Commuter Rail Delay Discussion

Not to over step my boundaries as a poster(sery feel free to step in). Lets let calmer heads prevail and enjoy Christmas tomorrow ok.

Happy holidays to all and a better 2014. And to all a good night.

Dunno how it played out (there I go again) but ~0600/12-24-2013, 406 and D-3 engaged in a brief and not totally intelligible exchange of transmissions about switch issues and the Track Department.
Happy Holidays of all sorts to everybody of all sorts, especially everybody who catches duty tomorrow!

WOLF wrote:Serious question are you delusional?

Are you contending when you stated braking a train on another line, when you waxed about snow and ice build up on coaches brakes, then talking of wheel slide not slip is not total speculation?

You believe what you typed isn't speculation? For real?

99.9 percent of posters in this thread don't know how to operate a train.

What is your direct connection to this mishap?

Territory? How's this for territory, you explain to me how a train on the Fitch. platform track supposedly braking for the station stop slid uphill? You do realize the main and the paralel station track slope uphill in that territory.

Alright, I have no idea who you are or where the hell your information comes from but I am gonna say one thing: You need to STOP this bulls*** now because you are making the rest of us railfans in this thread look really bad. It is foamers like you that cause railroads and their employees to frown upon buffs.

ck4049 wrote:

WOLF wrote:Serious question are you delusional?

Are you contending when you stated braking a train on another line, when you waxed about snow and ice build up on coaches brakes, then talking of wheel slide not slip is not total speculation?

You believe what you typed isn't speculation? For real?

99.9 percent of posters in this thread don't know how to operate a train.

What is your direct connection to this mishap?

Territory? How's this for territory, you explain to me how a train on the Fitch. platform track supposedly braking for the station stop slid uphill? You do realize the main and the paralel station track slope uphill in that territory.

Alright, I have no idea who you are or where the hell your information comes from but I am gonna say one thing: You need to STOP this bulls*** now because you are making the rest of us railfans in this thread look really bad. It is foamers like you that cause railroads and their employees to frown upon buffs.

Yawn

WOLF wrote:Are you contending when you stated braking a train on another line, when you waxed about snow and ice build up on coaches brakes, then talking of wheel slide not slip is not total speculation?

I'm not going to get in the middle of this disagreement, but just to clear up the facts:

Wheel slip is when the wheels are moving faster than the rails, under power.
Wheel slide is when the wheels are moving slower than the rails, under braking.

WOLF wrote:You're speculating that the engineer engaged the brakes to stop @ the eastern end of the Fitchburg platform and the entire consist "slid" the whole length of the station platform?

Again, I'm staying out of the drama, but from my understanding of train handling an engineer wouldn't stop a train moving 30mph with one application. You can't "ease off" train brakes if you brake too hard, and I can't imagine the ride would be too pleasant either. More likely an engineer would make a minimum application to slow the train, then a second application, on top of the original, to stop. For example, 5lbs upon hitting the platform and another 10lbs (15lbs in total) to bring the train to a full stop. I am not going to speculate on when the emergency brake application was made since I am not in the know.

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On a lighter note:

mdamico23 wrote:Really appreciate the hard work of the MBCR crews doing the best that you can with the equipment that you have. Also, appreciate the professional railroaders on this site who share their insight with us.

Well said, Mike. I second both of these sentiments. Every winter I reflect upon how resilient the railroad is compared to other modes of transportation. I'd put them on par with the far-more-flexible road system in terms of availability, and unlike airlines they don't completely shut down when something major fails. They just plug away at keeping people moving as quickly and safely as possible. Sure, the inflexibility of the system makes railroads susceptible to delays, but those buggers are hard to kill! Keep it up, folks.

TrainManTy wrote:

WOLF wrote:Are you contending when you stated braking a train on another line, when you waxed about snow and ice build up on coaches brakes, then talking of wheel slide not slip is not total speculation?

I'm not going to get in the middle of this disagreement, but just to clear up the facts:

Wheel slip is when the wheels are moving faster than the rails, under power.
Wheel slide is when the wheels are moving slower than the rails, under braking.

WOLF wrote:You're speculating that the engineer engaged the brakes to stop @ the eastern end of the Fitchburg platform and the entire consist "slid" the whole length of the station platform?

Again, I'm staying out of the drama, but from my understanding of train handling an engineer wouldn't stop a train moving 30mph with one application. You can't "ease off" train brakes if you brake too hard, and I can't imagine the ride would be too pleasant either. More likely an engineer would make a minimum application to slow the train, then a second application, on top of the original, to stop. For example, 5lbs upon hitting the platform and another 10lbs (15lbs in total) to bring the train to a full stop. I am not going to speculate on when the emergency brake application was made since I am not in the know.

---

On a lighter note:

mdamico23 wrote:Really appreciate the hard work of the MBCR crews doing the best that you can with the equipment that you have. Also, appreciate the professional railroaders on this site who share their insight with us.

Well said, Mike. I second both of these sentiments. Every winter I reflect upon how resilient the railroad is compared to other modes of transportation. I'd put them on par with the far-more-flexible road system in terms of availability, and unlike airlines they don't completely shut down when something major fails. They just plug away at keeping people moving as quickly and safely as possible. Sure, the inflexibility of the system makes railroads susceptible to delays, but those buggers are hard to kill! Keep it up, folks.

All your points should be directed to 8th notch, not me, as they only clarify 8th notch's speculation.

For those with a desire to gain some insight into WOLF, an examination of the low 20s of the pages of the Fitchburg Line Upgrade Discussion might prove informative.

For those with a desire to gain some insight into jaymac, an examination of the Gardner Gawkings thread on the Pan Am forum might prove informative.

37 pages of him talking to himself.

Thanks for the update of the footprints in the snow.

Any time!

WOLF clearly has no purpose here other than to troll. Please just don't feed him.

A quick review of his post history reveals almost every post of his as being incredibly abrasive and argumentative at all times.

No need to keep dragging this out -- simply inform admin Jeff Smith that we have another troll account lurking around and be done with it. Thank you to everyone else, for the rest of you have given an honest attempt at divulging information and explaining potential conditions and causation.

I agree. Please ignore WOLF from this point on. He is clearly trolling here. Just to clear something up he said that is not true... The station track at Fitchburg is level, it is not on any sort of hill or grade.

Anymore conversation to or from WOLF will be DELETED from this point on... Now lets get back on topic. This does not mean the incident cannot be discussed.

What are the circumstances under which the NTSB will investigate an incident? Is it injury, loss of life, an unknown cause that could be an issue in the future...?

I'm assuming the Fitchburg incident is just an internal MBCR investigation and we'll never hear anything official, just what those "in-the-know" share here.

It was probably due to the weather up there. I dont know and I'm not gonna speculate any further. Merry Christmas to all on here.

TrainManTy wrote:What are the circumstances under which the NTSB will investigate an incident? Is it injury, loss of life, an unknown cause that could be an issue in the future...?

I'm assuming the Fitchburg incident is just an internal MBCR investigation and we'll never hear anything official, just what those "in-the-know" share here.

NTSB will respond to a serious enough light rail or heavy rail or commuter rail incident. I am not sure who makes that determination, however regardless if NTSB will be at a incident, railroads have specific requirements that must be met by 49 CFR Part 225 (Under the US DOT/FRA)

I believe NTSB will respond to every serious aviation accident, however they will only respond if the railroad incident is involving loss of life, serious injury or major damage to the equipment, track structure etc.

I'm on 824 right now. It is late.