Fatal WP wreck in Hayward Ca

[SuperFudd]

Hi all,

Do you remember a railroad fatal wreck on the Western Pacific where it crosses
Industrial at the south end of Hayward California back in 1980? You may recall a caboose at the end
of a train derailed while being pushed by 3 locomotives.
Here are the details about a long series of errors that led to the wreck and fire.

http://www.wplives.com/accident_reports/1980_hayward_ca.html

 

[smash]

Thanks for that. I had not heard of that accident before. Very interisting read. I do feel for the poor souls in the caboose. Even today I will say a payer for the familes of those killed.
Now who had the bright Idea to put the cabbose in the middel of the trains?
I can only imagne it has been done saftely. But to me that is like tailgating in between a couple of fully loaded tractor trailers. Not me!

Kennny

 

[bl4882]

Thank you, SuperFudd, for this post,

Reminds me a bit of the Duffy Street Disaster, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Bernardino_train_disaster that I am familiar with.

It just puts you in mind that "pilot error" is always a factor, and you are at the mercy of people you can't see who will make decisions that will decide whether you will live or die, especially when it affects thousands of tons of stuff and flammable materials you are in contact with. You also must feel sorry for the poor guys who were just doing their jobs and were killed and maimed by a sclerotic system that did not allow appropriate decisions to be made in time.

Very sad.

Bernie

 

[sawyer811]

I read about this awhile ago on another forum I'm on. such a sad story.

 

[rgcx]

Unfortunately, the higher-ups that ordered various operating rules to be broken in order to get the hot train to Oakland were promoted and the middle managers that questioned such decisions were reprimanded and or sacked. To this day, most former WP folks refrain from discussing this tragedy.

 

[pdkoester]

Interesting, I didn't know WP ran through that exact area. I find it more interesting, I started working for a company nearby there, 18 years later. Now I do see UP going through there.

 

[sawyer811]

Unfortunately, the higher-ups that ordered various operating rules to be broken in order to get the hot train to Oakland were promoted and the middle managers that questioned such decisions were reprimanded and or sacked. To this day, most former WP folks refrain from discussing this tragedy.

I can Imagine; even while reading the NSTB report, I kept wondering why nobody thought to put RBW-9's power on the head-end. That way, the guy who commanded the bulk of the train's propulsion power could see what the hell he was doing and where he was going. There was only one way this trip could have ended, and that was in this derailment. with only one unit providing power on the mill, and bulk of the power coming from the "Sacred Oxen" coupled to Sealand 6's D&H Caboose, made it a wonder the train didn't accordion before it hit the dips and climbs of that sawtooth section of line.

Interestingly enough, I heard on my other forum that the D&H cabin tacked on the rear of Sealand 6 actually had jammed doors; there's speculation that the crew couldn't bail from it because the door was stuck. I shudder when I imagine what must have been going through the tail-end crew's minds in those moments...

 

[SuperFudd]

Hi sawyer811,

Apparently it would have taken too long to get all power up front. Still it could have been done safely, or at least succesfully, if the radios had worked and/or the mid train engineer hadn't screwed up.
I suspect the caboose crew had no chance, stuck doors or not. I figure by the time the caboose had slid down the embankment, accross all lanes of Industrial and come to a stop, the second loco was already rolling over and off the bridge above.

 

[JCitron]

This was a really, really tragic accident, and sadly caused by the complacency of the management. Their biggest concern was to get the train to Oakland no matter what. What's really scary is how much they didn't know about the route the train was traveling on.

After this accident I wonder how many of them continued in their career with the WP.

John

 

[slave-driver]

Unfortunately I know that accident all to well. My dad us to have a truck repair shop right down Pacific Street which is the side street were that train derailed between the SP and WP tracks. My dad was just getting ready to leave for home when the derailment happened. 5 minutes later and my dad would have been under it. My dad retired about 12 years ago. I use to work for my dad after school and on Saturdays so 2 days after the wreck I got to see it. It wasn't a pretty sight. The caboose that the crewmen died in was only 4 feet wide after the loco landed on it and anything that was burnable was totally gone. The loco that had landed on the caboose had ripped open half the bottom of the fuel tank coming off the Industrial Parkway bridge. It was gruesome looking and still bothers me some just thinking about it after all these years and I almost want to cry when I look at the pictures I took of the accident scene before they started cleaning it up.

Bill

 

[JCitron]

Unfortunately I know that accident all to well. My dad us to have a truck repair shop right down Pacific Street which is the side street were that train derailed between the SP and WP tracks. My dad was just getting ready to leave for home when the derailment happened. 5 minutes later and my dad would have been under it. My dad retired about 12 years ago. I use to work for my dad after school and on Saturdays so 2 days after the wreck I got to see it. It wasn't a pretty sight. The caboose that the crewmen died in was only 4 feet wide after the loco landed on it and anything that was burnable was totally gone. The loco that had landed on the caboose had ripped open half the bottom of the fuel tank coming off the Industrial Parkway bridge. It was gruesome looking and still bothers me some just thinking about it after all these years and I almost want to cry when I look at the pictures I took of the accident scene before they started cleaning it up.

Bill

Holy cow, Bill. That is awful. We don't realize what really happens when we read things like this. Our imagination can't fill in the real details. Seeing something like this for real must've been horrific, and also that your dad could have been a victim of the crash. The WP was very lucky that only the crew members were killed, and sadly this was all due to stupidity in the name of trying to save a few seconds. If they followed procedures, then this wouldn't have happened. Again, I wonder what happened to the management after the accident. Were they asked to retire or resign, I wonder?

John