Amtrak Crescent Derailed

[ALC Rail Writer]

Or more accurately make contact with Terra-firma in an unplanned and uncontrolled way. It will still maintain some contact with air throughout the process. Just like notwithstanding Amtrak's idiotic statement, the train continues to keep in contact with the track preventing other trains from using same.

Ok, so the memo must have said "derailment" is out, "lost contact with the tracks" is now to be used.

Lost contact with rail might be more accurate. They'd have to take a mighty leap to lose contact with track, and it would be way uglier than this one is.

Yeah I hate PR speak as much as the next one, to be fair to PR people the media tends to make things nuts. If they had said "derailment" then I have no doubt some major news network (cough, CNN, cough) would be expecting a horrible disaster with fires and twisted metal.

 

[Ryan]

All of the wheels on the cars that derailed will have to be changed out before the cars go back into service.

I am curious, how big are the wheel assemblies? I have been all over the internet, and seen the Amtrak photos, of "wheels with the flat spots repaired" But there is no person in the photo to give perspective. They look pretty massive from what I can see, I would guess about 2.5-3 feet from rail to waist.

Plenty more in the set that you'll probably find interesting...



Philly_Train_Trip_13 by Ryan Stavely, on Flickr

That reminds me I haven't processed the pictures from this years Gathering.

 

[jis]

If they had said "derailment" then I have no doubt some major news network (cough, CNN, cough) would be expecting a horrible disaster with fires and twisted metal.

Yup, I can see visions of Anderson putting on his hoody and start busily blabbing about something incomprehensible.

 

[cassie225]

I am going to be on the Crescent in late January going from NOL to Newark-how long does it take to fix this problem?

 

[buddy559]

All of the wheels on the cars that derailed will have to be changed out before the cars go back into service.

I am curious, how big are the wheel assemblies? I have been all over the internet, and seen the Amtrak photos, of "wheels with the flat spots repaired" But there is no person in the photo to give perspective. They look pretty massive from what I can see, I would guess about 2.5-3 feet from rail to waist.

Plenty more in the set that you'll probably find interesting...



Philly_Train_Trip_13 by Ryan Stavely, on Flickr

That reminds me I haven't processed the pictures from this years Gathering.

Thank you much Ryan! They look so tiny on line, but to see them like that, really gives perspective. I was raised that the limited time we would be around tracks, they were considered electrified, and not to be touched or crossed. I grew up in a town with inactive rails, and I still remember watching a few horror movies in the classroom to drive the point home. Such a shame that the power and energy a train has is not respected as it need to be.

 

[buddy559]

I am going to be on the Crescent in late January going from NOL to Newark-how long does it take to fix this problem?

Something like this I assume will be fixed in the day. They will be there untill it is done, and todays crescent probably wont even be affected.

 

[ALC Rail Writer]

If they had said "derailment" then I have no doubt some major news network (cough, CNN, cough) would be expecting a horrible disaster with fires and twisted metal.

Yup, I can see visions of Anderson putting on his hoody and start busily blabbing about something incomprehensible.

"We're standing here amidst a see of chaos, as you can see here an Amtrak train with over 200 people on board has derailed overnight, causing confusion and lots of unhappy travelers. Emergency response is on the scene, join me tonight on AC360."

That's pretty much what he would have said.

 

[ALC Rail Writer]

So an airplane will no longer "crash", but rather it will "lose contact with the air"?

And ships will "engage in negative buoyancy" no doubt.

Planes will make "unscheduled landings".

 

[Bob Dylan]

And Vehicles and Trains that Leave the Roadway and Tracks will be "Re-Routed!"

 

[SarahZ]

It reminds me of the scene in Running Scared, where Billy Crystal and Gregory Hines are talking about a jumper. They use phrases like "concrete poisoning" and "deceleration trauma". ^_^

For the railfans, that movie has a great sequence in which they are pursuing a criminal and end up driving on the L tracks.

 

[jis]

Planes will make "unscheduled landings".

There is standard terminology for it already. It is either "controlled" or "uncontrolled" (depending on the circumstances) "flight into terrain"

 

[Ryan]

If they had said "derailment" then I have no doubt some major news network (cough, CNN, cough) would be expecting a horrible disaster with fires and twisted metal.

Yup, I can see visions of Anderson putting on his hoody and start busily blabbing about something incomprehensible.

"We're standing here amidst a see of chaos, as you can see here an Amtrak train with over 200 people on board has derailed overnight, causing confusion and lots of unhappy travelers. Emergency response is on the scene, join me tonight on AC360."

That's pretty much what he would have said.

I thought that you guys were talking about Anderson the moderator, not Anderson Cooper up until this post.

I was really confused.

 

[VentureForth]

Indeed. An uncontrolled flight into terrain is basically when a pilot loses control of the airplane and for whatever reason crashes into the ground. An example of controlled flight into terrain is when a pilot THINKS he's in the air and winds up in the ground - most likely when a plane hits the side of a mountain in the fog.

 

[SarahZ]

I thought that you guys were talking about Anderson the moderator, not Anderson Cooper up until this post.

I was really confused.

Ditto. ^_^

 

[fredevad]

It reminds me of the scene in Running Scared, where Billy Crystal and Gregory Hines are talking about a jumper. They use phrases like "concrete poisoning" and "deceleration trauma". ^_^

I remember that scene - I lived 2 blocks from there when it was shot, near the Argyle stop on the CTA red line. I remember walking to the train and seeing the "snow" where they foamed the street.

 

[George Harris]

And people no longer die, they have terminal episode, fatal episode, fatal event, or some such.

 

[ALC Rail Writer]

Planes will make "unscheduled landings".

There is standard terminology for it already. It is either "controlled" or "uncontrolled" (depending on the circumstances) "flight into terrain"

*headdesk*

And I suppose the Challenger suffered a "loss of altitude".

 

[SubwayNut]

If I were on that train I would hope that those going to New York and up the corridor were simply bussed to Charlotte and sent on the Carolinian or at least given that slower option compared to a bus ride all the way up to Washington.

 

[Grandpa D]

An example of controlled flight into terrain is when a pilot THINKS he's in the air and winds up in the ground - most likely when a plane hits the side of a mountain in the fog.

A recent example would be the JAL flight that hit the embankment while landing at San Francisco. He didn't realize until too late that he was to low.

 

[Ryan]

I think you mean Asiana.

 

[buddy559]

An example of controlled flight into terrain is when a pilot THINKS he's in the air and winds up in the ground - most likely when a plane hits the side of a mountain in the fog.

A recent example would be the JAL flight that hit the embankment while landing at San Francisco. He didn't realize until too late that he was to low.

Did you see the SF news reports of the crew list? They were doomed from the start. In all seriousness, San Francisco, has now halted tandem approaches for foreign airlines. Domestics and regionals can still do tandem, but the non american over the ponds, are held off the coast until they can be brought in on approach, solo. The tandem approach has nothing to do with the fact that the pilot couldn't be bothered to look out the window and see where the ground was... but hey, it looks safer in the headlines.

 

[roomette]

Still the funniest thing EVER !

 

[BigOrangeAndy]

My wife and I were on the Crescent yesterday, started in New Orleans and got off in Atlanta. Very strange to get to work and see the news online that the train had derailed last night. I was looking at some of the photos from the Spartanburg news this morning and recognizing some of the passengers. Most of the people in our car all got off in Atlanta, but a few were getting off in Spartanburg, or Charlotte. One of the people quoted in the paper was seated across from us at lunch, very surreal for sure. Glad that the only injures were minor, and I hope everyone can get to where they are going with minimum disruption.

 

[Ryan]

Still the funniest thing EVER !

 

[AmtrakBlue]

If they had said "derailment" then I have no doubt some major news network (cough, CNN, cough) would be expecting a horrible disaster with fires and twisted metal.

Yup, I can see visions of Anderson putting on his hoody and start busily blabbing about something incomprehensible.

"We're standing here amidst a see of chaos, as you can see here an Amtrak train with over 200 people on board has derailed overnight, causing confusion and lots of unhappy travelers. Emergency response is on the scene, join me tonight on AC360."

That's pretty much what he would have said.

I thought that you guys were talking about Anderson the moderator, not Anderson Cooper up until this post.
I was really confused.

For a brief moment I did too. Then I remembered the mention of CNN. I don't watch it, but have seen advertisements for his show(s), so know of him.