Derailment on Horseshoe Curve, Again

jordon412

33 Year Old Railfan
This occurred yesterday, July 26th, not long after 16:09PM EDT and also included centerbeam flatcars stringlining.
 
It looks to me as if the weight of the train behind pulled the empty light centerbeams off the track. A case of bad loading?
 
More or less an exact repeat of the derailment that happened a couple of weeks back and nearly in the same place, which the rumour mill attributed to the same problem, empty centrebeams at the front with loaded vehicles behind.
 
More or less an exact repeat of the derailment that happened a couple of weeks back and nearly in the same place, which the rumor mill attributed to the same problem, empty centrebeams at the front with loaded vehicles behind.


I hate to ask, but why would you ever put those light empties with loads in behind........Is beyond me.......:(
 
I hate to ask, but why would you ever put those light empties with loads in behind........Is beyond me.......:(

Saw the videos shortly after it happened...

History repeats itself.... I'm reading a past copy of Trains' magazine "Train Wrecks" edition 8-2012. I get to page 54 of "Wreck Photos" section and upon viewing a pic I say to myself... "Didn't that just happen?" Yep... There's a pic that looks strangely similar to this derailment.

Caption of 1968 derailment reads:
Only once in the history of TRAINS magazine has a photographer recorded the instant a train derailed. The honor for this feat goes to Ken Kraemer, who was standing trackside at Pennsylvania's famous Horseshoe Curve on may 12, 1968 when a west-bound ascended the Alleghenies on Track 4. The forces of curvature and the drawbar pull of four big six-axle units proved too much for a long auto rack, which went flying into the ballast. (bold emphasis not in original)

The empty auto-racks have no covers (sides or top) and upon first glance they look eerily similar to the center-beam cars as seen in the current derailment. The exact same imagee almost with auto racks instead of center beams..... Weird...
 
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I hate to ask, but why would you ever put those light empties with loads in behind........Is beyond me.......:(

This phenomenon is well known in the industry and has a name: "String lining". Light cars with, normally, heavy cars trailing on sufficient curvature will result in the light cars attempting to shrink the distance (via derailing) much like pulling on a string that was in the shape of a curve will straighten the string out. There is no need for trailing heavy cars if the curvature is very sharp, such as in a yard or on industry tracks, for string lining to happen.

Take care,
 
This phenomenon is well known in the industry and has a name: "String lining". Light cars with, normally, heavy cars trailing on sufficient curvature will result in the light cars attempting to shrink the distance (via derailing) much like pulling on a string that was in the shape of a curve will straighten the string out. There is no need for trailing heavy cars if the curvature is very sharp, such as in a yard or on industry tracks, for string lining to happen.
Take care,

I've thought and thought about this. As one who used to run scale trains I know all too well that light rolling stock needs some weight to stay on track. But is full scale the same? (rhetorical) - The wheel/axle/truck certainly carry weight themselves. And I've considered the "string lining" but in my mind since any single car is being pulled by the car/coupler immediately in front of it "stringing" doesn't apply (again... in my mind). A string has no couplers so the very end is indeed being pulled by the very beginning and it wants to "cut across" the curve. But isn't the last car of a train simply being pulled by the car coupler in front of it?? (Again rhetorical). Yet it seems that it doesn't make sense to have light cars in front and heavy in rear. (I realize car placement is dictated mostly by "delivery" needs.)
 
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