Page:NTSB - Railroad Accident Report - Derailment on May 25, 1989.djvu [9] For broadcasters that do not use the series name Mayday, this is one of three Season 3 episodes labeled as Crash Scene Investigation spin-offs, examining marine or rail disasters. Seven years after the accident, Southern Pacific was bought up by Union Pacific, which still runs trains over the rails where the derailment happened. I gave it a little more air . After the activation of the emergency brake, the only brakes which were operational were the air brakes, which were now melting from the friction and heat. Speaking from his wheelchair Tuesday in calm, measured tones, locomotive engineer Lester Foster described the Feb. 1 crash of a runaway freight train in the Cajon Pass that killed two fellow crew members. As a last attempt to stop the train, the helper engineer initiated an emergency brake application from his helper locomotive, but this ended up disabling all of the dynamic brakes on the train, allowing the train to pick up speed. All written content, photos, and videos copyright American-Rails.com (unless otherwise noted). The four locomotives at the head end (SD45R #7549, SD45R #7551, SD40T-2 #8278, and SD45T-2 #9340) were destroyed as were all of the 69 hopper cars in the train. The AT&SF was eventually convinced and aided the California Southern Railroad in its endeavor to build north along the coast whereupon it would meet the Santa Fe pushing south towards San Bernardino. NTSB Chairman Jim Hall says the wreck is one of at least 10 during the last three years that could have been prevented if the trains had been equipped with working remote control devices. William Mills photo. Copyright 2007-2023 American-Rails.com. The flames were going up and up and up.. There apparently were no other crewmen on the train. The dead were identified as the engineer and a student engineer, although their names were not immediately disclosed. After another trip to Boston, Massachusetts, Kimball and the city of San Diego successfully persuaded the AT&SF which agreed to underwrite a railroad running via San Bernardino. That accident is a small part of the whole testimony, which can be found at . And trains that have moved past a green or yellow signal and then stopped will have to proceed as if the last signal was yellow, even if it was green when it was passed. The train catapulted from the 35mph curve next to Duffy Street, scattering locomotives and cars, as well as lading. In 1998 a gentleman by the name ofAndre Kristopans put together a web page highlighting virtually every unit out-shopped by General Motors' Electro-Motive Division. Return to LunarLight . The NTSB testified before a Senate Committee on a broad range of accidents, including the 1994 Cajon Pass incident. The disaster was featured in "Runaway Train", a Season 3 (2005) Crash Scene Investigation episode of the Canadian TV series Mayday. Their instructions were to first help a northbound train (timetable westward) up the hill to Oban, then bring MJLBP-11 back down Cajon Pass to West Colton. Cajon Pass gained national attention on the morning of May 12, 1989 when a westbound Southern Pacific freight, carrying 69 loads of trona (a raw mineral used to processsodium carbonate), lost control descending the grade, derailed, and smashed into a residential area of San Bernardino alongDuffy Street destroying seven houses. (318K QuickTime movie). Cajon Pass near the intersections of California Route 138 and Hence there was not enough dynamic braking force available to maintain control of train speed during the descent. The information includes original numbers, serials, and order numbers. Some 20 people have been sent to local hospitals for El Cajon Pass Train Wreck Of 1996 - YouTube The shipment would move by rail to the Port of Los Angeles, then by ship to Colombia, South America. The combination of weight miscalculation, poor communication and faulty brake equipment resulted in a total train weight that was too great to adequately control on the down grade. Foster, who was pulled from the wreckage of the crash by passersby and spent several weeks in a hospital before beginning his rehabilitation program, testified that he had never received any formal training in the use of the remote control device. Keep supporting great journalism by turning off your ad blocker. At this point, the railroad's future appeared uncertain; it ran out of money but still needed to reach the Santa Fe/A&P at Barstow. American-Rails.com collection. David Gunther, a safety official for the Burlington Northern-Santa Fe, said the train crew was fully qualified to make the run. off the track. This would be the second such shipment. Cajon Pass has had it's share of runaway trains and it's likely more will take place in the future. The Federal Railroad Administration said that it did not know the cause and that it had sent 10 inspectors to the scene, including specialists in signals, equipment and hazardous material. a game plan for handling the derailment, which sent 42 cars Interstate 15. He was 38. Williams, a brakeman on the train, died along with conductor Gilbert L. Ortiz, 25, of Fullerton. An out-of-control Santa Fe freight train slammed into the rear of a . [1] The location is just northeast of where the 210 Foothill Freeway crosses the Lytle Creek wash. The site of the derailment is about 20 miles By 1853 this system had completed 38 miles but then quickly ran out of money. April 24, 1996 12 AM PT TIMES STAFF WRITER SAN BERNARDINO Speaking from his wheelchair Tuesday in calm, measured tones, locomotive engineer Lester Foster described the Feb. 1 crash of a. Cajon Junction, California | 1996-Feb-03. By the time the fire was out, it had fatally burned two people, and destroyed eleven more houses and 21 cars. . The Federal Railroad Administrator told a House subcommittee today that a 48-car freight train that derailed in California on Feb. 1 had been checked by agency inspectors before it began its. Eleven people were killed in a collision between a commuter train and an Amtrak train in Silver Spring, Md., last Friday, and three were killed in the collision of two commuter trains in Jersey City on Feb. 6. The dynamic brakes of the fourth locomotive, SP 9340, operated sporadically and were of limited use. As a result of this and other runaway incidents involving locomotives with dynamic braking, the Federal Railroad Administration reversed its mandate that dynamic braking be disabled when train brakes are placed in emergency. The train was carrying 178,000 pounds butyl acrylate, 158,000 pounds trimethyl phosphite, 191,000 pounds methyl ethyl ketone, 193,000 pounds denatured alcohol, one train car of petroleum distillates, and one train car of glycol. A freight train carrying dangerous chemicals plunged from the rails on a steep downgrade in the Cajon Pass and exploded in flames before dawn Thursday, hurling a noxious cloud into the sky that forced the closure of a major transcontinental highway. The National Transportation Safety Board yesterday held both federal regulators and railroad management responsible for a runaway freight train in California's Cajon Pass in February that killed two crew members, caused millions of dollars in damages and shut down an interstate highway. The San Bernardino train disaster (sometimes known as the Duffy Street incident), was a combination of two separate but related incidents that occurred in San Bernardino, California, United States: a runaway train derailment on May 12, 1989; and the subsequent failure on May 25, 1989, of the Calnev Pipeline, a petroleum pipeline adjacent to the tracks which was damaged by earth-moving equipment during the crash cleanup. In addition, severe flooding through the Temecula Canyon (about halfway between San Diego and San Bernardino) during January and February of 1884 caused $319,879 in damages, money the CS did not have. All were later released, but a train crewman with a fractured collarbone was admitted. Hong, K. P. (May 15, 1991). Due to maintenance equipment being parked on the track at the south end of the Fleta siding, it was necessary for the train crew to pick up the cars from the north end, take them back to Mojave and run around them, before heading south to Palmdale, where it was originally intended to pick up an additional helper that would be placed on the rear of the train to aid in braking after cresting Cajon Pass. Ung said that the accident occurred just after 4 a.m. in the Cajon Pass near the intersections of California Route 138 and Interstate 15. After the 1994 runaway, the railroad had promised to use special radio-controlled devices attached to the end of the train that would allow the engineer to apply the brakes from that point. flammable and combustible liquids. Later, plumes of white and black smoke could Foster said that although he applied the air brakes as the heavily laden train began descending the steep, 24-mile grade, we started gaining a little speed. The idea of a railroad through this region, of course, was still decades away. Auburnrail is thinking of the Dec 14, 1994 wreck where an ATSF train hit a UP near Cajon station. would be used to determine if any other areas should be A $300-million (minimum) gondola to Dodger Stadium? On Feb. 1, a Burlington Northern Santa Fe freight train crashed in the Cajon Pass near San Bernardino, killing two crew members. Used by only the Erie and Virginian it proved unsuccesful. I remember when we first moved to Wrightwood in 1996, there was a train derailment near the 15 & 138. . The 5037 is 50-37=13; the 148 is 1+4+8=13; the 152 is 15-2=13; finally, the. Immediately after the rupture, the pipeline control operators detected a sudden change in pumping pressure (indicating possible rupture or severe leakage) in the area, but failed to take immediate action to stop the flow of product. Author's collection. Foster testified that although he knew the device was not working when he started down the grade, he decided to proceed anyway. Following a thorough investigation the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) discovered that one of the locomotive's on the head-end had inoperative dynamic brakes as did one of the rear helper units. The story behind "The Cross at the Loop" - TrainWeb.org Trimethyl phosphite is a catalyst used in manufacturing, and butyl acrylate is used in the manufacture of plastics. The train was traveling at a calculated speed of 110 miles per hour (180 km/h) when it entered a four-degree curve just north of the Highland Avenue overpass which had a maximum authorized speed of 40 miles per hour (64 km/h) and derailed, plowing into the houses on the outside of the curve. Cajon Crash from 1996 - Trainorders.com Discussion At one time the route contained two tunnels (roughly 500 feet in length), since "daylighted" (removed) as part of improvements undertaken over the years to reduce curves and grades. SAN BERNARDINO A freight train carrying dangerous chemicals plunged from the rails on a steep downgrade in the Cajon Pass and exploded in flames before dawn Thursday, hurling a noxious. Authorities said 30 to 36 of the cars pose a It is an excellent resource with thousands of historic maps on file throughout the country. The FT's could use their innovative dynamic brakes to greatly reduce brake-shoe wear; this, coupled with the diesels' greater fuel savings, reduced AT&SF's annual costs by millions. Consequently, at 1:30 AM on May 12, a crew consisting of Lawrence Hill, an engineer, and Robert Waterbury, a brakeman (acting in a position known as a "lookout") was brought on duty at West Colton and transported by company van to Dike (located at Devore), where they boarded a two-unit helper locomotive consisting of units SP #7443 (an EMD SD45R) and SP 8317 (another EMD SD40T-2 Tunnel Motor). The last I can recall, we were doing about 65 when we passed under Interstate 15.. highway link between Los Angeles and Las Vegas, Nevada. Witnesses offer conflicting accounts, Mars Voltas lead singer broke with Scientology and reunited with the band. Author's collection. have reported missing since the fiery crash occurred. In the wreck last February, a freight train descending the treacherous pass began to speed up, and the engineer was unable to slow or stop it. "It looks as if the train lost its brakes," said Bill Ung, a train shortly after the crash and transported to a hospital Although the cause of the crash has not been determined officially, Tuesdays testimony by Foster and other witnesses at a National Transportation Safety Board hearing supported increasing evidence that the accident occurred because the main brake air line was blocked--possibly when an air hose became pinched between two cars. Many were pulled up in the 1970's and 1980's although others were removed long before that. That changed with the Transcontinental Railroad's completion in 1869 between Sacramento and Omaha, Nebraska. The derailment brought the death toll from railroad accidents this month to 18. Wreck of the Q-BHLA 1-10 - TrainWeb.org It is here where the story of a rail route through Cajon Pass begins. "What we're looking at is this corporate culture situation where safety is not uppermost in everyone's mind," Lauby said. The derailment was the nation's fifth major railroad accident this month, and came as freight rail executives were traveling to Washington for a meeting on Thursday to discuss new safety initiatives. SP MJLBP1-11 was carrying trona that had been mined and loaded onto the freight cars for shipment to a buyer. Mr. Williams, a brakeman on the train, was killed, along with the conductor Gilbert L. Ortiz, 25, of The train derailed on a sharp curve just after passing under Interstate 15 in a desert area north of San Bernardino, and five tank cars containing hazardous materials became engulfed in a roaring fire that sent fumes throughout the area. BEFORE that incident, on December 14, 1994, a BNSF predecessor (Santa Fe) train ran away and rear ended a standing UP near Cajon. A bad place to be in a train wreck. The hoppers were removed first, a process which took two days. ), Lakers vs. Warriors: What scouts expect in playoff series, The Great Big Highly Specific Guide to Disneyland, Decades of failures leave L.A. County facing up to $3 billion in sex abuse claims, LAPD investigating stabbing near Los Angeles High School, Bass budget proposal for Animal Services is far less than what department requested. Anyone can read what you share. Two bodies found near the Burlington Northern-Santa Fe tracks were believed those of two brakemen who apparently leaped from the 49-car train as it hurtled down the canyon. Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times. Investigators say that with part of the air brake system out of commission, Fosters train was doomed to crash on the long, twisting downgrade. Both helper units derailed, but were still operable. He said that the freight train originated in Barstow, The driver of the truck is killed by the collision, and fifty-four passengers are injured in the ensuing derailment. Theyre dropping their wings and theyre flying, quipped one truck dispatcher. The one house on that side of the street that was spared damage during the derailment was destroyed in the pipeline rupture. This is a list of rail accidents from 1990 to 1999. Thirteen days after the train wreck on May 25, 1989, at 8:05a.m., shortly after eyewitnesses heard a train pass through the derailment site, the pipeline burst at a point on the curve where the derailment happened, showering the neighborhood with gasoline, which ignited into a large fire that burned for close to seven hours and emitted a plume of flames three hundred feet into the air. A railroad spokesman, Assistant Vice President Nicholas C. Marsh, said the Burlington Northern-Santa Fe disagrees with many of the board's conclusions but wants to read the final report before offering detailed comment. employees, a sheriff's department employee and California Even American Locomotive's beautiful PA model would occasionally make an appearance. Several diesel fuel tanks were exploding in the locomotive behind him., When you see someone in that position, only one thing crosses your mind, Davis son-in-law, Rick Eastman, recalled later. said it probably would not reopen until Friday afternoon. Pipeline officials remained on site as safety observers during the cleanup of the rail cars, but not during the cleanup of the trona material. On February 20, 1854 they arrived at "The Needles," so-named for a three-pronged rock formation on the California side of the Colorado River. At their session in Washington on Thursday, executives of freight railroads will meet with officials at the Federal Railroad Administration to discuss safety problems. For nearly 80 years, the Santa Fe maintained a monopoly over Cajon until Southern Pacific inaugurated its 78-mile, $22 million Palmdale Cutoff in 1967, operating the first train on July 11th that year when SD40 #8478 broke through a "Short Cut For Shippers" banner. One strategy being discussed, said Frias, was allowing the
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