Photos of 1987 Amtrak Chase, MD accident

Paul and Tommy thanks for the kind words.... Tommy I worked with a guy named Jimmy Meehan in the Warrant Squad back in 2001 he then retired right after 911

Dutyron,

I concur with my fellow members. Thank you for sharing your story as well as your service. I'm happy to hear that doing so helps you in dealing with what you have. Both events are things that are not easy (if not possible) to get over but I'm happy to see that you've turned those things into positives! It's a mark of a good person and contributor to society!

One of my co-workers recalls the incident when he worked for Amtrak and is still haunted by it. He lost a good friend of his (the engineer; who was also one of my friend's father).

Kyle

What track were the Conrail units on and what track was the Amtrak train on? Were they both traveling in the same direction? Does anyone know of any diagram of that wreck?

The CR units came off the freight branch from Enola onto the same track that the Amtrak train was on,
both were headed the same direction(RR west).
Believe the report is stored in the Government Archives,access via the NTSB site.
(believe the link is up thread a few pages back)

MR77100 wrote:What track were the Conrail units on and what track was the Amtrak train on? Were they both traveling in the same direction? Does anyone know of any diagram of that wreck?

The two trains (the Conrail train, ENS-121, was made up of three light engines, B36-7s; the Amtrak train was No. 94 The Colonial), were both on the NEC main line and traveling in the same direction, northbound. The collision took place at Gunpow interlocking where the NEC main line goes from three tracks to two. The Conrail light engines had come out of Baltimore's Bay View yard onto Track 1. Amtrak 94 was operating on Track 2. At Gunpow Track 1 ends and there is a crossover switch located there, connecting Track 1 to Track 2. The crossover switch was lined for a straight through movement on Track 2 (Amtrak 94) and a stop signal was displayed for Track 1 (Conrail ENS-121). The Conrail train failed to stop for the signal protecting the crossover and ran through the switch entering Track 2 directly in front of Amtrak 94.

Below is a track display of the interlocking. It's from the NTSB report and shows how and where the accident took place.

Had a GG-1 been leading the train that crashed at Chase, I wonder how much different the outcome would have been and if the G would have been salvageable?

Tom6921 wrote:Had a GG-1 been leading the train that crashed at Chase, I wonder how much different the outcome would have been and if the G would have been salvageable?

I'm not sure if that would be the case at the speed the Amtrak train was traveling. The Conrail units were moving slow and the Amtrak train moving very fast. Basically it was more like a moving object hitting an object at rest.

LIRR272 wrote:

Tom6921 wrote:Had a GG-1 been leading the train that crashed at Chase, I wonder how much different the outcome would have been and if the G would have been salvageable?

I'm not sure if that would be the case at the speed the Amtrak train was traveling. The Conrail units were moving slow and the Amtrak train moving very fast. Basically it was more like a moving object hitting an object at rest.

272: I agree with you - if a GG1 had been leading the Colonial that day the outcome may have been somewhat different - to an extent...Towards the end of their Amtrak service their GG1s
were restricted to a 80mph speed limit...The two AEM7s (900 and 903) that were destroyed in that wreck were pulling that train at over 120 MPH when this collision occurred...

In January 1986 Amtrak's GG1s were already retired at least four years and the E60s were also being speed restricted due to their well-known tracking problems...

MACTRAXX

This is from the NTSB report:

With train ENS-121 [Conrail light engines] traveling at 64 mph, when the engineer finally noticed the "stop" aspect displayed by home signal 1N, he was unable to stop the train before it had passed through switch 12 onto track 2....As it was, train 94 struck train ENS-121 at about its maximum authorized speed of 105 mph adding to the severity of the accident.

(On the DOT website you can link TO the site but not to individual reports. Here's a link but you have to scroll down and click on 1987 then select "REAR-END COLLISION OF AMTRAK PASSENGER TRAIN 94, THE COLONIAL AND CONSOLIDATED RAIL CORPORATION" to see the accident report.)

I know the thought here, that a GG1 gives an engineer more protection. That's why they were designed in the first place, like the AEM7s, the GG1's predecessor the P5A was basically a box cab with little protection for the head end crew. The problem is, hitting another locomotive (ENS-121 was stopped dead when hit) and then derailing at that speed (105 mph) is going to generate a physical force at the front of the train that is probably not survivable, regardless of the locomotive type.