Amusement Park train wreck

[richg]

This is a train wreck I would have never expected to happen. I have been on many amusement park trains with my kids years ago.

http://news.google.com/news/more?pz=1&cf=all&ned=us&cf=all&ncl=dQxdOuTbNdVdOtMitWH2-9dRQin2M

Rich

[Jhanecker2]

When people don't do the job they were paid to perform many suffer . The alledged  " inspector " will not only be fired .  He will be held culpable for the minors death , probably tried for manslaughter ; he will also be held responsible for the trauma inflicted on the injured patrons.  Hope his employer has really good insurance , the lawyers will have a feeding frenzy.  J2.

[WoundedBear]

The "Inspector" was 20 years old. Brilliant.

Sid

[RAM]

You know if you are going to open for the season you want everything working.  So to me it looks like the park should have run the train to make sure it was working before the inspector came.  Ok the battery was dead.  I guess they didn't know about jumper cables.  The part I worked at in Okla. City about 55 years ago had extra batteries.  I know because I had to replace one.  Not only will the company who had the inspector will be sued, the park also will be sued. 

[Jim Banner]

By all means fire the inspector.  Failure to do an assigned job often cannot be helped.  Dead batteries in this case obviously made it impossible.  But lying about it, particularly when it affects the health and safety of others, is never acceptable.

Having said that, there remains the question of whether or not the inspection, had it been performed, would have uncovered the problem.  One report blamed the accident on a track collapse.  If true, then the collapse likely occurred as the train ran over the track.  If the collapse had occurred earlier, it would have shown up during the test runs the train operators made the day before and the day of the first day of rides.  I am left wondering if it was a typical case of thixotropic soil being liquefied by the vibrations of the train.  The conditions were probably right - saturated or near saturated soil after a cool, wet winter and in an area where they had track problems previously.  From the surface, everything looks normal, no roll as the trains runs down the track, and then suddenly - whoosh - the soil liquefies, runs out, and lets the track drop on one side.  Off goes the train.  I am sure that the open topped cars offered little protection.  Many amusement park trains now have roofs not only to keep the sun off the passengers but to protect them with a roll cage.

One other thing I noticed in the video, and before reading about track collapse, thought might have had something to do with the accident was that the accident happened near a section of track with guard rails.  The tapered start of a guard rail is a perfect place to jam a stone if you want to derail a train.  And from the video, there were plenty of stones around that area.  I would not have thought of that in connection with an amusement park train except that a model railroading buddy of mine used to drive an amusement park train.  One of the hazards the train drivers had to watch for continuously was stones jammed in the switches by vandals.  That particular train was wider gauge than what we see in the present video and only derailed, never rolled, when it hit a stone.

RAM makes a good point about the train operator also being sued.  It strikes me that they had to know that they were running without a valid safety inspection.

Jim    

[richg]

Do a Google search for

    Amusement Park train wreck

Not the first time.

Not far from me is an amusement park with train ride that is 15 inch track gauge, propane powerd 4-2-4 CP Huntington.

Also a outdoor live steam railroad with coal fired locomotives, 7.5 inch track gauge. The outdoor layout is open to the general public a couple times a year for rides. I bet they keep up with boiler inspections though I have neer asked. I have been behind a coal fired 4-8-2.

Rich

Rich

[mhampton]

The "Inspector" was 20 years old. Brilliant.

Sid

The inspector wasn't 20.  He had been an employee for 20 years.  That makes it even worse.  I wonder how many times he had falsified his reports before this?

[richg]

All of you check the news. The driver admits he was going too fast. Check the location of one of the carsin the photos. Looks like the last car. With people in the cars, the cars will be somewhat top heavy. I have been on that type of train. People shifting around can cause a little wobble also. I am sure there will be more about this issue.

Rich

[NarrowMinded]

So sad... "it I'll never happen" strikes again...

I'd hate to have to live the rest of my life knowing I was responsible.

NM