As a videographer/photographer I appreciate your vanishing point shot and being at the right place. As a former trainmaster please don't ever stand on the tracks with your back to a siding. Grain elevators are notorious for not locking the siding, the derail devices or applying a hand brake. We want some more great videos from you.
You aren't kidding! I do a lot of Fire/EMS photography myself and have some friends throughout the Mid West who've seen/responded to such an incident. I can't even imagine ....
Having personally seen steel strapping flailing loose on lumber racks I don't feel comfortable standing closer that 35 feet from the main. I agree about the siding comments below. Drifting cars are dead silent on straight track!!!
That separation was like, "Dearest apologies for this minor inconvenience. Please, allow me to halt before the rail crossing as to not interfere with small vehicle traffic"
Shawn, I am going to assume you used to work for or still do for the RR. Only rails know to call it is a consist. Now as this video is concerned, if I did that, getting on and off moving equipment, 8 deadly violation. It is a level S with a time weight of 3 years. Also he came in a little hot on the joint. I would have stopped the movement at the crossing, protected the crossing, and then shoved back to make the joint. I got really good at telling the hoghead “three, two, one, stop and stretch” long before the joint was made because I knew the distance it would take to stop and the draft length. I remember one time, I almost got myself into some big doo doo, I had to shove back on a main line towards a plant, and I told the Eng to stop, and it kept stretching out, and as soon as the wheel got 5 inches from the bond, the signal went diverging approach. That was a close call. I learned to always stop the movement three to four car lengths back for that very reason. Lessons learned. I was the helper, working in Vancouver wa. We had to shove back to cross over to terminal 6, and the Eng asked the Disp for 6.6 and when he shoved back, all I heard was “what is the length of your train”? By the Disp. And I immediately threw up. I knew what happened. He shoved to far back and shoved 1500 feet into a plant, and that crossover was lined for a south bound Amtrak. Thank god, PTC stopped the Amtrak. It took 6 months of investigation and I had to be deposed for 6 hours over it. And all I did was line a few yard switches which had nothing to do with engineer. He took it upon himself to request the 6.6 without doing JSB. Lessen learned. Never do unnecessary steps. I should have said, let me jump in the van and go watch the shove and that could have been avoided.
Amazing that a semi can carry one or maybe 2 coils at a time but a train can carry well over and hundred and then more cars for metal slabs. I imagine the freight bill for the steel company is unreal.
@@jaythomas3118 It all depends on where the coils are going and how many railroads handle the move. It can also vary based on who owns the car. But if we use a figure of $5k per car then a unit train of 100 cars would be in the neighborhood of $500k. And there are very few coil unit trains like the one shown here. I've dealt with a few over the years but they were short haul trains with revenue far less than $5k per car.
This has to be one of the most unusual rail spotter incidents I have ever ran across. It looked like a busted knuckle joint at the coupler. At least it wasn't a major derailment.
in lay terms a connection piece failed and caused a general alarm in the operator's booth? I would hope it was just a simple matter requiring an emergency stop.
@@martintheiss4038 In America they are called cabs. The operators booth is usually only in subway cars this was a common occurrence and was just a slight hiccup in the overall operation of the railroad.
@@martintheiss4038 If a train's brake hose seperates (as it would if any two cars uncouple), the emergency braking is automatically triggered, since air pressure is what keeps the brakes released.
it looks like you either were the movie director calling the action shots, or just happen to be in the right place at the right time! nice video of capturing all the action from start to finish, great video
@@davidstewart5694 , in the world of videography, a great catch is capturing the unusual or unexpected. As for “not good for operations “ most things occurring in the RR industry today are not good for operations.
Hilarious to see the rest of the train just casually rolling to a stop right in front of you. There isn't really anything else that it could do, but it just seems funny somehow with how polite it looks.
this is one of the big reasons why trains breaks are in the fully closed position normally and require pressure to open, in a event like this after the train breaks apart the air pressure is severed and the breaks will lock fully on while the air pressure leaks from the hoses. works backwards from a normal vehicles breaks where it requires pressure to close the breaks.
That's actually not really how train brakes work. The default for a train brake IS off. They require the system to be charged for brakes to applied. What you see here with an emergency application is only a TEMPORARY brake application charged from a small reservoir of air on every car. Once that air bleeds off, you don't have brakes. Sometimes a tight car can hold air for weeks. Sometimes, they bleed off in 45 minutes. When there's no air in the system, trains have no brakes.
No problem. Knuckle breaks. Train car stops before crossing like an obedient puppy. Railman comes back, fixes the problem. Train continues. Gotta love it! ❤❤❤❤
Wow, great video. Captured all the action. You frequently see "coli cars" but rarely do you get to see the COILS themselves. Here's of whole consist of coils.
Wow I am amazed at the power to pull all that steel from a dead stop. Yep I am a train buff! Dad used to take us as kids to watch the NY central trains stop or pass at Bronx,s Tremont station. Always loved the old T and P motors and of course the diesel's
You dont really pull from a dead stop, there has to be slack in the consist so you pull the first car then pi k up the 2nd then the 3rd and so forth, each car when in motion helps the process keep going
What happens when a train separates (just like the one in the film) the Air Brake Pipes come undone and that makes the whole train come to a stop ( eventually) depending on the speed of the train at the time of separation.
Back in the mid 70s, I was on a passenger train that separated. It was in the middle of nowhere, in Northern Ontario. I saw clouds of steam and the locomotives going around the curve without the train.
@@kevindunlap5525 Are you still sitting there? No. Did they have food? Yes, they had full food and bar service. However, since it was the middle of winter and we lost the heat with a broken steam pipe, it was cold.
Goes to show how far a powered and unpowered section of train takes to actually stop. The head end with the locomotives went pretty far. Awesome video.
Usually in this case the engineer would apply full power until the front portion's brakes drag him to a stop. This prevents the rear section from colliding with the front section (which could cause a derailment) (Edit: on modern diesels this may not be the case as according to another reply, onboard systems remove throttle control from the engineer in the event of an emergency application)
@@RailRide Incorrect. Once the brake pipe vents to the atmosphere, a locomotive's Pneumatic Control Switch opens and throttle is reduced to idle. All you can control is Dynamic Braking or the amount of air building up in your Independent Brake cylinders.
@@RailRide The ability to maintain power may of existed in the early diesel age and steam days, but to answer your question, yes. A separated train can collide together. An emergency application propagates through the brake pipe at 900 fps. The weight of each half, mix of loads/empties, and how the cars receive the loss of air can dictate if both halves meet again.
Wow..I worked briefly at a galvanized pipe factory in Michigan around 04; this train's got at least 10x their inventory. 4-6+ tons/roll, yowza. No end to that consist in video but even though 2nd half is empty that's some insane weight:0. Hope it all landed safely!
@@cowpiekiller Coils weights vary widely based on outside diameter, inside diameter, and width of the coil. Using an online shipping calculator, a smaller coil, maybe 4 feet in diameter with a 2 foot core, and 4 feet across would weigh in at about 9.2 tons. A five foot diameter, five foot wide coil with a 3 foot core would calculate out to about 14.4 tons, while a 6 foot diameter coil would come out to about 25.5 tons. I've never seen or heard of these things being transported on a boom truck. I've only ever seen them on conventional flatbeds, no more than two per trailer. They require a crane or gantry to load or unload.
I have this problem sometimes on my shelf train, but I have never saw a video showing this. This video deserve the RAIL FAN train award (if there is one) because this was awesome and you were in the right spot at the right time. Like another comment sid: those cars slow down to a stop right away when the engine is not pulling. I would think that those runnaways would have come across that crossing pretty fast.
Both halves of the train went into emergency braking when the couplers let go (right after the locomotives passed the crossing, you hear the sharp blast of air). The front half being much shorter would normally come to a stop first, so usually the engineer would apply full power to insure the rear half doesn't plow into the front half (which could cause a derailment).
@@RailRide You can't apply power when the brake pipe is at 0 psi. The PCS valves in the locomotives will open and drop the load to the traction motors. Even if you could, you'd get a knuckle pulling so hard on equipment in emergency.
@@sharkheadism I also heard exactly that as well. Somewhere I recall this being brought up, and someone speculated that this _may_ have been possible with older-generation equipment, but where I read it I no longer recall. Was this feature always a part of diesel braking systems?
@@RailRide As far as I know it has been. What has changed is a dynamic brake holding capability, that's somewhat new.
10 วันที่ผ่านมา +1
10 year Loco Engineer here, some Engineers try to run these heavy trains like a light intermodal train, it doesn’t work. That’s a tremendous amount of weight. Usually the auth speed of the train is 40 to 45 mph for this reason.
Hey, look at it this way, at least it didn't block the intersection. 😆 Also, I love how these wagons still have New York Central registration marks on them even though the railroad hasn't existed in 50 years.
You can see why folks try to skip the crossing, if you get caught by that you might as well turn around and find a diner and have lunch. When you're done it may have cleared the crossing
Wow- that's amazing that it happened right where, and when, you were shooting. Heck, if I didn't know better, I'd wonder if you had broken the knuckle yourself to stage the video! (Of course, I'm being sarcastic; no hate-filled comments about my parentage are necessary.) This is definitely a one-in-a-million video. With your kind of luck, you should play the lottery. Congrats on a great video and thanks for sharing it with us.
I once saw a Container Train separate at Basingstoke Station in the UK. It blocked the main line. The bill to Freightliner would be enormous. It was £87 a minute per train !
That kind of coupling is called a 'buckeye' in the UK...no buffers I note...I was a past second man (qualified but a second man awaiting a vacancy) in 70s...we used drop over couplings and we had buffers...what was the 'snatch' like on these mega trains...at Hither Green depot we were booked the Welbeck...the longest train in Europe...it was delivering huge Portland stone boulders for the Thames Barrier but it wasn't that long!!!
Erm.. no... Trains have been using airbrakes forever... If the train separates everything comes to a stop like you see here. Both the front and end stopped automatically. This has been the case for a very, very, very long time. The systems evolved... But what your describing is probably one of the very very first issues with trains that they fixed XD
Your comment just taught me something new. I am amazed that when those coil cars were recoupled, the knuckles were in good condition. I appreciate your output. Happy Railroading!
@@captainkeyboard1007 I'm glad you appreciate the information! The knuckle was probably replaced. When a train separates like this, it's often that a knuckle breaks clean off. They have spares, usually 4, one on each corner of the locomotive. You can actually see them on the front and rear pilots by the mu hoses. It's a long trip for the conductor to carry an 80 pound knuckle from the engine to the point of the break. They often call the car or MOW department who sends someone in a truck the give them a ride if they're close enough. They replace the knuckle, re-couple the cars together and recharge the air line. The whole process can take an hour or more on a bad day...
Lotta hot bands there....Seen quite a few of them in my 42 yrs at U.S. Steel....I worked at a finishing plant in Calif. and they used to come in by rail from back east like that all the time....Big old long strings of coils....We used to get some from overseas also that came in by boat....
Out of all spots along the CSX Toledo subdivision, i never would of guessed Cairo Ohio. This would be B523. I've seen it numerous times in Lima, just south of Cairo.
I don't know who the person is that shot this video but, I heard the train bust his air on the video. So, that means the train just went into Emergency. Anytime that happens, that means the train could derail and that's not very smart to get closer to the train. I've been around the RR for a very long time and I've seen the wild stuff. So, for anybody that is reading this, any time a train go into emergency you need to get further away from the tracks because something bad could happen.
Finland builds the world's largest cruise ships (example: Icon of the Seas), most icebreakers and a lot of cruiseferries and ferries. Steel, engines, cabins, lifeboats and most of the parts come from domestic sources (highest domestic rate in the world for shipbuilding), thus a whole lot moves at night on rails. Passengers own the daytime.
I once lived in a house by the tracks, had a coil train like that go by with a coil unraveling itself from it’s center. Very loud and was making a helluva mess of the crossing signals and ballast!. Late 80’s in Mishawaka,Indiana
Whoa!!! Incredible. You couldn't have been better placed if had been staged, great shot 👍👍👍 What I find more Incredible is they just bash it together again and carry on as if nothing had happened. Not even a snatch test to see if it had properly locked, or might part again. Does this happen so often that no one bothers about it?
I'm of the impression that the knuckle on the trailing car broke, but its replacement was omitted from the video. Heck, he never even bothered to show us what it looked like until they were making the train back up.
Railroad safety protocol says you're supposed to "stretch" the coupling before departing for that very reason. I'm surprised this train crew failed to do this.
@@taijuan5087 When you pull ahead if your EOT device tells you the rear end is moving you're good to go. If you pull apart the train will go right back into emergency. Now on a shoving move you definitely want to do a stretch test before shoving.
In South Africa each of these coils will be transporter by trucks over a distance of 1600km, while the railways tracks next to the road are not use. No wonder our roads are in such a bad state.
Incredible only 2locomotives pull that many cars!!! The power it needs to start moving Al those cars to ramp up after being reconnected is just insane. We really should have been sending all of our goods from the ports by train to distribution centres where it ie then put onto trucks. This would reduce the amount of truck traffic on our roads today and lower the cost of goods as well. Not sure why pp choose to have so much trucks on our highways.
Those coils I reckon are at least 10 tonnes each.And the length of the train? Well it just seemed to go on and on.Any of you guys out there know what the overall length and total weight was? Nothing as awesome here in the UK,so I found this video very interesting and enjoyable especially as no one was injured.
You must credit George Westinghouse (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Westinghouse) for inventing the train air brake in 1869. 80 pounds per square inch in the train line releases the brakes for the whole train, while reducing the air pressure to atmospheric level throws on the brakes for an emergency stop. Thus when the train separated, both halves made an emergency stop! I stopped the video at 2:40 after watching a re coupling which 'proves' that both knuckles seem to be intact and functional. But I must continue watching to see if the train can proceed successfully. If not, then it will happen again and again until the damaged coupler is replaced. :-(
So it uncoupled for an unknown reason, air pressure went to zero and air released brakes applied and stopped the uncoupled cars just like it is supposed to work. Nice capture
As a semi truck driver the amount of weight one of those coils can weigh is insane! It doesn't look it but one of those is probably close to 20 tons or more
Dang that was a lot of stress on those knuckles, I’m no smart person, but maybe add more DPU’s to reduce knuckle stress. But with fuel prices out of control, maybe doing without extra helpers will help keep delivery fees down. Nice video. Thanks for sharing.
DPUs don't change fuel cost -- you're using the same number of locomotives but positioning them differently in the train. This train had two locomotives on the front; if they'd used distributed power, it would have had one on the front and one in the middle somewhere (or on the back).
@@GEES44DCDP trains may be fun to look at but they're a pain in the ass to work in yards, more complicated to run, harder to fuel and we pretty much hate them.
I am always amazed to see how many couplers do brake in US trains. My analysis may be wrong but : I found that fret trains are quite heavy in the US, putting enormous stress on these couplers. Plus, If shunting is done as seen on the video , I do understand why couplers break. This is very brutal and damned, this is a mad way not to manage the material !
Interesting Video I noticed only a few coil cars are carrying a full load of 5 reels (5.11 fyi) while most seem to have only 4 reels and gap in middle. Wonder if the steel in the reels maybe diff grade, thickness or temper or width, and they are grouped together for those reasons
Probably it's more for equal distribution of weight. With 5 coils, the weight can be evenly distributed. With 4 coils, distributing the weight over or adjacent to the trucks will evenly distribute the weight. Look at a loaded flatbed semi-trailer sometime. If the load is of a small quantity but heavy, the load will be evenly distributed over the kingpin and the wheels. It's the same idea here.
As a videographer/photographer I appreciate your vanishing point shot and being at the right place. As a former trainmaster please don't ever stand on the tracks with your back to a siding. Grain elevators are notorious for not locking the siding, the derail devices or applying a hand brake. We want some more great videos from you.
You aren't kidding! I do a lot of Fire/EMS photography myself and have some friends throughout the Mid West who've seen/responded to such an incident. I can't even imagine ....
From 3:44 on I was thinking "Look behind you, or get off the track". Lots of people have died that way.
At least the derail was set correctly.
Having personally seen steel strapping flailing loose on lumber racks I don't feel comfortable standing closer that 35 feet from the main.
I agree about the siding comments below. Drifting cars are dead silent on straight track!!!
Too right!! We have a lumber yard here in town that uses remote control locomotives. There’s no one in the cab’s most of the time.
Such an obedient mechanism stopping the separated portion, it stopped before the crossing, a very polite separation .
That separation was like, "Dearest apologies for this minor inconvenience. Please, allow me to halt before the rail crossing as to not interfere with small vehicle traffic"
@@TheBestPybro then thy shall be reconnected and travel to our destination.
This has to be the BIGGEST consist of Steel Coils ive ever seen along with the Flat Cars of Steel behind it. Cheers from Laurel, Delaware USA.
All of them are Conrail too.😊😊😊
We get around 54 loaded coil cars on the U GALKAI for Kaiser steel
Each of those MFs is HEAVY!
Shawn, I am going to assume you used to work for or still do for the RR. Only rails know to call it is a consist. Now as this video is concerned, if I did that, getting on and off moving equipment, 8 deadly violation. It is a level S with a time weight of 3 years. Also he came in a little hot on the joint. I would have stopped the movement at the crossing, protected the crossing, and then shoved back to make the joint. I got really good at telling the hoghead “three, two, one, stop and stretch” long before the joint was made because I knew the distance it would take to stop and the draft length. I remember one time, I almost got myself into some big doo doo, I had to shove back on a main line towards a plant, and I told the Eng to stop, and it kept stretching out, and as soon as the wheel got 5 inches from the bond, the signal went diverging approach. That was a close call. I learned to always stop the movement three to four car lengths back for that very reason. Lessons learned. I was the helper, working in Vancouver wa. We had to shove back to cross over to terminal 6, and the Eng asked the Disp for 6.6 and when he shoved back, all I heard was “what is the length of your train”? By the Disp. And I immediately threw up. I knew what happened. He shoved to far back and shoved 1500 feet into a plant, and that crossover was lined for a south bound Amtrak. Thank god, PTC stopped the Amtrak. It took 6 months of investigation and I had to be deposed for 6 hours over it. And all I did was line a few yard switches which had nothing to do with engineer. He took it upon himself to request the 6.6 without doing JSB. Lessen learned. Never do unnecessary steps. I should have said, let me jump in the van and go watch the shove and that could have been avoided.
Amazing that a semi can carry one or maybe 2 coils at a time but a train can carry well over and hundred and then more cars for metal slabs. I imagine the freight bill for the steel company is unreal.
I hear they pay the train co’s about 2-5 million $ per run
But at least it's still cheaper than transporting all those coils with semis
@@jaythomas3118 It all depends on where the coils are going and how many railroads handle the move. It can also vary based on who owns the car. But if we use a figure of $5k per car then a unit train of 100 cars would be in the neighborhood of $500k. And there are very few coil unit trains like the one shown here. I've dealt with a few over the years but they were short haul trains with revenue far less than $5k per car.
and they don't have to tarp
@@danniechaires depends on the type of coil and how far they are moving it and what the shipper/consignee requires
This has to be one of the most unusual rail spotter incidents I have ever ran across. It looked like a busted knuckle joint at the coupler. At least it wasn't a major derailment.
in lay terms a connection piece failed and caused a general alarm in the operator's booth? I would hope it was just a simple matter requiring an emergency stop.
@@martintheiss4038 In America they are called cabs. The operators booth is usually only in subway cars this was a common occurrence and was just a slight hiccup in the overall operation of the railroad.
@@martintheiss4038 If a train's brake hose seperates (as it would if any two cars uncouple), the emergency braking is automatically triggered, since air pressure is what keeps the brakes released.
One knuckle rode over the other one and caused the separation.
Heavy cars and possibly a slight dip in the track.
maybe the coupling needs a fresh can of WD40 🐱👍🏿
it looks like you either were the movie director calling the action shots, or just happen to be in the right place at the right time! nice video of capturing all the action from start to finish, great video
Yeah, how dat wok
Great catch. Nothing beats being in the right place at the right time.
How is this a great catch? This isn't good for operations.
@@davidstewart5694 , in the world of videography, a great catch is capturing the unusual or unexpected. As for “not good for operations “ most things occurring in the RR industry today are not good for operations.
Not if you’re in a car stuck at the crossing
Yeah literally didn't even have to move
@@michaelharris3296 Can you elaborate on the last bit?
How odd it was to see the rest of the train roll into the shot like that. Not something I've ever seen before.
It was hilarious.
And right before the crossing.
I thought that was pretty neat also.
‘Cause that’s the way things happen on the Polar Express!
Hilarious to see the rest of the train just casually rolling to a stop right in front of you. There isn't really anything else that it could do, but it just seems funny somehow with how polite it looks.
this is one of the big reasons why trains breaks are in the fully closed position normally and require pressure to open, in a event like this after the train breaks apart the air pressure is severed and the breaks will lock fully on while the air pressure leaks from the hoses. works backwards from a normal vehicles breaks where it requires pressure to close the breaks.
That's actually not really how train brakes work. The default for a train brake IS off. They require the system to be charged for brakes to applied.
What you see here with an emergency application is only a TEMPORARY brake application charged from a small reservoir of air on every car. Once that air bleeds off, you don't have brakes. Sometimes a tight car can hold air for weeks. Sometimes, they bleed off in 45 minutes. When there's no air in the system, trains have no brakes.
Nicely done. I appreciate your patience and capturing the whole event. God bless you
Came in a bit fast during decoupling there.
No problem. Knuckle breaks. Train car stops before crossing like an obedient puppy. Railman comes back, fixes the problem. Train continues. Gotta love it! ❤❤❤❤
Wow, great video. Captured all the action. You frequently see "coli cars" but rarely do you get to see the COILS themselves.
Here's of whole consist of coils.
Wow I am amazed at the power to pull all that steel from a dead stop. Yep I am a train buff! Dad used to take us as kids to watch the NY central trains stop or pass at Bronx,s Tremont station. Always loved the old T and P motors and of course the diesel's
You dont really pull from a dead stop, there has to be slack in the consist so you pull the first car then pi k up the 2nd then the 3rd and so forth, each car when in motion helps the process keep going
Tier 4 gevos have a lot of power.
@@anthonyhitchings1051 There isn't always slack. So yeah you can pull from a dead stop
Cool video, shows how good the emergancy brakes are on those… that’s a lot of weight to bring to a halt
That's a lot of inertia being brought to a halt.
I love the sound of cicadas in the late summer. Some people hate them but I really like the sound.
Depends on quantity and proximity. The sound is nice but can get pretty out of hand.
I new a person who was terrified by it.
People hate that sound?
It's a love or a hate. We had our 17 year cicada two years ago, it was glorious!!
@@kevindunlap5525
They make weird alien noises every 17 years or so.
Awesome to know that a safeguard actually works when it should
What happens when a train separates (just like the one in the film) the Air Brake Pipes come undone and that makes the whole train come to a stop ( eventually) depending on the speed of the train at the time of separation.
When the rail cars separated the air line came loose causing
The breakers to apply .
When the air pressure
Drops below a certain PSI .they lock down.
Back in the mid 70s, I was on a passenger train that separated. It was in the middle of nowhere, in Northern Ontario. I saw clouds of steam and the locomotives going around the curve without the train.
Are you still sitting there? Did they have food?
@@kevindunlap5525 Are you still sitting there?
No.
Did they have food?
Yes, they had full food and bar service.
However, since it was the middle of winter and we lost the heat with a broken steam pipe, it was cold.
@@James_Knott are you still sitting there wtf?? Lol
@@DEPORTER_SUPPORTER Yep. Been here almost 50 years! 🙂
@@James_Knott You are getting old James.
Goes to show how far a powered and unpowered section of train takes to actually stop. The head end with the locomotives went pretty far. Awesome video.
th-cam.com/video/ZfngebmL4mE/w-d-xo.html
Caso similar en México
Usually in this case the engineer would apply full power until the front portion's brakes drag him to a stop. This prevents the rear section from colliding with the front section (which could cause a derailment)
(Edit: on modern diesels this may not be the case as according to another reply, onboard systems remove throttle control from the engineer in the event of an emergency application)
@@RailRide Incorrect.
Once the brake pipe vents to the atmosphere, a locomotive's Pneumatic Control Switch opens and throttle is reduced to idle. All you can control is Dynamic Braking or the amount of air building up in your Independent Brake cylinders.
@@-HDK- So there is still the potential of the rear half colliding with the front half?
@@RailRide The ability to maintain power may of existed in the early diesel age and steam days, but to answer your question, yes. A separated train can collide together. An emergency application propagates through the brake pipe at 900 fps. The weight of each half, mix of loads/empties, and how the cars receive the loss of air can dictate if both halves meet again.
Wow..I worked briefly at a galvanized pipe factory in Michigan around 04; this train's got at least 10x their inventory.
4-6+ tons/roll, yowza. No end to that consist in video but even though 2nd half is empty that's some insane weight:0. Hope it all landed safely!
Um ... those rolls are about 20 tons each.
@@whiteknightcat Well, that explains Ice Road Truckers now. 😉
@@whiteknightcat hardly. Those strip coils are probably close to 10k each. The boom trucks that transport usually cap at 14k
@@cowpiekiller Coils weights vary widely based on outside diameter, inside diameter, and width of the coil. Using an online shipping calculator, a smaller coil, maybe 4 feet in diameter with a 2 foot core, and 4 feet across would weigh in at about 9.2 tons. A five foot diameter, five foot wide coil with a 3 foot core would calculate out to about 14.4 tons, while a 6 foot diameter coil would come out to about 25.5 tons.
I've never seen or heard of these things being transported on a boom truck. I've only ever seen them on conventional flatbeds, no more than two per trailer. They require a crane or gantry to load or unload.
@@whiteknightcat yeah I was thinking around 12 to 20 ton.
Now there is something you don't see everyday! Nice catch! I'm glad everything was ok.
I have this problem sometimes on my shelf train, but I have never saw a video showing this. This video deserve the RAIL FAN train award (if there is one) because this was awesome and you were in the right spot at the right time. Like another comment sid: those cars slow down to a stop right away when the engine is not pulling. I would think that those runnaways would have come across that crossing pretty fast.
Both halves of the train went into emergency braking when the couplers let go (right after the locomotives passed the crossing, you hear the sharp blast of air). The front half being much shorter would normally come to a stop first, so usually the engineer would apply full power to insure the rear half doesn't plow into the front half (which could cause a derailment).
@@RailRide It makes all the sense in the world to me and thanks for explaining.
@@RailRide You can't apply power when the brake pipe is at 0 psi. The PCS valves in the locomotives will open and drop the load to the traction motors. Even if you could, you'd get a knuckle pulling so hard on equipment in emergency.
@@sharkheadism I also heard exactly that as well. Somewhere I recall this being brought up, and someone speculated that this _may_ have been possible with older-generation equipment, but where I read it I no longer recall. Was this feature always a part of diesel braking systems?
@@RailRide As far as I know it has been. What has changed is a dynamic brake holding capability, that's somewhat new.
10 year Loco Engineer here, some Engineers try to run these heavy trains like a light intermodal train, it doesn’t work. That’s a tremendous amount of weight. Usually the auth speed of the train is 40 to 45 mph for this reason.
Great catch! Anyone notice the reporting marks on those coil cars? NYC with the Conrail logo. Awesome!
Strangest call to the number on the crossing gate I bet. “Your train left half of its cars behind”.
but which half?
It's a good example of the safety systems at work here, the separated cars loose there air so the brakes bring it to an emergency stop
The air keeps the breaks engaged on default !
Great coverage👍happens to me all the time just in a smaller scale😁🚂🇨🇦🇺🇲🙋
I absolutely hate when that happens its infuriating especially with magnetic couplers
Hey, look at it this way, at least it didn't block the intersection. 😆 Also, I love how these wagons still have New York Central registration marks on them even though the railroad hasn't existed in 50 years.
Imagine the panic heard on the radio between the dispatcher and the train conductor
You can see why folks try to skip the crossing, if you get caught by that you might as well turn around and find a diner and have lunch. When you're done it may have cleared the crossing
So long
You like it long? @@anthonyjarrett3206
used to work at a steel slitting place and I gotta say that's a crazy amount of weight on that train really
majestic break though
"We lost something."
"Not to worry, we are still driving half a train."
Wow- that's amazing that it happened right where, and when, you were shooting. Heck, if I didn't know better, I'd wonder if you had broken the knuckle yourself to stage the video! (Of course, I'm being sarcastic; no hate-filled comments about my parentage are necessary.) This is definitely a one-in-a-million video. With your kind of luck, you should play the lottery. Congrats on a great video and thanks for sharing it with us.
I once saw a Container Train separate at Basingstoke Station in the UK. It blocked the main line. The bill to Freightliner would be enormous. It was £87 a minute per train !
In America, the class 1 freight railroads own the show. If that happened here, the passenger trains would be delayed and it’s tough potatoes for them.
Good mornig sehr gute Aufnahmen Danke für die schöne bilder you a good camera man ❤ greetings from Germany Cologne ein Fan aus Krefeld
Wow you were definitely in the right place at the right time for this video.
Great catch that train did exactly what it was designed to do that is a HEAVY TRAIN
SO BEAUTIFUL TO SEE THOSE LETTERS "NYC" AND THE CONRAIL LOGO ON THOSE CARS! 🟦⬜
soooo many coils! those things are so heavy and so dangerous with tons of potential engergy and mass!!!!
That is an insane heavy train.
just pouring a can of stp oil treatment in one of the diesel generators could make an instant vast performance difference!🐱👍🏿
Thanks Mr Westinghouse!
That kind of coupling is called a 'buckeye' in the UK...no buffers I note...I was a past second man (qualified but a second man awaiting a vacancy) in 70s...we used drop over couplings and we had buffers...what was the 'snatch' like on these mega trains...at Hither Green depot we were booked the Welbeck...the longest train in Europe...it was delivering huge Portland stone boulders for the Thames Barrier but it wasn't that long!!!
What an incredible piece of luck to have it break right where it did like that!
Unofficially the longest train 🚂
Hats off to George Westinghouse!
What a catch! And such a polite train to stop just short of the crossing... Good thing it stayed on the rails.
Lmao the second half slowly rolling into the cameras view XD
Great Catch!!! Thanks for posting!!!
Isn't there a monitor attached to the coupler on the last car to alert the Engineer that he lost some cars?
a trained pigeon would fly forward and inform the train captain 🐱👍🏿
He'll probably notice when all the brakes come on full after the air line separates.
How do you know where to film when these mishaps happen?! AMAZING 👏 🙀
Very neatly stopped each side of that level crossing!
Ok that's kinda comical how the detached car just creeped into the frame and stopped
Photobombed 😂
Awesome video but you need to stay off of the tracks as a fellow foamer and Hallcon driver we need to be safe.
Wow talk about right place at the right time and fact that you was so cool about it not too many people would have that reaction.
Little fun fact, One of those type of coils got loose at a loading facility it crushed a car and a fence at low speed.
How many wagons did this train have, there was no end in sight when the video stopped at the end. Great capture.
It prolly had like over 300 cars, coil train's intend to be long
@@dra32411 Absolutely not.
100 the most..i think
Imagine in the old days before radio when this happened. They could probably go 30 miles before they realize they gotta reverse it. Lol!
Erm.. no... Trains have been using airbrakes forever... If the train separates everything comes to a stop like you see here. Both the front and end stopped automatically. This has been the case for a very, very, very long time. The systems evolved... But what your describing is probably one of the very very first issues with trains that they fixed XD
Steel coils are heavy stuff! Without a DPU, just one wrong move can break a knuckle. Same with coal and ballast.
Your comment just taught me something new. I am amazed that when those coil cars were recoupled, the knuckles were in good condition. I appreciate your output. Happy Railroading!
@@captainkeyboard1007 I'm glad you appreciate the information! The knuckle was probably replaced. When a train separates like this, it's often that a knuckle breaks clean off. They have spares, usually 4, one on each corner of the locomotive. You can actually see them on the front and rear pilots by the mu hoses. It's a long trip for the conductor to carry an 80 pound knuckle from the engine to the point of the break. They often call the car or MOW department who sends someone in a truck the give them a ride if they're close enough. They replace the knuckle, re-couple the cars together and recharge the air line. The whole process can take an hour or more on a bad day...
@@PowerTrain611 Thank you for tapping or typing to me.
@@captainkeyboard1007 You're very welcome!
An hour to do that would be a GOOD day. But, you did say "or more". Or more is usually the case.
Amazing footage! Thank Goodness it stopped where it did!
Wow. I see many coils come through in the bluegrass state.
I love hearing that sound when rail cars couple togetha.. Metal on metal
Nice catch. Greetings from Berlin/ Germany. Sven
Wow what a catch mate one in a Million Cheers 👍👍👍👍🇦🇺🇦🇺
I follow a similar routine when leaving the house in the morning.
Blimey! How much weight was on that knuckle….. that is one long coil train…. 🥺
I believe that’s in Cairo Ohio I ran on that line with the I&O when I worked there
Yes
Holy CRAP... with all that steel onboard that is one HEAVY train, wow.
Lotta hot bands there....Seen quite a few of them in my 42 yrs at U.S. Steel....I worked at a finishing plant in Calif. and they used to come in by rail from back east like that all the time....Big old long strings of coils....We used to get some from overseas also that came in by boat....
amazing they could recouple , usually breaks knuckle or drawbar, coils are 50,000 - 60,000
Out of all spots along the CSX Toledo subdivision, i never would of guessed Cairo Ohio. This would be B523. I've seen it numerous times in Lima, just south of Cairo.
New York Central coil cars! Awesome catch!
I don't know who the person is that shot this video but, I heard the train bust his air on the video. So, that means the train just went into Emergency. Anytime that happens, that means the train could derail and that's not very smart to get closer to the train. I've been around the RR for a very long time and I've seen the wild stuff. So, for anybody that is reading this, any time a train go into emergency you need to get further away from the tracks because something bad could happen.
From the angle his camera kept sweeping back and forth from I'd wager they were standing on the siding or at least within the clearance width.
I’ve been a railfan for 4 years and I never knew coil trains existed
Rare in UK,,most go by road
Same here
Finland builds the world's largest cruise ships (example: Icon of the Seas), most icebreakers and a lot of cruiseferries and ferries. Steel, engines, cabins, lifeboats and most of the parts come from domestic sources (highest domestic rate in the world for shipbuilding), thus a whole lot moves at night on rails. Passengers own the daytime.
best shot in the world and you got it on video, great catch
This is literally the craziest right place, right time thing I’ve ever seen.
"Does it seem like we're going a lot faster? As if we're pulling less weight?"
"naaah must the fresh shell rotella engine oil doing its thing"
Haha. You waiteted there looking at the workers like "I want the rest of my train 😤"
wow the odds of capturing that on camera are very low! That is amazing
I once lived in a house by the tracks, had a coil train like that go by with a coil unraveling itself from it’s center. Very loud and was making a helluva mess of the crossing signals and ballast!. Late 80’s in Mishawaka,Indiana
Did you catch it on video?? 🤣 🤣
@@therockman6482 on super8 film at 18fps
Whoa!!! Incredible. You couldn't have been better placed if had been staged, great shot 👍👍👍 What I find more Incredible is they just bash it together again and carry on as if nothing had happened. Not even a snatch test to see if it had properly locked, or might part again. Does this happen so often that no one bothers about it?
I'm of the impression that the knuckle on the trailing car broke, but its replacement was omitted from the video. Heck, he never even bothered to show us what it looked like until they were making the train back up.
Railroad safety protocol says you're supposed to "stretch" the coupling before departing for that very reason. I'm surprised this train crew failed to do this.
@@taijuan5087 When you pull ahead if your EOT device tells you the rear end is moving you're good to go. If you pull apart the train will go right back into emergency. Now on a shoving move you definitely want to do a stretch test before shoving.
Still get a far away look in my eye, when I hear an old train in the night!
Love the NYC reporting mark!
In South Africa each of these coils will be transporter by trucks over a distance of 1600km, while the railways tracks next to the road are not use. No wonder our roads are in such a bad state.
Incredible only 2locomotives pull that many cars!!!
The power it needs to start moving Al those cars to ramp up after being reconnected is just insane.
We really should have been sending all of our goods from the ports by train to distribution centres where it ie then put onto trucks.
This would reduce the amount of truck traffic on our roads today and lower the cost of goods as well. Not sure why pp choose to have so much trucks on our highways.
Incredible shot!
Imagine those coils in a runaway situation.. damageeeee
Where we live, there are no trains. That's a really long one. Thanks for sharing!!!🙋♂️💯👍
The right place at the right time.
All those heavy steel coils make for a lot of inertia. There were some hot brake shoes!
Those coils I reckon are at least 10 tonnes each.And the length of the train? Well it just seemed to go on and on.Any of you guys out there know what the overall length and total weight was? Nothing as awesome here in the UK,so I found this video very interesting and enjoyable especially as no one was injured.
You must credit George Westinghouse (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Westinghouse) for inventing the train air brake in 1869. 80 pounds per square inch in the train line releases the brakes for the whole train, while reducing the air pressure to atmospheric level throws on the brakes for an emergency stop. Thus when the train separated, both halves made an emergency stop!
I stopped the video at 2:40 after watching a re coupling which 'proves' that both knuckles seem to be intact and functional. But I must continue watching to see if the train can proceed successfully. If not, then it will happen again and again until the damaged coupler is replaced. :-(
Wow! can anyone explain how did the coupling fail without breaking itself?
So it uncoupled for an unknown reason, air pressure went to zero and air released brakes applied and stopped the uncoupled cars just like it is supposed to work.
Nice capture
Not just the uncoupled wagons but the rest of the train too
@@asitchakraborty3760 Well now that you told me makes perfect sense if I thought about. Thanx
@@kapekodbob You are welcome
As a semi truck driver the amount of weight one of those coils can weigh is insane! It doesn't look it but one of those is probably close to 20 tons or more
somebody quoted 45000 Lbs per coil
Yup here 22 tyre semi trucks usually carry only one of those per truck.
That coupling has caused confusion and delay. Sir topham hatt will not be pleased 😂
Yikes! Getting that close and keeping your back to rest of train? Completely missed the separation
How to be in the right place at the right time!!
How many tons in that train? 😳
Dang that was a lot of stress on those knuckles, I’m no smart person, but maybe add more DPU’s to reduce knuckle stress. But with fuel prices out of control, maybe doing without extra helpers will help keep delivery fees down. Nice video. Thanks for sharing.
DPUs don't change fuel cost -- you're using the same number of locomotives but positioning them differently in the train. This train had two locomotives on the front; if they'd used distributed power, it would have had one on the front and one in the middle somewhere (or on the back).
@@beeble2003 Wrong. DP use absolutely saves fuel.
Dpu in the center pushes and front pulls. See it all the time on csx mains anymore. Sometimes on the rear.
@@GEES44DCDP trains may be fun to look at but they're a pain in the ass to work in yards, more complicated to run, harder to fuel and we pretty much hate them.
@@SirRommy I do it for a living.
I am always amazed to see how many couplers do brake in US trains. My analysis may be wrong but : I found that fret trains are quite heavy in the US, putting enormous stress on these couplers. Plus, If shunting is done as seen on the video , I do understand why couplers break. This is very brutal and damned, this is a mad way not to manage the material !
This was an amazing video. Next on my playlist will be a video of a car pulling over with a flat tire.
Interesting Video I noticed only a few coil cars are carrying a full load of 5 reels (5.11 fyi) while most seem to have only 4 reels and gap in middle. Wonder if the steel in the reels maybe diff grade, thickness or temper or width, and they are grouped together for those reasons
Might be that they are trying to reduce wear on the tracks and rolling stock as well
Probably it's more for equal distribution of weight. With 5 coils, the weight can be evenly distributed. With 4 coils, distributing the weight over or adjacent to the trucks will evenly distribute the weight.
Look at a loaded flatbed semi-trailer sometime. If the load is of a small quantity but heavy, the load will be evenly distributed over the kingpin and the wheels. It's the same idea here.