Tried to post his yesterday to keep in accord witht he date, but the site was down for maintenance or so it said.
X-1750 West (4 units [1750-5757-5673-1699], 83 cars + caboose moving at 38mph on Tk. #1 of the joint NYC / EL line between Glen echo and Dayton at about 12:15AM passed Cold Springs Tower and received a hi-ball from the operator.
About 1 mile west of there at the Snyderville Rd. xg, the 60th head car derailed due to a broken wheel, and the general derailment of 8 other cars occurred a few hundred feet further on. One boxcar overturned and slid across Wynn Rd. into a house. A coal stove in the house was struck, overturned, set fire to the house, and a household propane tank exploded. 1 resident was killed and 3 others injured.
Cause of the wreck was that the wheel that broke had a manufacturing defect which had gone undetected since it was fabricated in 1961. The defects caused cracks to develop on the inner surface of the wheel plate which were not visible.
The FRA Report said that proper examination of the wheel after manufacture would have found the defective condition.
Makes me wonder whether or not the old car knocker practice of hitting the wheels with a hammer would have indicated the defect. Remember the old sounds of "ping - ping - and thunk" as the car knockers checked a train??
X-1750 West (4 units [1750-5757-5673-1699], 83 cars + caboose moving at 38mph on Tk. #1 of the joint NYC / EL line between Glen echo and Dayton at about 12:15AM passed Cold Springs Tower and received a hi-ball from the operator.
About 1 mile west of there at the Snyderville Rd. xg, the 60th head car derailed due to a broken wheel, and the general derailment of 8 other cars occurred a few hundred feet further on. One boxcar overturned and slid across Wynn Rd. into a house. A coal stove in the house was struck, overturned, set fire to the house, and a household propane tank exploded. 1 resident was killed and 3 others injured.
Cause of the wreck was that the wheel that broke had a manufacturing defect which had gone undetected since it was fabricated in 1961. The defects caused cracks to develop on the inner surface of the wheel plate which were not visible.
The FRA Report said that proper examination of the wheel after manufacture would have found the defective condition.
Makes me wonder whether or not the old car knocker practice of hitting the wheels with a hammer would have indicated the defect. Remember the old sounds of "ping - ping - and thunk" as the car knockers checked a train??
