It's extremely easy to see how this happens in trucks driven by all sorts of people on roads they don't know but it's a lot harder to understand how this happens with a train that knew exactly where it was going to go and should have had every bit of information available beforehand
Trains are operated by conductors who get a list of hundreds of cars. They have a good knowledge of the territory and where trouble spots like this would be. The trouble is they don't lay eyes on all those cars normally. Trains are mostly inspected by Carmen, who aren't responsible for knowing the territory, just what's considered an acceptable car and what isn't. They're also inspected at ground level. So they more than likely couldn't see this issue.
This is a dispatch problem. As a conductor, the train is a kingdom and I it's king, but all I can do navigationwise is go where I get lined up to. Someone didn't pay attention when planning the route that this line couldn't support overheight cars, and that happened before the conductor even got called for duty.
Apparently there isn’t a minimum height for any and all bridges over train tracks as I thought there would be. I thought all train cars short of special carrier for over sized loads would be the same. To me trains and rails and associated parts would be one of the most standardized transports. Guess I was living under an illusion.
Auto racks like the ones in the video are designated as oversized (DX) cars in your train journal (manifest). If the journal is correct someone is getting a pp slap for this.
My grandad was a conductor on Wabash from the 20s to the 60s. He told me some very graphic stories so that I didn't mess around with trains. Pretty heavy shit for a 7 year old, though. That's when I learned the word "decapitation".
You have a timetable and a sgo that highlights where low clearances like this would be. The company is gonna try to argue your fault. The union will of course counter with either my argument or yours, but I would say you do have a responsibility of knowing your territory.
Our conductors receive a list of every car and have to "walk" the train and check every car (usually a yard van will drive the conductor alongside the train for this check). Making sure there isn't hazmat in an incorrect spot, unaccounted for cars in their train, bad air hoses, or any issues otherwise. That being said, this is a Yard Master or Train Master issue who put together the car list for the guys in the yard to build the train. Typically between knowledge of the routes and the system with knowledge of the routes and built in protocol, they should have known there was a low bridge and high cars cannot ride this route. Experienced conductors on this route would definitely know this, but newer conductors may not and rely on the Yard/Train Masters to build the train accordingly. I bet this engineer and conductor both are very aware of this now and will for the rest of their career.
Bx130 is on every manifest. This was poor dispatching as well as someone not familiar with autoracks. Was there no high and wide detectors on this branch at all?
My guess is they hit, but were coming to a stop for a signal, the train slacked out, so that is your reason for it going back a few feet. Then is started forward again, tearing open more cars when it got a green signal.
Yes and no. Railroad cars have Plate gauges that tell you generally how tall they are and where they can go. Theres B (shortest), C, E, F, H, J, and K (tallest). Not every rail line can be made able to fit the tallest cars, so some do have limitations on where they can go.
General boxcars, tankers, covered hoppers, flatcars are usually plate C, which allows them to go pretty much anywhere.
Hi-Cube boxcars, some refrigerated boxcars, centerbeams, and I think some locomotives are plate F, which require more height, but still has a wide range of travel. These cars are taller so they can carry more goods without making the car longer.
Then the big boys. Double stack intermodal wellcars and autoracks like these are plate J and/or K. Very tall cars that require a large hight clearance. Generally kept to specific lines that accommodate them. They have to be tall to be able to carry their cargos more efficiently.
Correct. However, H is actually the same height as K, the only difference is that H is narrower at the top where containers pass through while K is the full car width all the way up.
These are automobile transport cars. Is it possible that they’re riding high because they’re unladen? I have no idea how much - if at all - rail car ride heights vary with load.
These are US Automobile carriers (autoracks) yes, they have two, sometimes three, layers to carry more cars per car, which is why they are so tall. Nothing is wrong with the railcars themselves here. I imagine this is a case of a dispatcher not paying enough attention, or a miscommunication from the train crew on what they were carrying.
This video has circulated around for a long time, so I'm sure there's information on the incident, but personally I'm not invested enough to find it.
If they were the height of a regular rail car they wouldn’t have two levels to them and would transport half of the automobiles in them.
Idk the money and numbers or things but you are responsible for knowing the height clearances of railcars in your train and where they can go. It doesn’t happen often but mistakes when it comes to this do happen.
But thankfully people I’ve worked with are good at keeping each other from fucking up. Some close calls but haven’t hit a bridge or anything else I don’t want to lol
Holy shit I did not expect that level of damage, from the very first part it looked like it was peeling back the top but there was clearance so I thought whatever was underneath may have been kind of OK. Nooooooope.
We had a train with overheight cars take out a rural overpass here....its an unlit country road....dont ask me why its an overpass and not just a normal crossing...but someone realized too late it was gone...and just floored it...he literally jumped it...destroyed his car but he was unhurt.
If I remember correctly, this was a switching move out of Cumberland, MD. They used strange headroom and weren't told that they had overheight equipment. They just had a switch list.
I mean.. It could have been worse, at least now the cars got sun roofs! Was also rather satisfying to watch it slowly just peel away as it crumpled up.
I just love that the first carriage was pre-peeled.
Was there a short bridge previous to this one that magically only peeled that carriage?
Had the driver already hit this bridge, backed up, and either a) been told by the higher powers to send it, or b) had had enough of this bullshit, let rip on the run-up
Something happened before the video started, not at this bridge. The moment the video starts, the car shown has already had its roof shaved off and crinkled at one end. It is then that already damaged crinkled up roof that hits the bridge in this video and causes the next cars to similarly act like a can opener.
And I’m telling you, man, that bridge had completely snuck up on me! I swear that bridge was not there just yesterday, and even if it was we both know that trains follow completely unpredictable paths because nothing is ever on rails. Hell, we don’t even know how high our cars are, manifests are only used on personal autos and airliners so like we had no way of knowing that our train would be too tall for the bridge. Damn shame…
It's extremely easy to see how this happens in trucks driven by all sorts of people on roads they don't know but it's a lot harder to understand how this happens with a train that knew exactly where it was going to go and should have had every bit of information available beforehand
Trains are operated by conductors who get a list of hundreds of cars. They have a good knowledge of the territory and where trouble spots like this would be. The trouble is they don't lay eyes on all those cars normally. Trains are mostly inspected by Carmen, who aren't responsible for knowing the territory, just what's considered an acceptable car and what isn't. They're also inspected at ground level. So they more than likely couldn't see this issue.
This is a dispatch problem. As a conductor, the train is a kingdom and I it's king, but all I can do navigationwise is go where I get lined up to. Someone didn't pay attention when planning the route that this line couldn't support overheight cars, and that happened before the conductor even got called for duty.
This information is sort of fascinating to me for some reason. Thanks for sharing.
Okay, King too much steam: why didn’t you just let the air out of the rail wheels? /s
Apparently there isn’t a minimum height for any and all bridges over train tracks as I thought there would be. I thought all train cars short of special carrier for over sized loads would be the same. To me trains and rails and associated parts would be one of the most standardized transports. Guess I was living under an illusion.
Auto racks like the ones in the video are designated as oversized (DX) cars in your train journal (manifest). If the journal is correct someone is getting a pp slap for this.
If the journal is incorrect, somebody will also be getting a pp slap, but it’ll be somebody else.
What is a pp slap? Like actually slapping the pp or is it a disciplinary term?
Yup
My grandad was a conductor on Wabash from the 20s to the 60s. He told me some very graphic stories so that I didn't mess around with trains. Pretty heavy shit for a 7 year old, though. That's when I learned the word "decapitation".
I’d be amused to hear you explain it that way in your investigation.
You have a timetable and a sgo that highlights where low clearances like this would be. The company is gonna try to argue your fault. The union will of course counter with either my argument or yours, but I would say you do have a responsibility of knowing your territory.
Carmen inspect for mechanical issues, not random clearance issues that might happen along thousands of miles of track that a train might travel.
Also, whatever system the railroad uses should know if there are any issues along the way, such as low clearance tunnels or bridges.
Our conductors receive a list of every car and have to "walk" the train and check every car (usually a yard van will drive the conductor alongside the train for this check). Making sure there isn't hazmat in an incorrect spot, unaccounted for cars in their train, bad air hoses, or any issues otherwise. That being said, this is a Yard Master or Train Master issue who put together the car list for the guys in the yard to build the train. Typically between knowledge of the routes and the system with knowledge of the routes and built in protocol, they should have known there was a low bridge and high cars cannot ride this route. Experienced conductors on this route would definitely know this, but newer conductors may not and rely on the Yard/Train Masters to build the train accordingly. I bet this engineer and conductor both are very aware of this now and will for the rest of their career.
Bx130 is on every manifest. This was poor dispatching as well as someone not familiar with autoracks. Was there no high and wide detectors on this branch at all?
That is the problem right there. They should use trainmen.
I think it did, and there was enough room. It was the thing that was too tall and got stuck that tore everything else off.
That was the roof from one of the other train cars. It looks like he was already slowing down because it was hitting the train.
On rewatching, they had clearly already lost at least one other cart roof and somehow are back for round two.
And round three, four, and five 😂
I didn't hear no bell!
My guess is they hit, but were coming to a stop for a signal, the train slacked out, so that is your reason for it going back a few feet. Then is started forward again, tearing open more cars when it got a green signal.
Maybe something got stuck on the roof, wedged in then just kept peeling. I think the train is designed to fit, but something has gone wrong.
That's what it looks like to me too. Once it built up in front, it just wiped out all the others
Side note.. that is one solid overpass / bridge.
I always wounder how those blinds opened up.
Makes a huge difference when you let in the sun...
Wait are the car heights not standardized?
Yes and no. Railroad cars have Plate gauges that tell you generally how tall they are and where they can go. Theres B (shortest), C, E, F, H, J, and K (tallest). Not every rail line can be made able to fit the tallest cars, so some do have limitations on where they can go.
General boxcars, tankers, covered hoppers, flatcars are usually plate C, which allows them to go pretty much anywhere.
Hi-Cube boxcars, some refrigerated boxcars, centerbeams, and I think some locomotives are plate F, which require more height, but still has a wide range of travel. These cars are taller so they can carry more goods without making the car longer.
Then the big boys. Double stack intermodal wellcars and autoracks like these are plate J and/or K. Very tall cars that require a large hight clearance. Generally kept to specific lines that accommodate them. They have to be tall to be able to carry their cargos more efficiently.
There’s four different cup sizes. You got your A, your B, your C and your D. That’s the biggest one.
You forgot E, F and G
I've based my whole life on knowing that D is the biggest!
D isn’t the biggest. Hell, it is pretty much the standard.
It's ok. He just hasn't been around the ballast bunnies in my area.
I have no problem with a D.
In fact, I appreciate all sizes.
Nearly every double stack well car I loaded for the last three decades has been an H.
Correct. However, H is actually the same height as K, the only difference is that H is narrower at the top where containers pass through while K is the full car width all the way up.
Thank you.
These are automobile transport cars. Is it possible that they’re riding high because they’re unladen? I have no idea how much - if at all - rail car ride heights vary with load.
These are US Automobile carriers (autoracks) yes, they have two, sometimes three, layers to carry more cars per car, which is why they are so tall. Nothing is wrong with the railcars themselves here. I imagine this is a case of a dispatcher not paying enough attention, or a miscommunication from the train crew on what they were carrying.
This video has circulated around for a long time, so I'm sure there's information on the incident, but personally I'm not invested enough to find it.
There are cars in them.
Why are there no D or G options?
Yes.
This is an old video.
The bridge is supported by in I-beam. The bottom flange got bent and is now acting as a can opener.
I remember when we used to have to peal our own trains…
This feels like something that should alr have been figured out
If they were the height of a regular rail car they wouldn’t have two levels to them and would transport half of the automobiles in them.
Idk the money and numbers or things but you are responsible for knowing the height clearances of railcars in your train and where they can go. It doesn’t happen often but mistakes when it comes to this do happen.
But thankfully people I’ve worked with are good at keeping each other from fucking up. Some close calls but haven’t hit a bridge or anything else I don’t want to lol
maybe it was a air canada 143 type mishap ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Someone is super fired
Starting with the cameraman! Why didn’t they pan to the other side?!
r/killthecameraman
Somehow i remember that it did. I think this is a cut version.
And yup, it is. Heres the full version
https://youtu.be/pcqfa_uj2hA
You're a hero.
Those cars are completely fucked
Holy shit I did not expect that level of damage, from the very first part it looked like it was peeling back the top but there was clearance so I thought whatever was underneath may have been kind of OK. Nooooooope.
So it's a /r/killop situation, then.
[deleted]
Those are auto racks?
My thought exactly! Also happy cake 🍰 day!
Bitch I’m gettin a haircut!
Just a little off the top…
We had a train with overheight cars take out a rural overpass here....its an unlit country road....dont ask me why its an overpass and not just a normal crossing...but someone realized too late it was gone...and just floored it...he literally jumped it...destroyed his car but he was unhurt.
Dukes of Hazard style!!
Like a can opener
Kids are so soft these days, we used to have to do this manually.
Bitchimabridge
More like r/11foot8
If I remember correctly, this was a switching move out of Cumberland, MD. They used strange headroom and weren't told that they had overheight equipment. They just had a switch list.
I mean.. It could have been worse, at least now the cars got sun roofs! Was also rather satisfying to watch it slowly just peel away as it crumpled up.
r/TrainImaBridge ?
I just love that the first carriage was pre-peeled.
Was there a short bridge previous to this one that magically only peeled that carriage?
Had the driver already hit this bridge, backed up, and either a) been told by the higher powers to send it, or b) had had enough of this bullshit, let rip on the run-up
It's good for a chuckle either way!
No context, but there's clearly a reason why someone was here recording.
Probably a neighbor that heard an ungodly racket again
Needs lube.
It's important to peel your train before it arrives at its destination.
r/11foot8
But... this is the best way to unwrap the nougat and chocolatey goodness inside!
Shaved train
Something happened before the video started, not at this bridge. The moment the video starts, the car shown has already had its roof shaved off and crinkled at one end. It is then that already damaged crinkled up roof that hits the bridge in this video and causes the next cars to similarly act like a can opener.
I would not be standing on that bridge.
r/oddlysatisfying
Is there a r/ bitchimabridge?
r/11foot8
And I’m telling you, man, that bridge had completely snuck up on me! I swear that bridge was not there just yesterday, and even if it was we both know that trains follow completely unpredictable paths because nothing is ever on rails. Hell, we don’t even know how high our cars are, manifests are only used on personal autos and airliners so like we had no way of knowing that our train would be too tall for the bridge. Damn shame…
You can just let air out of the tires.
This is what high and wide detectors are for lol
YOU HAVE A DEFECT!
That's gonna be expensive
Yikes, that one destroyed is an auto rack too. Hopefully it was empty, otherwise a costly mistake just became even more financially disastrous.
One of the other comments has a full video. There's several destroyed cars in images at the end of the vid
Check the last still of the video. Definitely a car inside.
That looks expensive
Like a deglove
Sighting of a rare sardine car.
Bitch, I’m a Bridge!
Should add this to all those 11' 8" videos.
What kills me is at the start you can see it already scrunched up... This tells me they just said fuck it and went for round 2.
Also pan to the other side. :(
r/oddlysatisfying
I'm hungry for raclette now
Thats a Can Opener if ive ever seen one
The ol’ can opener bridge situation. Always a good watch
Bite the pillow, Im going in dry!!
Oh my!
Permanent sunroof. So, there that….
That train is hauling vehicles 🚗 🚙🚗🚙
Now it’s hauling scrap metal!
bitch, ain't ya glad my roof is prefolded?
Probably a ft vs. meters miscalculation.
The music makes it so much funnier to me 😂
"just a little off the top, thanks"
This looks like it will buff out.
Super old video.
Great, now I want some Viennetta!
Pan left, for the love of PETE, pan left!!!
My intrusive thought: I would like to see the other side of it where there is no roof anymore 😅
Surprises me how easily these tops are peeling off, that steel seems pretty thin - or maybe I've misunderstood how strong these carriages need to be.
The roof is just a weather shield so no need for it to be strong
Thank you, they say every day is a school day
How fired can a person get?
I should call her…
Ouch, bitch!
Ok, what’s the usual recourse when something like this happens? Do they reverse all the way back? Lift the bridge and reinstall?
The humble soup can:
Notch er up Jerry, we're slowing down
Those train cars were just itchy. Like a cow that finds a low tree branch.
Job security.
Oh so that's good convertible trains are made
Is this a metaphor for society?
...and people wonder why one day train trestles and overpasses just fall down...
Aw,man!! I reeeeeally wanted to see the entire unraveling... lol!!
Yes and I wanted to see it on the other side too!
"Bridge, ready or not here I come"
Bitch, I’m a can opener.
Houston, we have a problem.
Just wanted to put the top down.
I love how the tops are corrugated so they peel off easy 🤦🏼♂️
r/oddlysatisfying
Peeled right off
Highly effective train peeler.
I wish they had the video of the entire train running under that bridge. I could watch that on a loop all day long. I love the relentlessness of it.
The question is how many train cars get eaten and how many times does the bridge undergo structural tests before they raise the bridge height?
Oddly satisfying
Yikes, that looks expensive.
Someone something family guy train mountain meme
Reverse 11ft 8in bridge situation.
This already looked messed up from a previous bridge.
This was painful to watch
Didn’t need it anyway
"You're good, you're good, you're good"
Just keep going and rip the whole lid off
Was that train passing under a bridge? Would have loved the camera to have panned left so you could see the end result.
Man that peels back so nicely.
Good job.
It’s really her first time huh.