The Gettysburg railroad explosion 25 years later

steam locomotives are one of the most elegant and beautiful types of machinery man has ever created some say all their sounds make you feel like they were living beasts within a steel jacket a steam locomotive works like this fuel is put into the firebox and burns to create heat this fuel can be either coal oil or even wood the smoke is channeled through the funnel or the smokestack and the boiler there's water usually provided by the tender and when the water gets heated by the heat of the firebox it turns into steam a steam that gathers up into the steam dome and when the engineer pulls the throttle a valve and the steam dome is lifted and the steam trickles into the piston chamber the seam forces the Pistons back and what it reaches the edge the pressure pushes the piston the other way the piston also moves the connecting rods on the drive wheels and the train moves he used steam is then shot up the funnel along with the firebox smoke creating the famous chuffing sound associated with steam locomotives while they may sound very simple to operate steam locomotives need careful care and you need to maintain a perfect balance of steam pressure heat and water if there's too little heat and lots of water the water can't be turned into steam and make the engine move not dangerous but it does make you look at graphing stock of the railroad or there's something wrong with the boiler if however there's too little water and the boiler with lots of heat the boiler will overheat the metal walls will soften and crack and eventually explode with enough force to level a city block thankfully boiler explosions weren't as common as train derailments over the years and even today thousands of steam locomotives have been reserved with several of them in running order on tourist railroads or operating on the Main Line on special excursions however there would be one accident that would change steam locomotive preservation forever [Music] Gettysburg Pennsylvania June 16 1995 not far from the site of the famous Civil War battle lies the Gettysburg railroad running from Gettysburg to biglerville this former Reading Railroad line played a key role during the battle Yeti's burg station was also the very sight President Lincoln gave his famous Gettysburg Address after being abandoned by the Reading Railroad in 1976 when they got merged with conrail the Gettysburg Railroad was organized in October of 1976 as a tourist railroad there were quite a few locomotives that ran this line mainly their steam engines like 76 a former frisco to a doe built by Baldwin another Baldwin to a towed number 38 built for the Huntington and broad top mountain railroad and coal company and finally 1278 a former Canadian Pacific g5d for six to Pacific built in April of 1948 by the Canadian locomotive company On June 16 1995 1278 was going to run three excursions up and down the line the third and last train of the day was the summer Eve dinner excursion to Mount Holly Springs and back there were three crewmen in 1278 handling the six car train 48 year old engineer James Cornell eighteen year old first fireman Christopher Miller and second fireman 32 year old Eddie Shara who would relieve Miller midway into the journey and assist whenever needed the passengers would ride the train to Mount Holly Springs and would have a cater to our dinner in local restaurants before they returned to Gettysburg after the train left Gettysburg the co owner and operator of Gettysburg passenger service incorporated who used the Gettysburg railroads equipment closed the station and followed the excursion the purpose of her chase with her car was to provide a contingency service to the Train and if necessary limited emergency transportation if some went wrong she carried a cellphone and a two-way radio that she used to monitor and talk to the crew her husband the engineer also carried a radio and cell phone the conductor and passenger service personnel on the train also had two-way radios near a Spurs at milepost 15 known as the wolf pit the dinner train stopped and waited to receive a helper train to push them up the hill which consisted of a diesel locomotive pulling four freight cars it is unknown which diesel assisted 1278 that day it took several minutes the couple the helper to the rear of the dinner train after which the combined consus proceeded believe it or not this was a routine procedure on the Gettysburg already there was the first sign of danger a check valve between the feed water heater pump and the boiler have been leaking all day even though the valve was recently replaced on the previous trip that day when 1278 was running backward next to a double tiered open-air observation car the spray from the leaking check valve required that the top half of the car to be cleaned consequently according to the first fireman on the train left wolf pit the feed pump was shut off the feet water heater is a heat exchanger located in the front of the locomotive usually in the smoke box the steam exhausted from the cylinders is used to preheat water from the tender before the water is pumped into the boiler this boosts efficiency and lowers fuel usage the second fireman testified that when he relieved the first fireman the feed pump was still off the second fireman said he then turned the feed pump on all the way when both firemen were later asked how they could tell whether the pea pomp was working or not they both said that the sound and visual movement of the feed pump rod told them that it was working both firemen felt that such queues were normal and sufficient to ensure that the water was flowing into the boiler however it would later be revealed that this was not the correct procedure both firemen stated that they checked the water glass frequently during the trip which would indicate how much water is left in the boiler the first fireman stated that he always checked the water glass and the second fireman said he checked it once every five minutes or so he also said that the engineer leaned back in his seat to check the water glass about three times during the trip neither firemen noted anything unusual about the level the water in the glass they said that it appeared to be normal and that would fluctuate between half to a full inch which they considered normal considering the grade of the track and the vibrations at Pond Road at milepost 18 the second fireman relieved the first and about a mile later at 7 p.m. at gardeners while the train was moving at approximately 15 miles an hour disaster struck [Applause] 1278 suffers a backdraft explosion in the firebox scalding steam and flames burned the three crew members badly with the engineer suffering the worst as he had burns over 60% of his body when the train stopped the engineer managed to get down out of the locomotive cab by himself and he laid on the ground he was then helped by the firemen and other members of the train crew ambulances arrived minutes later to take them to area hospitals the first fireman who had immediately left the locomotive cab by the doorway at second and third-degree burns over 10% of his body he was taken to the hospital in Gettysburg and was later transferred to York for a week his recovery took about one and a half months the second fireman also had second and third degree burns on both his legs arms and chest and had fractured legs when he jumped through the locomotive cab window thankfully none of the crew were killed and the passengers on the train escaped serious injury all 100 of them 1278 suffered major damage to its firebox area but the rest of the locomotive was fine the crown Sheet toward the front of the locomotive next to the rear tube sheet knuckle had bulged downward a maximum of about a foot in a bag shape that covered an area encompassing about 60 crown stays the crown sheet holes around the crown and stays have been deformed and elongated creating gaps about the crown stay heads the crown sheet knuckled next to the flue sheet had a six inch tear and also two front-right firebox great panels of the firebox floor had broken and fallen onto the ash pan below an investigation quickly revealed that the crown sheet overheated due to low water levels but it would soon be discovered that this accident was more than just an engine not having enough water 1278 was found to be poorly maintained from an air compressor that sounded like an asthmatic cow to exterior rust on the drive wheels not to mention the fact that many gauges removed and not replaced including the one that indicated water flow to the feed water pump the engineer told the NTSB that he had removed the original feed pump gauge after it had failed and the replacement also failed so he didn't bother replacing it with a third one as for the gauge is still left on the engine they were mostly in fact wrong particularly the water glass the water glass is a simple gauge that indicated how much water is left in the boiler the first issue was the water glass light was not working a violation of railroad regulations of steam locomotive operation the second was the crew thought the water was at an acceptable level even though the water glass level changed by only half an inch which should have indicated something was wrong normal fluctuations are normally between two to four inches and the fluctuations can also be pet present depending on track conditions when the water glass was removed the NTSB suspicions were correct the water glass pipes and valves were obstructed by almost 85% of solid scale blocking the water flow to indicate the correct water levels plus not many of the employees of the railroad including the crew on board that day knew how to properly blow down the water glass a procedure that would highlight issues including a clog in the water glass pipes only the owner of the Gettysburg railroad the engineers father demonstrated the correct method of blowing the glass down all the Gettysburg passenger service employees have been taught by the engineer no one said that he also tested the gauge Cox when he blew down the water glass as required by regulations the NTSB therefore concluded that the firemen did not know because they had not been properly taught how to blow down the water glass or test the gauge Cox the lack of knowledge about such basic procedures reflected the lack of an effective training program at the Gettysburg Railroad the water injector which helps flow water from the tender into the boiler was also non-functional because the wrong metal disk was installed making water flow to the boiler difficult thankfully there was one positive thing about this incident the design of 1278 boiler and crown sheet was a factor that helps prevent serious injury to the passengers and prevented deaths of the crew as the crown sheet only builds but didn't result in the whole boiler exploding had the boiler itself did indeed explode instead of suffering a backdraft the crew would have been instantly killed by the explosion and flying debris could have injured or killed passengers and bystanders as a result of these factors and others including an unclean boiler and the lack of a proper water treatment program by the railroad the NTSB recommended stricter inspection procedures on steam locomotives to ensure safe operation Gettysburg Railroad continue to operate Oh be it without steam operations and was later sold to the Delaware Valley Railroad Company a subsidiary of rel America in 1996 Delaware Valley created the new operating company the Gettysburg Railway who was later sold again to pioneer rail corpse new short line the getti Bergin Northern Railroad in 2001 which still operates as a short line interchanging with NS and CSX however they no longer do tourist operations as for 1278 it was removed from service after the incident and was later bought by jerry jacobson at an auction in 1998 it sat at an Ohio Central Railroad storage facility for several years waiting for restoration as of 2016 1278 currently resides inside the age of steam Roundhouse in Sugarcreek Ohio safely out of the weather it has had a partial cosmetic restoration to improve its overall looks as a static display but likely it will never run under steam again 25 years have passed since this tragedy and it's fair to say this instant has changed steam locomotive operations on tourist railroads forever [Music] [Music] [Music] you

Channel: Thunderbolt 1000 Siren Productions

Views: 1,671,210

Keywords:

Id: 7TJPmkcPer8

Length: 16min 36sec (996 seconds)

Published: Tue Jun 16 2020