What keeps excess height cars from tipping over?

I'm just wondering what keeps excess height cars from tipping over on curves or rough track, or just simply blowing over. Are there ever any weights at the bottom so maybe they have a lower center of gravity than they may look?

When moving: super elevation on curves.

Rough track: If cross elevation is extreme enough a car will tip over.

Extreme winds such as a tornado or micro burst have tipped over cars in the past.

Also, don't forget, most of those cars store the cargo on a depressed area in between the wheelsets precisely to, as you noted, move the center of gravity down as far as possible.

That's why deepwells are called "deepwells" ... that lower container is carried as low as possible and still maintain ground clearances.

As compared to a baretable, which carries the cargo container at deck height.

Even with that, a good gust of wind, or poor track (causing oscillation/rocking) can tip any car.

- litz

TB Diamond wrote:When moving: super elevation on curves.

Rough track: If cross elevation is extreme enough a car will tip over.

Extreme winds such as a tornado or micro burst have tipped over cars in the past.

Indeed!

On the Salt Lake Hub on the UPRR, there is a wind indicator located at Centerville. If the winds are gusting at a speed in excess of 55+ the RR will stop traffic until the winds have died down. A few years ago a train was toppled in this area by high winds. It not uncommon in the west desert (Utah and Nevada) to have the RR stop traffic as well if there are gusty winds in a particular area as well.

Somewhere on YouTube, there is a video of a freight train passing through a tornado. Many cars were derailed and a few were tipped over and tossed aside, if I recall correctly.

Thanks for the replies guys. Very interesting, that they stop trains when the wind is over 55 mph, did they use to do that before there were excess height cars?

litz wrote:Also, don't forget, most of those cars store the cargo on a depressed area in between the wheelsets precisely to, as you noted, move the center of gravity down as far as possible.

That's why deepwells are called "deepwells" ... that lower container is carried as low as possible and still maintain ground clearances.

As compared to a baretable, which carries the cargo container at deck height.

Even with that, a good gust of wind, or poor track (causing oscillation/rocking) can tip any car.

- litz

Yeah, makes me wonder why the depressed area doesn't come closer to the rails. I'm also wondering what happens when they put a heavily loaded 53' container on top of a empty smaller container in a well car?

slashmaster wrote:I'm also wondering what happens when they put a heavily loaded 53' container on top of a empty smaller container in a well car?

Aren't there regulations about doing that sort of thing?

TB Diamond wrote:Extreme winds such as a tornado or micro burst have tipped over cars in the past.

There is an area in eastern Montana on the BNSF just east of Glacier Park that is subjected to very strong winds, and it is almost an annual occurrence that a double-stack go through the area and lose a few containers.

http://www.bnsf.com/employees/communica ... 200606.pdf

New Wind Fences Keep Rail Service Consistent in Montana
High winds increase the propensity of doublestacked container cars to derail, forcing trains to stop or slow down to avoid the hazard. And in western Montana, high winds can be devastating. So in 2005, BNSF constructed wind fences there to help protect BNSF shipments. The new fences make service more consistent by reducing heavy winds up to 50 percent compared with 25 percent for the older fences. Although more expensive, the new wind fences are definitely more effective and have reduced the number of operating restrictions on the line due to wind, says BNSF Structures Supervisor Dwayne Whitaker in Havre, Mont.

Many years ago the D&RGW spotted several old hopper cars filled with gravel to a side track on the "big ten" curves account high winds kept blowing tofc cars over. They may well still be there but I have not been in that particular area in close to thirty years.

The D&RGW windbreak hoppers were still there as of my last trip on the CZ (2006 or so...)

MEC407 wrote:Somewhere on YouTube, there is a video of a freight train passing through a tornado. Many cars were derailed and a few were tipped over and tossed aside, if I recall correctly.

In case you want to see this. http://www.youtube.com/user/MikeSenese

toolmaker wrote:

MEC407 wrote:Somewhere on YouTube, there is a video of a freight train passing through a tornado. Many cars were derailed and a few were tipped over and tossed aside, if I recall correctly.

In case you want to see this. http://www.youtube.com/user/MikeSenese

WOW that was incredible!! That tanker car coming hurtling toward the engine, it could've exploded!

I held my breath watching that tanker bouncing into the locomotive ! Interesting video. Does anyone know it's history ?

I'll ask this question to any engineers who are on board: In a situation as in this video. where a train has partially derailed at speed and cars to a locomotive's rear are out of control and are racing towards the rear of such locomotive - would an engineer have the capability to continue to maintain speed to "outrun" the runaway units, or would the train automatically go into emergency stopping beyond the engineers control but setting up the locomotive for a rear end collision ?