[Magdalen] Derailment, Please Pray

[Ginga Wilder]

I have also been praying.  Awful, awful.
Ginga

On Wed, May 13, 2015 at 12:14 PM, Jim Guthrie <jguthrie at pipeline.com> wrote:

> There are two especially interesting aspects to this tragedy:
>
> The site of the wreck is the same as a 1943 wreck of the Pennsylvania
> Railroad's Congressional" when 16 cars piled up, killing 75 people.
> Cause was a burned-out journal which caused a wheelset to collapse at
> speed.
>
> Amtrak trains are much shorter of course and carry far fewer passengers,
> especially compared to the wartime PRR.
>
> It looks like the locomotive is one of Amtrak's brand-spanking new
> Siemen's.  It should be noted that 40 years ago when Amtrak was replacing
> their  venerable GG1 Electric Locomotive (built in the 1930s, one of which
> was pulling that 1943 Congressional) they first purchased locos known as
> the E60s   rom General Electric.
>
> They had a tendency to yaw side-to-side when accelerating that tended to
> damage the track structure.  They were supposed to haul trains at 120 mph,
> but after two derailments during initial testing in 1974,  the Federal
> Railroad Administration limited them to 90 mph, and Amtrak went further
> limiting them to 80 mph.
>
> By 1984 -- less than ten years after purchase, Amtrak retired them because
> of continuing problems.
>
> So there are at least two interesting aspects -- one historical (location)
> and one related to new locomotives.
>
> Jim Guthrie e
>
>
>