Runaway Railcar

A lumber laiden railcar somehow got away from a crew and rolled from Archbald through to Scranton. Luckily, no one was hurt and the car remained on the rails.

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The railcar apparently reached speeds of 50 mph and came to a stop when it rolled up the grade at the Strawberry Hill Connector in downtown Scranton. The local police forces were credited with blocking all affected crossings, though since they're signalled I can't imagine too much would have happened if they'd not done anything at all.

I thought there was something about minimum axles to trigger some crossings?

ctclark1 wrote:I thought there was something about minimum axles to trigger some crossings?

No, simply completing the circuit between the rails will activate the lights. Signal maintainers use a simple jumper cable with a clamp on each end as part of their testing.

As for the crossings, the concern I would have is the posted speed on the line. If, for example, a given crossing is set for 10 mph, and the signal circuits are the appropriate length for that, a car rolling 50 mph will give very little warning time between hitting the circuit to start the lights, and entering the crossing itself.