Auto Train Has Rough Coupling

[AlanB]

A rougher than normal switching move coupling passenger cars and vehicle carriers on Amtrak’s Florida-bound “Auto Train” yesterday injured 10 people and delayed the normal 4 p.m. departure until 7:30 p.m.

You can view a brief story from Trains News Wire located here.

 

[P40Power]

This reminds me of an incident at Albany in 1999 where the locomotive backing on to the Boston Section of the Lake Shore came in too fast and derailed three coaches injuring a few people. A person got injured when they were walking through one of the coaches when the derailment occured, this aggravated a serious back problem or something and they ended up by sueing Amtrak over it just recently, I think it was last year.

 

[Amfleet]

This reminds me of an incident at Albany in 1999 where the locomotive backing on to the Boston Section of the Lake Shore came in too fast and derailed three coaches injuring a few people. A person got injured when they were walking through one of the coaches when the derailment occured, this aggravated a serious back problem or something and they ended up by sueing Amtrak over it just recently, I think it was last year.

Everytime I've rode on the Auto Train, both in Lorton and Sanford an announcement is made for passengers to remain seated and not pass between cars while the Auto Carriers are added/removed from the train. This announcment should be made with the Lake Shore Limited or any other train that involves switching moves (express or passenger) as well.

 

[battalion51]

The likely story behind the little accident is that the Engineer of the switcher either put to much power on the switcher, or wasn't able to grab the air as quickly as he should have. In a reverse move like that though, your Conductor is your eyes and ears.

 

[Save Our Trains Michigan]

I wonder if they pulled the engineer out of service for this.

 

[battalion51]

I'm not sure, but the foreman have been keeping an eye on the guys in the yard, laying down radar, and the constant safety speeches.

 

[Amfleet]

Now this incident would be considered a "hump" as those signs say on the end of each car "do not hump"?

 

[battalion51]

No Amfleet I believe a hump is considered when you put a car through a hump classification yard. Passenger cars are usually not humped because for the most part they are all going to the same place, unlike freight cars. If a hard couple is considered a hump, than most couplings are humps, as the slack has a tendancy to whip on you, especially at Auto Train with the ramp on the bottom of each track.

 

[AlanB]

You are correct Battalion only freight cars are humped. Humping is a way of sorting cars or classifying them by destination. There are two ways to sort freight cars; the first is called flat switching where a switch engine simply moves the cars around in the yard.

Humping is the second way to classify cars. Switch engines simply push the cars over a hill or hump one at a time. The cars then roll down the hill while the tower throws the correct switches to put the cars on the right tracks. While it costs more to build a hump hard, you can sort 3 to 4 times more cars in one day with a hump than you can sort via flat switching.

If Amtrak were to actually try that it would get very interesting as all passengers in a car would have to have the same destination. Plus I suspect that most passengers would be upset at sitting around going nowhere for a few hours while they waited for the cars to be humped and coupled into trains.

 

[Amfleet]

I certainly would feel weird in rail car just rolling across a giant rail yard, without a locomotive or even breaks!

 

[battalion51]

Well hump yards do have brake systems in place to regulate the speeds of cars, but you are generally rollin pretty well when you couple. Also, on the topic, the couple that was made yesterday was a legal couple, but a hard one at that. It was twice the speed of a normal hard couple, so if that's any indication for those that have ridden Auto Train, you know how hard it is.

 

[AlanB]

I certainly would feel weird in rail car just rolling across a giant rail yard, without a locomotive or even breaks!

Well personally I would never want to be in a rail car with breaks. :lol: I don't think I feel comfortable with a car that had cracks and holes in it. :lol: Now brakes on the other hand are really nice to have on a rail car.

Of course even cars that are being humped are still controlled to some extent. There are retarders that slow a car down before it couples to the car ahead of it. Mind you when humping cars, the ultimate brake is still the car ahead.

 

[Amfleet]

I certainly would feel weird in rail car just rolling across a giant rail yard, without a locomotive or even breaks!

Well personally I would never want to be in a rail car with breaks. :lol: I don't think I feel comfortable with a car that had cracks and holes in it. :lol: Now brakes on the other hand are really nice to have on a rail car.

Of course even cars that are being humped are still controlled to some extent. There are retarders that slow a car down before it couples to the car ahead of it. Mind you when humping cars, the ultimate brake is still the car ahead.

Oops. Confusing words used by a confused person...

 

[Superliner Diner]

When they used to change engines on Northeast Corridor trains in New Haven (they actually still do for some Springfield trains and the Vermonter), there would sometimes be a rough bump when the new engine was backed onto the consist. Few, if any, crews told the passengers that there might be a bump. Of course this was also a crew change spot, and the power was out anyhow while the engine change was taking place.

 

[battalion51]

Speaking of the PA, one of my favorite things about the Vermonter is the whole reverse thing. As some of you may know the Vermonter has two engines for a reason. At some location in Mass the Vermonter has to switch carriers (I know CSX/Conrail is one of them). Well in order to do this they must go through a turnout that only has one leg, so they must change direction. Now half the seats in every car face forward, the other half backward, so what was going forwards is now going backwards. Every trip at this point they make the announcement that they will operate a different direction now, if you are uncomfortable change seats. And every trip at least a dozen people ask, "Why are we going backwards?"

 

[tp49]

Oh the endless jokes one could make in this topic What speed are the cars being coupled going normally when they do this operation?

 

[battalion51]

As slow as humanly possible. 1 MPH is a good couple, although ocasionally the joint is bad. 2 MPH is a nice crunch. 3 MPH will toss the salad in the dining car. 4 MPH is when you need airbags.