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  • Port of Los Angeles Incident

  • A general discussion about shortlines, industrials, and military railroads
A general discussion about shortlines, industrials, and military railroads

Moderator: Aa3rt

 #1538378  by John_Perkowski
 
 #1538387  by TuckertonRR
 
Whole thing is suspicious - partially because of the reporting. One account I read is that the engineer had a lit flare (fusee) in the cab, and he crashed through the (what presumably was a bumper) concrete at the end of the track, and the train kept going - for how many feet? Questions I have

1. Where was the conductor in all this? What were they doing/not doing? Being an industrial track, the speed couldn't have been more than 10 or 15 mph.
2.And was PTC not active on that track?
3. Lite engine/s/ or had cars behind it? Tonnage of the train?
 #1538390  by dgvrengineer
 
There is a video on Facebook. He must have been going pretty fast to go that far with no rails under him. Yard limits are exempt from PTC rules. It appears he had at least one car maybe two with him.
 #1538401  by MACTRAXX
 
Everyone:

This being April Fool's Day at another time a good standing joke may have been appropriate - but not this year with everything that has been going on...

I took notice to this incident from Yahoo News - and I was stunned to say the least...

From one photo and a CBS Los Angeles (KCAL9) video the locomotive was one of
Pacific Harbor Line's EMD SD40-2 locomotives in a retro ATSF black and white
color scheme.

TRR: How fast the locomotive was traveling may depend on how high this SD40-2 was
governed to and how high a notch this engineer got this unit to break thru a bumper
block or barricade at the end of the track along with the momentum that the engine
had before it came to a stop. There does not look to be major damage to the SD40-2.

The tracks at the Port of Los Angeles look to be level and flat - and in good condition. Depending on how far down the track that the locomotive was when the incident
began could be the key...

Reports mention one or two well cars with containers were coupled to the locomotive...

Engineer Arrested for derailing train near USS Mercy:
https://youtube.com/watch?v=ja2LtltJujA

A 2013 video about the Port of LA showing the PHL SD40-2s as part:
https://youtube.com/watch?v=7D1NEf_CJAg

MACTRAXX
Last edited by MACTRAXX on Wed Apr 01, 2020 10:02 pm, edited 1 time in total.
 #1538405  by MACTRAXX
 
Cosmo wrote: Wed Apr 01, 2020 10:01 pm
MACTRAXX wrote: Wed Apr 01, 2020 9:49 pm Engineer Arrested for derailing train near USS Mercy:
https://youtube.com/watch?v=ja2LtltJujA
MACTRAXX
Cosmo: Fixed it for you...That what you get trying to type YouTube codes in... :wink:
MACTRAXX
 #1538409  by CSRR573
 
MACTRAXX wrote: Wed Apr 01, 2020 9:49 pm

From one photo and a CBS Los Angeles (KCAL9) video the locomotive was one of
Pacific Harbor Line's EMD SD40-2 locomotives in a retro ATSF black and white
color scheme.

From a few of my Facebook groups im on are reporting the locomotive was rebuilt from former MEC GP-38 254
 #1538462  by Patrick Boylan
 
Do I misinterpret the photos? It sure looks like the locomotive stopped several blocks before getting to the ship, and even if it did get closer it would still need to be airborne dozens of feet over the water to hit the ship, and it wasn't aimed towards it, but rather towards the pier to which the ship was moored.
 #1538463  by scottychaos
 
CSRR573 wrote: Wed Apr 01, 2020 11:25 pm From a few of my Facebook groups im on are reporting the locomotive was rebuilt from former MEC GP-38 254
Yes, that looks correct, originally a MEC GP38.
Now rebuilt and now has the roof fan configuration of a GP40 (three rear radiator fans) but is classified as a Motive Power Industries MP20GP.

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/locoPi ... ?id=122084

(earlier reports of a SD40-2 are incorrect, its not a SD)

Scot
 #1538473  by MACTRAXX
 
scottychaos wrote: Thu Apr 02, 2020 1:38 pm
CSRR573 wrote: Wed Apr 01, 2020 11:25 pm From a few of my Facebook groups im on are reporting the locomotive was rebuilt from former MEC GP-38 254
Yes, that looks correct, originally a MEC GP38.
Now rebuilt and now has the roof fan configuration of a GP40 (three rear radiator fans) but is classified as a Motive Power Industries MP20GP.

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/locoPi ... ?id=122084

(earlier reports of a SD40-2 are incorrect, its not a SD)

Scot
SC - Upon further investigation the locomotive involved was PHL#21.
MPI MP20GP formerly B&M 254 (GP38) MP20B-3 (from photo notes)
http://rrpicturearchives.net/locoPicture.aspx?id=122084

I was finally able to view a close-up picture that showed the locomotive number
(even though it was partially obscured) but unfortunately with not enough detail
showing how many axles the unit has - it turns out that PHL DOES have FOUR
SD40-2 type locomotives on their roster (#70,71,72,73) for the record...
http://rrpicturearchives.net/locolist.aspx?id=phl

Also for the record - Athearn offers an HO scale SD40 PHL#71:
https://modeltrainlocomotives.blogspot. ... otive.html

MACTRAXX
 #1538475  by MACTRAXX
 
Everyone:

I was able to find the location of the derailed locomotive from Google Maps of the Port of Los Angeles.
The location is near Regan St. and N. Front Street/N Harbor Blvd. The Vincent Thomas Bridge viaduct is above W/the Seaside Freeway (CA 47) and with Swinford St. nearby.
The ship Mercy was docked at the Cruise Ship Promenade.

The track from which the derailed locomotive and car(s) looked to be on is curved in
the area - from the air view it looks like the locomotive derailed going around a curve
at a nearby grade crossing and went straight underneath the viaduct (luckily without
hitting any bridge supports) coming to a stop in unballasted sandy soil.
The locomotive was far short of the Cruise Ship Promenade parking lot.

The mentioned head-end video should show how far the engine ran and how the derailment occurred.

If anyone has that link available to add for the record please do...

Pacific Harbor Lines Wikipedia page:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Harbor_Line
PHL Home Page:
https://www.anacostia.com/railroads/phl
MACTRAXX
 #1538481  by Stp243
 
Using the Google Maps measurement tool the train traveled about 285ft after breaking through the bumper and coming to a rest at Regan St. That's about 650ft short of the water. Luckily he didn't hit one of the pillars supporting the Vincent Thomas Bridge or else this could have been much worse.