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"
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!!!
@@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.
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
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 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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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
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....
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
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 !
No, not really all that will happen when the cars separate is the air pressure in the brake lines will drop to zero, and throw the train into an emergency braking application. The lead locomotive will get an immediate indication in the cab (most likely a red warning light on a computer monitor), but they will already know that -- even without the light as they will be thrown forward in their seat with such a severe brake application, as the momentum of the railcars keeps pushing them along till they finally stop.
@@mikemallano2484 thank you so much for the reply. I’ve gone down several deep rabbit holes since then and feel like I’m a pro now. When/if I ever hear it I’ll know! 😅
You can feel that “puff” at 0:05 Likely is the broken brake line that depressurizes the circuit and brakes the two parts of the convoy. Driver obviously feels the sudden braking and observes abnormal and sudden drop of the brake main pressure gauge
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...
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!!!
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.
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
2 hours or so. depends on the situation, the conductor will have to replace the knuckle - the engineer back to the train to re-join and recharge the air system
Absolutely, the crew will know once it separates in two.. both sections go into emergency, on the engines the pcs switch will flip killing the throttle.nThen the engineer will try to put as much space as possible between the sections to avoid a rear end collisions..
Both sections of the trains emergency brakes rapidly apply, engines throttle shuts off + you lose comes with the EOT. once stopped recover the air, if to no avail #1 it's separated. #2. derailed. #3 it's separated and derailed. #4 you got a car with bad control valves. either way the conductor walks the train. we always have eyes or awareness of what's going on at the rear.
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.
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.
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.
and as a conductor you should know that it wasn't the engine going into emergency but the loss of air from the cars coming apart. At that point, it didn't matter if the engine had handle in emergency or tried to keep hauling, same result.
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. :-(
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.
Wow, never would guessed anything like this happened on the Toledo Subdivision if it weren't for the description. Crazy! I'm by it a lot, never seen anything like that.
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
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 !
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.
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.
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.😊😊😊
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?
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 🐱👍🏿
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.
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
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 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
Nicely done. I appreciate your patience and capturing the whole event. God bless you
Came in a bit fast during decoupling there.
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!
Cool video, shows how good the emergancy brakes are on those… that’s a lot of weight to bring to a halt
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.
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.
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.
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.
ua-cam.com/video/ZfngebmL4mE/v-deo.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.
Now there is something you don't see everyday! Nice catch! I'm glad everything was ok.
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 !
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.
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.
Great catch! Anyone notice the reporting marks on those coil cars? NYC with the Conrail logo. Awesome!
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
Strangest call to the number on the crossing gate I bet. “Your train left half of its cars behind”.
but which half?
Thanks Mr Westinghouse!
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.
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
Great Catch!!! Thanks for posting!!!
Wow you were definitely in the right place at the right time for this video.
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
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....
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
Lmao the second half slowly rolling into the cameras view XD
What a catch! And such a polite train to stop just short of the crossing... Good thing it stayed on the rails.
Great catch that train did exactly what it was designed to do that is a HEAVY TRAIN
Hats off to George Westinghouse!
How do you know where to film when these mishaps happen?! AMAZING 👏 🙀
"We lost something."
"Not to worry, we are still driving half a train."
SO BEAUTIFUL TO SEE THOSE LETTERS "NYC" AND THE CONRAIL LOGO ON THOSE CARS! 🟦⬜
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.
I love hearing that sound when rail cars couple togetha.. Metal on metal
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!🐱👍🏿
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.
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.
Wow. I see many coils come through in the bluegrass state.
What an incredible piece of luck to have it break right where it did like that!
I follow a similar routine when leaving the house in the morning.
Very neatly stopped each side of that level crossing!
Wow what a catch mate one in a Million Cheers 👍👍👍👍🇦🇺🇦🇺
Incredible shot!
Holy CRAP... with all that steel onboard that is one HEAVY train, wow.
Amateur question here: does the guys up front get a warning when the cars split? Sorry I’m just learning the terminology.
No, not really all that will happen when the cars separate is the air pressure in the brake lines will drop to zero, and throw the train into an emergency braking application. The lead locomotive will get an immediate indication in the cab (most likely a red warning light on a computer monitor), but they will already know that -- even without the light as they will be thrown forward in their seat with such a severe brake application, as the momentum of the railcars keeps pushing them along till they finally stop.
@@mikemallano2484 thank you so much for the reply. I’ve gone down several deep rabbit holes since then and feel like I’m a pro now. When/if I ever hear it I’ll know! 😅
Yes,alarms go off and the train automatically comes to a stop 🛑
I too was wondering this so good job you asked actually 🙂
You can feel that “puff” at 0:05 Likely is the broken brake line that depressurizes the circuit and brakes the two parts of the convoy. Driver obviously feels the sudden braking and observes abnormal and sudden drop of the brake main pressure gauge
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.
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.
What broke? what did they fix? Did not show anything
Still get a far away look in my eye, when I hear an old train in the night!
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!!!
New York Central coil cars! Awesome catch!
Unofficially the longest train 🚂
Wow! talk about being at the right place at the right time!
best shot in the world and you got it on video, great 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.
Awesome video but you need to stay off of the tracks as a fellow foamer and Hallcon driver we need to be safe.
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
How long before the locos and the front half of the train cam back?
Do the drivers know straight away if thye have lost cars?
2 hours or so. depends on the situation, the conductor will have to replace the knuckle - the engineer back to the train to re-join and recharge the air system
Absolutely, the crew will know once it separates in two.. both sections go into emergency, on the engines the pcs switch will flip killing the throttle.nThen the engineer will try to put as much space as possible between the sections to avoid a rear end collisions..
As a railfan what do you do in the situation. Dose it alert the conductor and engineer that half there cargo is missing?
Both sections of the trains emergency brakes rapidly apply, engines throttle shuts off + you lose comes with the EOT. once stopped recover the air, if to no avail #1 it's separated. #2. derailed. #3 it's separated and derailed. #4 you got a car with bad control valves. either way the conductor walks the train. we always have eyes or awareness of what's going on at the rear.
amazing they could recouple , usually breaks knuckle or drawbar, coils are 50,000 - 60,000
Ok that's kinda comical how the detached car just creeped into the frame and stopped
Photobombed 😂
Love the NYC reporting mark!
Amazing footage! Thank Goodness it stopped where it did!
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.
The right place at the right time.
All those heavy steel coils make for a lot of inertia. There were some hot brake shoes!
How long is the f Train?.... Greetings von Germany Cologne ein Fan aus Krefeld ❤
Haha. You waiteted there looking at the workers like "I want the rest of my train 😤"
What timing. Aweso.e place to be standing!!❤
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.
How to be in the right place at the right time!!
How many tons in that train? 😳
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.
At 00:06 in the video you can hear the engine go into emergency.
I'm currently a conductor for CSX.
Those damn jaw heads are our worst nightmares.
Yep. And they tend to sense weather to know when to become that nightmare
and as a conductor you should know that it wasn't the engine going into emergency but the loss of air from the cars coming apart. At that point, it didn't matter if the engine had handle in emergency or tried to keep hauling, same result.
Nice catch. Greetings from Berlin/ Germany. Sven
Blimey! How much weight was on that knuckle….. that is one long coil train…. 🥺
Is that a common situation with the coupling coming unfastened like that?
Well, I don't know I would say "common" but it does happen from time to time.
Why didn't they continue in the original direction after rehooking?
that was a great video. thanks
Interesting! To happen right in front of you?! ... So what kind of coils... guitar string wire??
Long long train
Funny steel
Where we live, there are no trains. That's a really long one. Thanks for sharing!!!🙋♂️💯👍
how long is this train ...????
wow the odds of capturing that on camera are very low! That is amazing
Trackside, keep waving to them great engineers CHRIS
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. :-(
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.
Yikes! Getting that close and keeping your back to rest of train? Completely missed the separation
So it came undone for some reason and they just reattach and continue on? Doesn’t seem like that’s proper protocol but I have no idea.
"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"
Wow, never would guessed anything like this happened on the Toledo Subdivision if it weren't for the description. Crazy! I'm by it a lot, never seen anything like that.
The coupler unlocking? or the separated train?
@@MrNorth69 both
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.
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 !
I believe that’s in Cairo Ohio I ran on that line with the I&O when I worked there
Yes