The 1989 Cajon Pass Runaway 34 years later (Remastered)

from May 12th to May 25th 1989 two devastating disasters rocked the neighborhood of Duffy Street in San Bernardino California from a runaway train crashing through many homes to a scorching pipeline explosion it was mere hell on Earth this is the story of both disasters on the evening of May 11 1989 at 9 00 PM a three-man train crew arrives on duty at Southern Pacific's Mojave rail yard in Mojave California these crewmen were 33 year old engineer Frank Holland 35 year old conductor Everett crown and 43 year old Brakeman Alan Reese tonight these men are tasked with taking Southern Pacific train mjlb Pi 11 later known as extra 7551 East down the cone pass toward West Colton yard in Bloomington California near Riverside the train originally consists of three locomotives those being a pair of sd45rs 7551 and 7549 and sd45t-2 9340. all three engines were hooked up to 69 100 ton open top Hoppers owned by both Southern Pacific and Rio Grande all loaded with Trona a sand-like material often used in fertilizer and mined as a primary source of sodium carbonate unfortunately things are already off to a bad start first of all the lead locomotive 7551 which was the first locomotive on Southern Pacific to sport the Kodachrome Livery of the failed merger between Southern Pacific and Santa Fe was dead and it couldn't start the crew wasn't told why it died nor if it was fixable so they had to borrow an engine out of Mojave yard to become the new leader that engine was sd40t-2 8278 however they kept the symbol AS 7551 East despite 7551 no longer being the leader anymore secondly the assistant chief dispatcher was worried that the three operable locomotives would be overwhelmed by the grade at Cajon Pass So the plan was to have the train me to sell to helpers at obon that assist them down the grade coming off a westbound train according to the paperwork a train was to have three operable locomotives layer two more as rear helpers 69 loads zero empties and an estimated weight tonnage of 4191 tons it turned out to be a catastrophic miscalculation but we'll get to that later after discussing the paperwork the crew got on the train with Frank and Everett in the leader 8278 and now on the recent a third unit 75-49 and off they went departing Mojave yard at 12 15 a.m the next morning [Music] [Music] after reaching obon they were met by the westbound train and the helpers from that train were soon taken off the Westbound and hitched on to 7551 East tail the helpers consisted of sd45r 7443 and sd40t-2 8317 42 year old Lawrence Hill was the engineer and 57 year old Robert Waterbury was the brakeman on the helpers the helper crew had no idea what the tonnage profile of 7551 East was Nor what they're carrying and they don't bother asking the crew or the dispatcher all they knew was they were just helping the train up and down the Cajon Pass Cajon Pass while not the steepest grade in American railroading as that title belongs to the Southern Railway built Saluda grade in North Carolina is still one of the most notorious stretches of mountain railroading in the United States it has an average gradient of about 2.2 percent which is nothing in Road terms but to trains especially fully loaded Freights that's one steep tough gradient just after 7am the train begins its descent down the San Gabriel mountains along Cajon Pass the crew slows the mammoth train down by using a mixture of the Train's air brakes and dynamic brakes air brakes work by varying air pressure to apply or release the brakes at around 90 PSI the brakes are fully released no more reduction in pressure the stronger the braking Force Dynamic brakes however use the traction Motors and make them convert from being electric motors consuming electricity to generators creating electricity the locomotive basically changes the electrical path from the traction Motors to root the electricity to a set of resistance grids that converts the electrical energy produced to heat as the engineer moves the dynamic brake lever in the cab the amount of excitation applies to the generator changes the level of resistance it's much like how your hybrid car charges its battery as you go down a hill it saves wear and tear on the conventional air brakes and is a lot more exact in braking power this fine tuning of both systems plus the many curves at the top of the grade help keep the train to a safe speed of 25 miles an hour exactly where Frank Holland wants it he even checks with the helper crew to ensure this over 74-43 we got all your Dynamics well I've been full Roger thank you little do both train Crews know is that the Dynamics on all but one engine on the head end and one on the helper end aren't actually working as The Descent continued though they noticed something off hey Frank we're at 30. should be a 25. confused he gives a further reduction of the braking power as low as 26 PSI a full service application however the speed continues to slowly pick up usually it wouldn't be a concern but the crews thought a long way to go and the tracks weren't curving as much anymore which would normally help in slowing the train down the helper crew could also tell something was amiss thinking the train was a runaway the helper crew slams the brakes into emergency stop also known as dumping the air meaning zero PSI in the brake line hence the term which locks the brake shoes on the wheels as tight as possible the train did try to slow down with a noticeable jolt but seconds later it was Off to the Races with every second the train went faster and faster down the mountains smoke began to pour from the wheels of the engines and the cars as the grade and weight of the train overwhelmed the brake shoes on the wheels and they were quickly melting away getting the wheels as hot as a furnace get on the phone tell them we got a runaway train 75 51 the rest cold we have a slight problem I don't think we can get this train stopped we're coming out of bank s dispatcher we are doing 90 miles per hour nine zero out of control the speedometer stopped at 90 since that was as far as it could go but clearly the train was going much faster according to the black boxes as high as 110 miles an hour the train however would never reach West Colton as at the bottom of the grade sits San Bernardino with a decent sized neighborhood at Duffy Street with houses right by the tracks the speed limit there was about 35 miles an hour the train was clearly going three times over that limit [Music] we're gonna die on that curve exactly what was about to happen [Music] hang on here we go [Applause] foreign the train jumps the track plowing into several houses along Duffy Street the head and locomotives were nearly completely destroyed with only their undercarriages being intact and The Hoppers being thrown all over the area like toys the helpers remained upright and suffered minimal damage the helper crew who suffered minor injuries desperately make calls for help reporting the train being on the ground the breakmen of the helpers also goes up to the head end to check the crew up there police officers patrolling nearby as well as nearby eyewitnesses ran to the scene of Destruction while also calling emergency services for all the help they can get amazingly the engineer Frank Holland crawls out of the crushed cab of lead locomotive 8278 and is helped down by locals he was badly injured with several cracked ribs and a punctured lung but he was lucky to still be alive as for conductor Everett crown and Brakeman Alan Reese both died being crushed to death in 82-78 and 75-49 respectively also two children living in the house is smashed by the train were also killed those being 10 year old Jason Thomas and seven-year-old Tyson White Rescuers worked all day and all night looking for survivors in Southern California Gas Company employees who were nearby also helped by shutting the gas off to houses damaged or destroyed by the train wreckage with thankfully no fires sparking from any of the houses one local Chris Shaw was found entombed in what was once his mother's house and had spent nearly the whole day in a makeshift cocoon created by the wreckage until he was finally freed that night being one of the last victims carried away alive seven houses were destroyed in the crash the wreck killed four people and injured another four more once the rescue operation was completed work began on recovering the wreckage and NTSB investigators began their investigation on what could have caused The Runaway after the locomotives and cars were removed construction vehicles were tasked with cleaning up all the spilled Trona but sadly the dangers were far from over right below the house is parallel to the tracks lies the calnev pipeline carrying gasoline for Las Vegas none of the locals knew about its existence but inspections confirmed that it was indeed safe as it was buried deep into the ground so the train didn't even touch it mostly everyone felt safe about it for days apart from a slight odor of gas in the air that was quickly dismissed that is until May 25th 1989 on that morning everything seemed normal apart from the cleanup of Trona still ongoing But A peculiar range showers several homes what's odd is it's a clear sunny day and that there's a very strange odor hanging in the air and then without warning a spark then it happens a huge wall of fire engulfs the neighborhood incinerating anything in its path fire Crews race back to the scene of Destruction they all knew what it was from the fiery plume reaching a hundred feet into the air and a jet-like roar coming from The Blaze it was the pipeline the fire was so intense that things like plastic lenses on the fire trucks turn signals and even the light bars on the top of the engines all melted like butter in a microwave firefighters battle The Blaze all day evacuating several homes as locals literally fled for their lives to make matters worse calmav can't shut the emergency valves off which weren't even working in the first place even before the Train derailed weeks before 2 million liters of gasoline burn for several hours but by the time the Flames are finally extinguished the damage was done two people were fatally burned alive with one victim only being identified by only their smoldering shoes being all that was left of their body three more people are also injured some with third degree burns 11 houses and 21 cars were also destroyed in total six people died from both the train wreck and the fire with seven injured across both incidents total property damage was over 14.3 million dollars equivalent to 31.3 million in today's money most of it though was from the fire not the train wreck now how on Earth could both accidents occur like this why don't we start with the train wreck as always with most runaway incidents the NTSB focused first on the brakes all the air brakes were clearly working fine but were also overwhelmed in fact some of the wheels got so hot from the friction that not only were they still molten steel 12 hours after the crash but were deformed from the excessive friction and some of the brake shoes literally burned off but what about the Dynamics well as it would turn out the train barely had any Dynamics at all 7551 as stated before was dead in tow as it couldn't start all it had was just the air brakes 7549 behind it had traction current but no Dynamic brake current 9340s Dynamics were sporadic having very weak Dynamic power and as for the helpers 8317 also had no Dynamics that left 82-78 on the head end and helper 7443 being the only engines with fully functional Dynamic brakes Frank Holland knew this but dispatch didn't why the helper crew also lied about the helpers being in full Dynamics when one engine had no Dynamics at all remains a mystery perhaps because while the Dynamics made their classic wine sound the helper crew thought they were working as intended when in reality they were doing mostly bugger all a similar case was noted when Frank and the brakemen had a brief Exchange [Music] however even with the white tonnage Frank was given he figured he had enough power even with his crippled engines little did he know that he was given the wrong weight to answer why that was the case we need to go back to May 6 1989 when the cars were being loaded at Lake minerals the company responsible for supplying the Trona the company superintendent drops the paperwork for the cars in the office of Thomas Blair an order operator slash clerk for Southern Pacific that had been working for 17 years the paperwork though didn't have a weight filled in a necessary factor to enter it in southern Pacific's computer system since Lake minerals expected the cars to all weigh as much as they did when full a hundred tons each Tom Blair though amazingly takes an educated guess on the car's weight based on dealing with the mineral before in other cases especially considering Trona is lighter than coal for example he listed them to be about 60 tons each compared to a hundred tons if the car was full of something like coal which gave a total estimated weight of 4140 tons in reality it was over 6 900 tons that's a 2760 ton difference no company is going to ship cars 60 full and leave about 40 percent behind right the train was just clearly doomed the minute it hit the grade even if all the engines had functional Dynamics it would have been one hell of a bad Journey down the mountain yet somehow despite the acceleration the train was only slowly accelerating as the Dynamics in the 8278 and 7443 plus 9340s weaker Dynamics were just barely managing to hold the train back that was the case and so Lawrence Hill slammed the brakes into emergency stop that automatically kills the Dynamics on the engines now under normal circumstances it's a safety feature to keep the wheels from locking and slipping down the hill but in this case it boosted the acceleration and made it impossible to stop the train before the curve in San Bernardino in short the train had only two engines with functional Dynamics had the wrong weight tonnage given to the crew and the grade overwhelmed the brakes all leading up to the Runaway moving on to the pipeline when the section that burst was hoisted up it had a classic outward breach known as a fish mouth meaning the gas had burst under immense pressure they also note scratches in the Pipelines clearly despite being marked with bright pegs a backhoe or excavator or whatever construction vehicle scrape the pipeline without anybody noticing damaging the pipe weakening it and eventually bursting open igniting the whole neighborhood into a wall of Fire inspections of the pipe were clearly not thorough enough during and after the cleanup as there was immense pressure to get the isolated pipeline back open again after the derailment due to Rich snobs in Las Vegas claiming they had cars worth more than the houses of San Bernardino What a Sad selfish disgusting strange world we live in eh freaking gamblers oh after the accident numerous lawsuits were slammed against calnev and Southern Pacific by the victims and their families with most being settled out of court little comfort for those who lived through such ordeals the NTSB also reversed its mandate that Dynamic brakes be disabled during an emergency application now the rule is not only should all engines have functioning Dynamics unless dead in tow but should also remained engaged during an emergency application after all getting all the braking power you can get in an emergency stop both Dynamic and air can make a difference also in weighing loaded cars without the exact tonnage all should be treated as if they're fully loaded no matter the cargo for example if a hundred ton coal car had a random amount of gravel in it it's automatically assumed to weigh a hundred tons most railroads now use electronic scales to weigh cars to their exact tonnage three miles per hour a very slow tedious process often done at five miles an hour but it's obviously done to prevent such a terrible runaway from ever happening again also nowadays helper crews are trained to not only make sure their engines have fully functional Dynamics in all their engines but to also ask the train they're helping whenever necessary what their tonnage profile is and to make them aware of anything from articulated car sets sensitive loads and of course what kind of power they sport [Music] reload 166 MCS 12 000 plus 12 878 feet marker is a 745250 articulated [Music] how many inches [Music] as for all the equipment involved all the locomotives on the head end were destroyed with the remains being scrapped on site and usable Parts being donated to Precision National both helper units were repaired and returned to service with Southern Pacific 8317 was sold to Precision National then got sold again to helm leasing for continued service it was scrapped by 2013. 7443 was eventually retired by Union Pacific on March 17 2000 and sold to the National Railway equipment company who rebuilt it with five foot six inch gauge trucks reclassified as an sd40-3 MP and sold to Amorous logistica in Brazil now numbered as 5313. it is still in service as of 2020 all 69 100 ton Hoppers were also scrapped on site Frank Holland the engineer of 7551 East continued his work on the railroad until retiring around 2017. he never went over the Cajon Pass ever again as psychologically he just couldn't take it Tom Blair was never charged for this miscalculation and also eventually retired from railroading in February 2008. it's often said The Runaway at Cajon was one of the major Nails in the coffin for Southern Pacific who were already weakened by the failed spsf merger and competition between Burlington Northern and Union Pacific Southern Pacific and its parent company Rio Grande Industries would both be merged into Union Pacific by 1996. up and their competitor BNSF still operate trains up and down Cajon Pass as if nothing had happened as does the pipeline by calnev efforts to shut down the pipeline weren't successful many families though had moved away and the houses that bordered the tracks were mostly never rebuilt leaving an ugly scar of land behind there's also no Monument here to honor the dead train crew members nor the locals that died in both the runaway and the pipeline fire Unfortunately The Runaway in 1989 wouldn't be the last time a train would run away down the grade as two more runaway accidents would occur on the grade one in 1994 and another in 1996. however these are different stories hello everyone Thunderbolt 1000 sign productions here hope you enjoyed this remaster of the 1989 Cajon Pass runaway the original one was just awful and not as informative while I remastered the 1994-1996 ones too likely not but who knows before you click off this video to watch something else let me quickly let you guys know I will be away on holiday between June 13th to June 21st of 2023 meeting there will be very little to no content on this channel for quite some time that's because I'll be in Italy with my family since one of my cousins that lives up there is getting married will also be sightseeing in the old country too I'll see if I can catch some trains while I'm up there but if you want to keep up on my Adventures outside of YouTube check out my Instagram Facebook and even my turd talk yes I joined that dark side don't judge anyway thanks for watching we'll see you next time ciao [Music] foreign [Music] thank you foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] foreign [Music]

Channel: Thunderbolt 1000 Siren Productions

Views: 448,214

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Id: c8KIp9quUkQ

Length: 29min 35sec (1775 seconds)

Published: Fri May 12 2023