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Discussion relating to the operations of MTA MetroNorth Railroad including west of Hudson operations and discussion of CtDOT sponsored rail operations such as Shore Line East and the Springfield to New Haven Hartford Line

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 #275342  by DutchRailnut
 
Yes due to park avenue tunnel MNCR had to get emergency hatch for engineer to be able to escape incase of fire.
When your sitting on top of 2200 gallons of fuel with most likely place of fire being tanks or engine room there was no way to get out.
Amtrak P32acdm's do not have the hatch cause their tunnels have a sidewalk for engineer to escape.
In Park Avenue tunnel there is only a foot of room on sides (at places )and if flames are coming on sides that escape route is blocked.

 #275352  by .Taurus.
 
Is there a rope or ladder mounted at the inside of the hatch or somewhere else to leave the engine without falling ~10ft down?
Greets

 #275356  by DutchRailnut
 
There is fold up ladder and knotted rope to hold onto.
Despite it looking small, the opening in nose is same as screen opening under control stand and same size as regulation escape hatch as per USAF specifications. even I with my slightly large frame can get out in less than 1.5 minutes.

 #275360  by .Taurus.
 
Thx a lot :-D

 #275362  by Stephen B. Carey
 
I always thought that the hatch was for sand, because Amtrak has two little hatches on either side underneath the winshield wipers. Anyone have a picture of the hatch from the cab??

 #275366  by Nasadowsk
 
This begs the question - is there anyone (hypothetically) at MN who *can't* fit through it? Would that hypothetical person be restricted from running the equipment as a result?

 #275373  by DutchRailnut
 
The sand hatches on both Amtrak and MNCR P32acdm's are on side, just around corner from marker lights, the hatch under it is to clean sand trap and to fill windshield wiper fluid.
The location was moved from Amtrak P40 plans so sand can be put in at small platforms in yards.
The P40's have sand hatches on front of engine and therefore can not be sanded in the outlying yards. This will be fun again this fall.

Phil If my slightly large frame can get tru anyone can get tru.

The Emergency hatch is not visible in the cab , its behind a screen under the control desk and a door that give acces to the nose compartment.

 #275472  by keotaman
 
Nasadowsk wrote:This begs the question - is there anyone (hypothetically) at MN who *can't* fit through it? Would that hypothetical person be restricted from running the equipment as a result?
Who knows? When qualifying, we were NOT allowed to open the hatch! Seems like a good suit just waiting to happen.

 #275488  by DutchRailnut
 
Reason for not opening hatch is , if you lower/drop hatch it breaks the headlight glass and renders the locomotive inoperable due to defects. and that hatch is very heavy so 9 out 10 times the peron opening hatch drops it.

 #275530  by Clean Cab
 
I feel for any engineer who ever has to use that escape hatch in the event of a real fire in the Park Ave Tunnel!! By the time you remove the large part of the dashboard, crawl inside the nose, unlatch the hatch, extend the mini ladder, push the rope outside and shimmy down the rope, you'd be overcome by smoke and propably be not too coherent.

When you are panicing, easy things become quite difficult.

 #275620  by Penn Central
 
DutchRailnut wrote:Reason for not opening hatch is , if you lower/drop hatch it breaks the headlight glass and renders the locomotive inoperable due to defects. and that hatch is very heavy so 9 out 10 times the peron opening hatch drops it.
Despite using a 2x4 to protect it, I broke the headlight cover when I made the demonstration pictured above. The Harmon Shop Supt. was not very happy. The entire procedure was videotaped and that film is now used for training. There are very few places in the tunnel where the front hatch would be needed, and that is only on the outside tracks (3 and 4). I never heard of an engineer going through the nose of an FL-9 to escape a fire behind them, so it is extremely unlikely that the nose door on the Genesis would ever be needed. Instructions for engineers tell them to take the train out of the tunnel whenever possible, heading north. In the event that could not be done, they can stop at an emergency exit. The nose door would only be an egress of last resort.

 #275705  by The RailMan
 
Has the emergency egress hatch ever been used in a real emergency situation?