Cars uncouple from Adirondack while moving

A P32 and a single car were added to the front of the train. The disconnect was between that first and second car. My money is on a defective draw bar.

the drawbar or coupler did not fail , it just uncoupled.

DutchRailnut wrote:the drawbar or coupler did not fail , it just uncoupled.

Could have been a cracked knuckle that failed en route though. Do you have a source inside Amtrak, or are you just assuming?

yes but not revealing them as it would target employee.

DutchRailnut wrote:yes but not revealing them as it would target employee.

Understood, and thanks.

Yes, thanks Jaap.

It appears some of the details given out by the media are incorrect. We certainly appreciate the correct information.

On another note, didn’t I see somewhere that Amtrak was running engines on each end due to work at Sunnyside?

Okay, catch me up on one thing, since I'm new to how the engines are swapped in Albany (plus the last time I was there was 1998). When a train goes to swap engines, the old one is taken off, moved to the side, and the new one (that's been waiting ahead of the station) coupled on, taking 35 minutes to do, correct?

And there was no trailing engine on that train that was generating *some* power? (Nope, CBS New York reports lights/heat dropped, so HEP was on the forward engine)

If that's so, then I'm with everyone puzzled over how no-HEP/no-air coaches didn't slam on the emergency brakes when the train detached. We can clearly assume there was a brake problem on the remaining coaches.

The only way to rule out somebody FUBAR'ing the swap is to ask, was the Adirondack running late into Albany?

We all know once the brake pipe is broken the air dumps. We should also know air is what keeps the brakes released no air no brakes. Bottling of air is Verboten. This type of work is done in Albany multiple times a day in all types of weather, early trains late trains trains not regularly scheduled for engine swaps. This happens 365 days a year.

Once the new equipment is added as per rule there is a double stretch of the hook and after the HEP and brake lines are made up a class two brake test is made. This requires a carman to view the application and release of the brakes on the rear car of the train. Once again no air to the rear, no set or release. Houston we have an issue. Train isnt going anywhere. Once again this happens everyday in all types of weather late or early it doesn't matter.

In addition to what Railjunkie wrote, Amtrak trains are also required to test the breaks at a low speed after leaving a major terminal. I think its called a running break test. If something doesn't look or feel right the train can still easily come to a stop.

After re-reading some of the news articles, the emergency cord was pulled in the first car, AKA the car that was still attached to the ENGINE. The breaks on the 5 detached coaches worked as intended. People were probably freaking out the engineer would never notice and would bring the train all the way to Hudson before every realizing what had happened. So the whole story of the guy being a big hero is kind of BS.

@ STrRedWolf For the last couple of months Amtrak has been running push-pull and certain trains between Albany and Penn on the weekends due to ongoing construction at Penn. This has appeared to have stopped for the holiday season.

This has got to be one of the RARE times the pin in the coupler didn't seat right/drop in place,yet it did pass the tug test.
It's Murphy's law at work!

Backshophoss wrote:This has got to be one of the RARE times the pin in the coupler didn't seat right/drop in place,yet it did pass the tug test.
It's Murphy's law at work!

There's a joke among the model railroad community is that the train ran over a powerful magnet and the pin was pulled out right at that point, just like on Lionel train models. :D

Hudson2640 wrote:After re-reading some of the news articles, the emergency cord was pulled in the first car, AKA the car that was still attached to the ENGINE. The breaks on the 5 detached coaches worked as intended. People were probably freaking out the engineer would never notice and would bring the train all the way to Hudson before every realizing what had happened. So the whole story of the guy being a big hero is kind of BS.

The news is quite muddled about where in the train the disconnection happened. Do you think the conductor was in the section that was left behind?

Hey Red Wolf; There're NO known versions of a 1:! Plastic McHenry couplers,,the HO versions fail like that on a regular basis!(break away)
Wonder if Sargent is testing 1:1 couplers,use a ball bearing to lock the knuckle in place!
(Sargent is a new coupler supplier in HO scale!)

For those of us unfamiliar with the term, what is “bottling air?”

Attempting to keep the air line charged with air by closing the valve on the standing cars before the power moves away and gladhands part.
Normally the valve is not closed on the standing cars to allow the brakes to go into Emergency.