Strasburg smashes 475

[Bob]

The Strasburg RR left a switch open and ran the N&W 4-8-0 Mastadon into an excavator, smashing the headlight and smokebox cover. Looks like that won't just buff out. It is amazing how easily the smokebox caved in.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vx0E0nR4boQ

[Craig]

This is what I call a “Ruh Roh” moment!

[Bob]

Here's an on-axis view of the smashup. The front of the smokebox snapped like glass.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRhv2SzbZSU

[RickBacon]

Thankfully, the smokebox door is not part of the pressure vessel.  Most smokebox doors are cast grey iron, so they are relatively brittle. There is also quiet a bit of appliances inside the smokebox that are most likely now damaged. 

Good news, everyone is still alive. Bad news, not everyone will still have a job!

[Bob]

A report by Brendan Ziegler, CMO:

I'd like to follow up on Ted's comments from today by echoing my appreciation for all of the support that we have received from the heritage and commercial railroad communities during the last few days. As you might imagine, they have been challenging.

#475 returned to service early this morning to power a chartered film train followed by our regular excursions. Fortunately, the damage to the hardware inside the smokebox was very slight, confined to some of the cinder netting and the framework that holds it in place. The greatest tragedy was the headlight that was demolished.

Immediately following the accident, we began to compile drawings and order materials for replacement parts. I was actually on the phone from the site of the accident issuing instructions to place orders and move manpower resources around to get the locomotive back on the road. The smokebox front has been replaced with a steel disc. All other parts were repaired and reused in some way. The smokebox door was brazed back together over about a 12 hour period where the pieces were all reassembled. This didn't go perfectly because of the amount of braze material needed and the small size and number of pieces. Due to some warping, we decided to remove the original clamping flange from the door and attach the entire piece to a new steel ring that the dogs clamp against. We had to replace one stanchion for the grab iron machined from steel and we replaced the door hinges attached to the smokebox cover to ensure the door fit properly and swings freely. A replacement headlight was dug out of our storage and was completely rewired and some missing parts for the focusing mechanism were fabricated. The last of the parts were installed and the locomotive had a new fire lit by 2:00 PM on Sunday; just over 96 hours after the damage occurred.

We certainly don't want to celebrate the errors that led to the damage, but I would be wrong to not acknowledge how dedicated our staff is and the amount of effort that was put in to get #475 back on the road. We truly have the greatest bunch of men and women working here at this railroad who pull together, bite their lips and do what needs to be done when things get difficult. I cannot thank them enough.

At some future time, I'll address what happened and what we have learned from it. At this time the only thing I will say is that two veteran employees, individuals who make invaluable contributions to our operation every day, made mistakes at the same place at almost the same time and it led to a very public accident. At SRC I lead our Confidential Close Call Reporting System Peer Review Team, where we analyze anonymous reports submitted by employees when things like this happen but they don't quite get to the point of impact. Let me say, they happen all the time and they happen at every railroad in the country, because railroads are run by humans and humans are fallible beings. My shop superintendent spent 27 years of his career with Union Pacific as a locomotive terminal and power distribution manager and he said that what happened to us happens every day on the UP. The point of the PRT is to determine the root cause of these near misses and how to prevent them. Leading this team and going through this process has taught me a few things that I will carry with me for the balance of my career. First, almost no accident or incident can be distilled down to a single cause. Contributing factors can number over a dozen in a single accident. Second, people who are inherently careless don't care about the threat of disciplinary action. They just don't care. In this case you have individuals who are going to beat themselves up more than we ever can for their mistakes and piling on the derision and punishment is not going to make it any less likely that the next guy is going to not make the same mistake. Of course, we will enact the penalties we have to according to the regulations and will cooperate 100% with the FRA, but we won't throw our people out when there is nothing to be gained and all the value they provide to be lost. We will look at our training, our practices, and anything else that made it more difficult than in needs to be for our employees to do their jobs and we will make changes to make things better.

Again, we want to thank everyone who has supported us through this and I want to personally, publicly thank the great staff we have here at SRC.

_________________
Brendan Zeigler
Vice President - CMO
Strasburg Rail Road Co.

brendan.zeigler@strasburgrailroad.com