03-25-2010, 11:44 AM
Last update on this thread for a while - I won't keep bombarding you with these posts.
Today the media reports quotes the same transport safety board official as yesterday, now speculating that the retarders on the hump yard may have failed, giving a car too much speed and sending other cars flying down the bowl track towards the yard throat at the south end of the yard.
It also is reported that cars should not have been able to roll out of the yard unless someone deliberately sets the path at the south end of the yard from the default path (which leads into a single ended track than ends in a big gravel pile) to one of the two paths out of the south end of the freight yard - the harbor track to the right in the picture below or the freight bypass around the north east side of town to the left in the picture below.
![[Image: yard_throat.jpg]](http://i404.photobucket.com/albums/pp124/steinjr_1965/forum3/yard_throat.jpg)
A test of the remote controlled turnouts from the control tower shows that all turnouts in the path the cars took seems to be working correctly and signal indications seems to be correct, plus that the retarders at the hump in the middle of the yard (about 700 yards north of the area shown in the picture above) seems to work as designed.
Looks like the cause of the accident might be a combination of factors. At the moment, it is not looking very good for the poor guy who was at the control panel in the tower - the exit switches should not have been lined for the harbor track.
But I guess it is time to stop speculating and wait for the official report. And hope that it was some kind of bizarre technical malfunction, rather than what it is starting to look like now - human error.
Stein
Today the media reports quotes the same transport safety board official as yesterday, now speculating that the retarders on the hump yard may have failed, giving a car too much speed and sending other cars flying down the bowl track towards the yard throat at the south end of the yard.
It also is reported that cars should not have been able to roll out of the yard unless someone deliberately sets the path at the south end of the yard from the default path (which leads into a single ended track than ends in a big gravel pile) to one of the two paths out of the south end of the freight yard - the harbor track to the right in the picture below or the freight bypass around the north east side of town to the left in the picture below.
A test of the remote controlled turnouts from the control tower shows that all turnouts in the path the cars took seems to be working correctly and signal indications seems to be correct, plus that the retarders at the hump in the middle of the yard (about 700 yards north of the area shown in the picture above) seems to work as designed.
Looks like the cause of the accident might be a combination of factors. At the moment, it is not looking very good for the poor guy who was at the control panel in the tower - the exit switches should not have been lined for the harbor track.
But I guess it is time to stop speculating and wait for the official report. And hope that it was some kind of bizarre technical malfunction, rather than what it is starting to look like now - human error.
Stein