wrecks
- Thread starter t. alexander
- Start date
Interesting photos. Nowadays the public wouldn't be allowed that near in case something came loose.
Photo 1 -- interesting how well the front engine is held on to the articulated loco. I would have expected it to drop off like a loose truck.
Photo 3 -- Just before they closed CN's Spadina roundhouse (to put up the football field) someone managed to drop an Amtrak F40 into the turntable pit. If I remember rightly, there was something special on and there were extra railroad officials in town that day, too. Dropping a loco like that ties up the roundhouse until it get removed, unless you can get away with only using a small section of the turntable.
Photo 1 -- interesting how well the front engine is held on to the articulated loco. I would have expected it to drop off like a loose truck.
Photo 3 -- Just before they closed CN's Spadina roundhouse (to put up the football field) someone managed to drop an Amtrak F40 into the turntable pit. If I remember rightly, there was something special on and there were extra railroad officials in town that day, too. Dropping a loco like that ties up the roundhouse until it get removed, unless you can get away with only using a small section of the turntable.
Good Morning T, That's some great old pictures
They look like a normal operating session on my layout!!!!
They look like a normal operating session on my layout!!!! 
HEY THANKS !!
BDC, The one with the steamer hanging out the end of the station was the one I was originally looking for THANKS
t.
BDC, The one with the steamer hanging out the end of the station was the one I was originally looking for THANKS
t.
These pictures were taken in July of 1988 in Chandler, Arizona. Southern Pacific GP35R 6315 was leading a mixed train into the Dock block south of Chandler when a semi truck loaded with hogs tried to beat it across a marked but (then) un-gated crossing at Germann Road. The lead engine struck the trailer dead center, splitting it in half and throwing live hogs everywhere. It took most of the day to round up the survivors. Both engines and most of the cars derailed. SP GP35R 6304 had only been in Kodachrome paint for a few weeks when it was sent back to the shop for repairs. SP 6315 had its nose bashed up pretty bad.
Interestingly enough, I was working in Gilbert, AZ yesterday about 5 miles from where this happened in 1988 and there was another grade crossing accident. Someone tried to beat a UP auto train. As the great Greg Tamblyn sings:
"When the gates are all down,
and the lights are all flashing,
and the whistle is screaming in vain...
If you avoid the warnings and you still cross the tracks,
you can't blame the wreck on the train..."
'Course, Greg was talking about staying in unhappy relationships, but it still fits...
Tom
Interestingly enough, I was working in Gilbert, AZ yesterday about 5 miles from where this happened in 1988 and there was another grade crossing accident. Someone tried to beat a UP auto train. As the great Greg Tamblyn sings:
"When the gates are all down,
and the lights are all flashing,
and the whistle is screaming in vain...
If you avoid the warnings and you still cross the tracks,
you can't blame the wreck on the train..."
'Course, Greg was talking about staying in unhappy relationships, but it still fits...
Tom
