wheel slippage

[NW Mailing List]

Mike:
N&W Safety Agent John Rehor (from NKP) once noted  that
every railroad specialized in a type ofcatastrophe.  On  the
NKP, it had been head-enders.  On the pre-'64 N&W, it  was
probably over speed on curves.  On Auntie's Clothes  Line
(ACL), it most certainly was broken rails.  The 16th of  this
month will mark the 64th anniversary of the side  collision
at Rennert, NC (north of Buie, NC) in which 72 people  were
killed.  There was an infraction of Rule 99, but the  primary
cause was a broken rail.  ACL bought 100# rail in the  20's
rolled by Tennessee Coal & Iron.  TC&I  rail  could be
traced to many an ACL derailment.  In fact, FEC  had
two derailments the same day traced to TC&I rail.   It
certainly was "Brand X" when it came to  rail.
 
N&W trains operated over ACL between Petersburg
and the James River bridge at Richmond.  Beyond  that
it became RF&P.  On October 17, 1943, ACL train  1/76
derailed at Bellbluff, VA -about 12 mi. north of  Peters-
burg, resulting in one death and eight injuries.   The
primary cause was a broken rail.   Investigators were 
able to recover 13 pieces of the rail.  Although  the
primary cause was determined to be a broken rail,
the investigators determined fracture occurred  beneath
a rail burn.  Why didn't the broken rail shunt  the
signal ?  Because the ragged ends at the break   made
contact with each other.  The rail ?  You guessed  it--
100-pound rail manufactured by Tennessee Coal  &
Iron in June, 1924.
 
The closing paragraph of ICC's investigation (Report
No. 2733) is very revealing -- "During the period  from
September, 1942 to August, 1943, 1,278 defective
rails were removed on the system, of which 135
were the result of rail burns."
 
                                                       Harry  Bundy           
                           



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