clearance markers like the highway overpasses. You're given paperwork that tells you if the car you're pulling is cleared for the route or not and that is it. Then as a conductor you have to double check car numbers to make sure your paperwork matches the train that you actually get.

I agree with tayforce, I worked for a major north american railroad for 38 years. We had an elaborate trip plan service scheduling computer system that we purchased from the BNSF in 1994. I was involved with the implementation team as well as the team that modified the system for our use. Service Design/Service Scheduling provides the route for all rail cars taking into consideration height,width and weight restrictions . The Dimensional team then reviews any exceptional heavy and or high and wide loads. Much like trucking companies would be when hauling dimensional loads.

When the oil sands were booming we saw many huge vessels hauled by rail and truck moving North to Ft McMurray and beyond.

With the limited information this would appear to a yard moment involving human error.

But really hard to deflate the tires on a train.

Is that the Short Line, or the B&O?

I hope their run off insurance is paid up! Railroad managers conduct regular job observations to ensure safety compliance. Violations usually result in a period of unpaid time off. Thus, conductors and engineers purchase insurance from their unions ( BLE, UTU) to provide income while they are “run off”.

Choo - Choo!!!!!!

Oh schitt.......

Pulled a train on that bridge.

BNSF

You seem ta know your sh|t.

Thanks for your input.

My mom's uncle helped design those car carriers.

He made em too fckin tall.

No, they made the bridges too low.

Let's split the difference.

I'll throw in some corrugated sheet metal, if you'll throw in some I-beams.

I'm thinking some of that tin would look good on a couple sheds around here.....

Hey - I did not insinuate that the train crew itself had the needed info or that the crew caused the dumb error - for the train crew is not not "Running a rail line - -" - . But, someone IS running the business and if they don't have such clearance and height info and make certain that each action is performed properly in keeping with such data, that is one whacky transport show. It does not matter how long folks have worked in the business or how sophisticated their data and planning systems may be, that right there is a lot of stripped tin evidence that big improvement is needed in the running of that railroad.

Maybe you have a Manopoly on good humor, but I actually grew up in an area where those two operated - could see/hear both on any day..

Before or after the video? 😎

That makes me so happy to know my 1 1/2 year old knows when things are close and to duck but these rejects from reality cant read a sign or a tape measure. The world is obviously less these days. My momma always said stupid is as stupid does.

Almost fit

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/d1/e7/06/d1e706b48b2ea450a6c5dcdef4a214e0.png

My friend John worked for the railroads for 35 years. He has an engineering degree from Vanderbilt. He was in the safety department at one of the major railroads.
I showed John the video and this is his explanation:


For a given line or route all vertical and horizontal clearances are measured. In the old days when I started someone actually walked or rode the routes and physically measured clearances. Today, there are hi-rail cars that travel the routes several times a year and measure with lasers. These measurements for every route are inputted into the railroads system. All rail car dimensions are also in the railroads system. So when the train with its makeup of cars are loaded into the dispatch system for a particular route, the computer will either allow the train to leave the terminal with a clearance message or deny the train to leave. If the train is not issued the clearance message, the clearance bureau of the railroad then searches for another route for that particular car. Many high and wide loads take some very circuitous routes. Several thing could have happened:

Recent track maintenance raised the track and new measurements were not entered in the computer system
Repairs could have been made to the bridge lowering the clearance and not entered in the system
The trains clearance message could have read: Train ATJX you are cleared between Atlanta and Jacksonville on track Number 1 and the dispatcher or yardmaster put the train on track 2

Those cars being auto racks which are very common, I suspect that the train was entering a switching yard due to the slow speed and the yardmaster yarded the train on the wrong track. As Ryan said, almost all railroads have a backup with high and wide detectors on routes with critical clearances. When the train goes by one of these detectors and the alarm comes over the radio, the engineer must stop their train. The detector is usually 3 to 5 miles prior to the critical clearance. It will take a mile or more for a train traveling 45 to 50 mph to stop when placed in emergency. Two plus miles to stop consistent with good train handling.

Responsibility???? That is why every railroad has a team of people that do nothing but investigate accidents.

Dang!

Finally something HotrodLincoln isn’t an expert on?

Wouldn't the scheduling program catch that those cars wouldn't fit? Or do those programs sometime get it wrong?

Off topic but I've always wanted to ask a train guy what is done about all the graffiti on the cars. Do they get cleaned up or repainted occasionally? Do railroad companies ever catch the turds doing it and if so, how is that handled?

This makes sense and I think answers my question about the software program.

That will buff right out. I didn't read all the comments so somebody may have posted that already:)

'

The scheduling program would reroute high and wide as well as heavy cars to a suitable route. The video does not provide enough info on this particular train movement.

If it is a yard movement and it appears to be, it's likely caused by human error, yardmaster, or train crew.

Graffiti was sometimes painted over often when the cars were in the shop for refurbishment, not general repairs and of course if the budget allowed. Cost of painting and time out of service would be the major factors.

Not the engineer's fault. Railroads have dispatchers assigned that have the responsibility of routing the trains along routes with proper clearance and weight limits for bridges. Got an old friend that does that for Union Pacific. She lives in Lincoln NE but dispatches trains in CA and OR via a computer monitor system. Somewhere the alignment of the tracks for this train got messed up. Engineer drives the train but he doesn't choose the tracks.

"That's some way to run a railroad !!"