1987 runaway train

I was recently doing a Google search for something related to the railroad, and I came across this article about the 1987 runaway train in Yankee Magazine. Pretty interesting read. Check it out:

http://new.yankeemagazine.com/article/runaway-train

MEC407-
Thanks for a reminder of the bad old days of the strike.
For those whose knowledge of Gardner is confined to the recent, the Family Pharmacy building is now the Jade restaurant after a period as a video store.

I was actually trying to find out when Colin Pease left Pan Am and went to Housatonic. Anyone know the answer to that? My Googling didn't turn up an answer, but I did find that article about the runaway, so at least I didn't walk away empty-handed.

jaymac wrote:MEC407-
Thanks for a reminder of the bad old days of the strike.

Neither the subject of the article nor the thread was the railroad union, it was simply a passing reference as were a long retired police officer, waitress, and reporter. Regardless, for extra credit does anyone know what happened to the Maine Central engine numbered 406? Anyone see a common denominator? Believe it or not, runaway engines are an extreme rarity.

406? Yup, we've got a thread for that: http://www.railroad.net/forums/viewtopi ... 55&t=56228

'87 huh? Right at the peak of labor/management issues, sure makes ya wonder...

Side note, honest question, being unfamiliar with Mass topography, how do locomotives roll 35+ miles at 70mph and
a) not derail?
b) maintain that speed, are there really no uphills to slow the units down?
c) again, not familiar with the topography, is there really enough down hill to let them coast up to 70mph? I would have thought it would take some power to actually get them going that fast...

TPR37777-
I have no idea on which side of the labor-management divide you stand -- a divide particularly strong at the B&M, other lines, and their successors spanning three decades under the current ownership -- but I generally stand with labor. While the strike was not a major part of the story, it formed a major background to it. In the story, Messr. Silk and at least one other company official initially charged striker involvement in the event, a charge subsequently withdrawn. The story does not mention if Messr. Silk was the sole crew member on the power, nor does it mention if some form of three-step protection or handbrakes had been applied. Those who crewed during the strike were pressured to keep the line from total shut-down, and stress and fatigue were possible contributors to any erosion of any "safety first" ethos. The ICC still existed at that time, but perhaps because the event did not meet reporting thresholds, it is not included in the DOT Library archives, so there is no readily-accessible official account of crew and/or company accountability.

KSmitty-
Please see above. Also, between the-then Family Pharmacy in Gardner and the entrance to the Deerfield Loop, there is a loss of elevation of a bit less than 900 feet (315M to 51M, per Gearth) in approximately 38 miles (ETT of your choice). The story does not give precision to the minute, only a bit after 10:00 AM and just before 11:00 AM. Positing 45 minutes, that would produce an average speed of just under 51 MPH. In 1987, the full effects of deferred maintenance were still to appear. Curvature would have a slowing affect, and stretches of level or brief stretches of upgrade line would also have a slowing affect. Likewise, especially on curves, MTs are more likely to lift a wheel and derail than are loads or power. There may have been stretches where a grade-assisted speed of 70 MPH was reached, but as the story's Erving eye-witness account indicates, there were other stretches where there were lesser speeds

Thanks Jaymac.

On a lighter note, I like the cover picture of D&H SD45's that left almost 10 years before the runaway and 6 years before the GRS/D&H marriage...not bad artwork though, sort of resembles EMD ads from the 60's and 70's.

The line at that time most definitely could have handled speeds in excess of 50 MPH between Gardner and the Loop in MOST places. As Jaymac said, the tracks were still in good shape then. Remember, for the most part, things remained unchanged (besides some paint) on the B&M after GTI took over until the strikes. The entire mainline was redone from 79 to 81 and they had all of that nice ribbon rail (called "bankruptcy rail on the RR) out there.

The fact that it did not derail coming into the approaches to Deerfield (Herrick's Curve, Millers Falls, Montague and East Deerfield East) or the interlockings at Wrights, Tyters and Erving can attest to this.

What a memory! I had saved this issue of Yankee..

Whenever I say that something would "offer all the resistance of a Dixie cup" it's because I ripped it off of this article.

Imagine people complaining that Guilford trains go too fast through town. Perhaps there are towns now that would rather they hurried a little.

What a great article that is! Yankee is a fantastic magazine. It's a good mixture of journalism and basic railroad knowledge, enough to impress the common reader. A former Recorder writer, Adam Orth, wrote a great four part series on Guilford in 2002-2003. I don't have it anymore, but if anyone has it, please post.

Anyone remember which six locomotives were involved in the runaway? From Chuck Blake's photo, it looks like a D&H 7300, followed by one in GTI paint. Miraculously, no one was hurt, and no locomotives had to be scrapped!