Train overshoots station - then what?

Not too long ago during fall, my train was headed eastbound into Upper Montclair, downgrade, and caught the leaves on the tracks and just kept sliding, coming to a stop about 30 yards past the station. I think they just threw it in reverse and gingerly backed up, with the conductor on the ground guiding the train back.

AKelley728 wrote:

I guess passengers that needed to get off got off in NB and went back, and those that needed to get on had to wait an hour to get on the 9:12.

WOW!! That means folks destined for PJ on 3830 wind up arriving in NB @ 8:33, then have to wait for 3825 (westbound) to arrive in NB @ 9:01, to later arrive @ PJ @ 9:14. A total delay of 55min (minimum)!! Ouch!

Idiot Railfan wrote:Not too long ago during fall, my train was headed eastbound into Upper Montclair, downgrade, and caught the leaves on the tracks and just kept sliding, coming to a stop about 30 yards past the station. I think they just threw it in reverse and gingerly backed up, with the conductor on the ground guiding the train back.

Yeah, I remember BigC telling a great story similar to that one! LOL I beilieve in his, they couldn't get the train uphill so they had to back it up to the previous station and get a running start!

P.S. Great Avatar IR!

WOW!! That means folks destined for PJ on 3830 wind up arriving in NB @ 8:33, then have to wait for 3825 (westbound) to arrive in NB @ 9:01, to later arrive @ PJ @ 9:14. A total delay of 55min (minimum)!! Ouch!

I know how furious I would be if something like that happened to me and I was delayed an hour. Something should have been done for the people affected. For those on the platform, if the train was not able to back up then the following express should have found out who needed to go where and make the stops. For those who needed to get off NJT should have called them a cab from the next stop!

The closed I have ever come to experiencing this was once at Millburn the rear car doors did not open (I think it was a crew mistake not a malfunction) and the crew seemed not to have noticed so they closed the doors and took off before we in the back could get to an open door. While my car was a Milburn that day (80% of the time it is at Short Hills) there was fortunately an eastbound train that gets to Short Hills right after the westbound train that the doors did not open on so my delay was only about 10 minutes. Even with that I was very angry and could not resist yelling a bit at the crew as I left the train.

Never seen this happen on NJT, but it happens more than you'd think on SEPTA. You'll be sitting on a SEPTA train (or at a station) and the train will just zoom by; I don't know if it's the T/O just not caring (as it seems they must not get in trouble?), trying to get on schedule (which won't happen anyway), or just having the logic that if theres nobody on the platform, than nobody's going to get off there (and in most cases, nobody is on the platform). Also, it could just be that the T/O doesn't even notice the "station"

I've got a good one along those lines:

I normally take 3865 from Nwk to Nw Brnswk on the way home but on occassion, I manage to catch 3725. On one such an occassion, I caught 3725 (12 car MU consist) with what appeared to be different crew than before.

The ride was uneventful until we reached Metuchen. As we roll in, a crew member announced 'station stop Metuchen. the last 4 cars will not platform at Metuchen, etc,...!' But, once we stopped and the doors opened, half of the center door of the 1st coach actually overshot the platform. (As I typically stand in the center door vestibule, I had a good view of this.)

What made it even crazier was that some Metuchen riders were taking wide steps (more like hops) from the center doors to the platform. After the crew realized this faux pas, they back up the train a few feet and reopened the doors.

Granted the leap from the center door to the platform for most folks is no biggie (and wasnt), but I cant imagine the kind of lawsuit that would have ensued if someone came out off balance and crashed into the ballast below.

I guess the crew should have announced that the 'last 4 cars and EXACTLY half the first car wouldnt platform at Metuchen'. :D

Just figured I'd share that one with you.

That was a stupid thing to do at Metuchen....the amount of time it took to close the doors back up, and reverse back, the conductor (it was in the first car) should have just went over and protected those doors, meaning yes, they are open, but you can't get out, because Im standing here.

I used to run 3869, and my engineer would not frequently, but not rarely, pull a smidge long at Metuchen. Me, being used to this, I would always stand in the center doors of the first car, jsut for this reason. (I almost always stand in the center doors of the first car anyway, for all stops, just for this reason) Low and behold, whoosh....but its okay, becasue im standing there. And if we really pulled long, I would telll him to keep his foot on the pedal to prevent the doors from opening (when that would work) in case the rearbrake wasn't paying attention and realized he was halfway down the platform, that maybe the first cars might be off. Wehn I got back to the location on the platform, I would open the doors back to the rearbrake and everyone just has to walk back. Sure it takes longer and the people aren't real happy, but tough.

Metuchen station is in the middle of Lincoln interlocking, and you are not allowed to simply back up there, you MUST get permission of the dispatcher to make any reverse moves once the train stops.

Amtrak often uses their radios to communicate because seemingly 99 percent of the time, their communication buzzers don't work. So they often say, " you have two to proceed west to Trenton" or whatever.

Over the past 2-3 months the engineer of my westbound RVL train has missed Union station, twice. Both times, however, the train stopped maybe a mile beyond it and sloooowly backed up to the platform.

In both cases it definately wasn't slow braking or leaves, or snow, or switch problems. Believe me, we were asking ourselves, "How could the engineer miss a station?" Could it be that the engineer had an old guide that didn't list the new Union station?

If you missed Union station by a mile, you half way to Roselle Park already.

As engineer its easy if you got a steady job with same trains every day, but an engineer from Extra list has a different schedule every day.
Unless you look at schedule at your previous stop, the chances are about 99.5% that you can not look at a schedule while your moving at 80 plus miles an hour, in the time it takes you to look at schedule your train covers over quarterof a mile, with your eyes in schedule instead of road.

But, once we stopped and the doors opened, half of the center door of the 1st coach actually overshot the platform.

When I was on the train last week (with nick11a as a matter of fact), we were sitting in the first car of an Arrow train going to NYP. I think it was in Metuchen that the entire first 3/4 of the first car was off the platform. The doors opened but there was no platform at all where the center doors were. Nobody got off there but the doors were open...that would have been a big step down to the ground!

arrow wrote:

But, once we stopped and the doors opened, half of the center door of the 1st coach actually overshot the platform.

When I was on the train last week (with nick11a as a matter of fact), we were sitting in the first car of an Arrow train going to NYP. I think it was in Metuchen that the entire first 3/4 of the first car was off the platform. The doors opened but there was no platform at all where the center doors were. Nobody got off there but the doors were open...that would have been a big step down to the ground!

Oh yeah, I remember that! Yeah, it was a big drop!

"This Staion Drop is- Metuchen." :D

nick11a wrote:Well, if that was the case, the engineer should have realized that already at Hamilton and acted accordingly and PJ. After all, it is much better to be late and arrive to a station then to not arrive at a station at all. This is truly an amazing story. An engineer missing completely a 12-car platform station. Wow.

There didn't seem to be a problem with that train when it came into Hamilton. I board the 8:22 express train at Hamilton, usually by the time I get there 3830 (8:13 local) has come and gone. However, this day I got to the station a few minutes early, and saw it come in. It didn't seem to have a problem. I then got on the express and went my merry way. I then got off at PJ to get on the Clocker, when I heard what happened. Believe me, I was amazed and astounded at what I had heard. At first I didn't believe it, but I confirmed it with a few others who had been there.

Well then maybe something came up along the way and the train had braking problems.

The only thing I can really say here is that engineers and conductors are human, just like all of us, and as such are not perfect and will make mistakes. In this case, many people were inconvinienced yes, but thankfully nobody was hurt. Unfortuatly, on the railroad, many times mistakes end with a ride in the back of an ambulance, or worse, a hearse.

This is not to excuse the engineer for his error, and Im sure there will be some follow up for this guy. Missing Princeton Jct going east is actually not as hard as it seems, being that it is on the down side of a hill, and if your not paying attention, even if you throw the anchor out, your not going to stop near the station.