It looks like a buffer box broke and the coupler went underneath the auto rack and tore the truck loose

@@stephenhudson6543 what is a buffer box?

@@jonaubuchon1040 it's the box on the frame that the coupler mounts into there's two large springs on the outside of it to absorb the shock of the coupling and when the train starts . Wasn't sure what it was called but I was close

_I’m a train enthusiast and I know that thing as a couple link or a coupler_

_More than likely the brakes on the truck never released and they put a lot of stress on the kingpin/Kingflange that sits on the bolster of the truck which then came apart_

Brian, just to give you an opinion/perspective of this event….. I’m pretty positive the emergency application happened towards the rear of the train which often creates excessive draft forces ( stretch ) thus resulting in a draft gear coupler separation which happened at the final end of the movement, when a drawbar assembly detaches at higher speeds the results are catastrophic…..due to the length that mike said this train was convinces me the results were from a heavy rear setup and as far as a dpu I just cant comment because they came 4 years after I retired…..those were some happy dogs🐕🐕🐕👍….ms5203~~~

@@mshum538 You can see in the video the tanker car ahead of the auto rack, the drawbar broke clear off near the frame of the tanker car. I think this is where it all started.

See my reply below. And yes a Semi Stuck on tracks video is coming!

Mabey he hit something

Pretty Amazing that Steel can be Pulled Apart on that Tanker Car. I Agree it’s where it Started going South. 👎

Reminds me of the farmer who was plowing his field. As he started a row, the horse dropped dead. The farmer said, “Hmm, she ain’t never done that before.”

Wow that's amazing

I'm guessing that tank car had shelf couplers. Shelf couplers prevent the couplers from sliding apart vertically so that in case of an accident the coupler of the adjacent car doesn't lift up and over and puncture the tank car. The shelf coupler would have prevented the tank car from slipping down out of the adjacent coupler on to the tracks.

Great point!

sounds like how KCS tried to blame the company I work for for running thru a switch even though it was their that did it the previous day before.

Reminds me of an accident in Denmark In 2019. A semi trailer was blown off a train in and collided with an oncoming commuter train. 8 people died and many more were injured, they found out it was something wrong with the fifth wheel as well.

all of this sounds utterly american 3rd world :P

Why do people want to live with a freight train running through the back yards?

@@bobposey6961 Well until this string of comments, because trains look cool, and are a key piece of infrastructure (better a railroad in the back yard than a road or highway in the back yard, you know?). Now, with the risk of train cars dumping their cargo or falling apart as they go by? Maybe keep them a safe distance from the house, at least.

Thanks! You too!

@@WideWorldofTrains thanks !

You are welcome

It was crazy wasn't it!

Yes true

As long as the RR industry continues to increase the length of trains it will get worse.

@@railscenes4959 it's still pretty rare though.

47 years on SP/UP. Had this exact issue (almost) on a tank car. At 50-mph, lost a center pin and lead set of trucks rolled all the way to rear of tank stopping ahead of rear trucks. Nothing derailed. Reported by passing crew. I told engineer to stop her hard stretched! Had any slack run in car would have derailed. Tension was all that stopped the derailment...

@@railscenes4959 Indeed, they keep running longer trains and not enough engines on them to handle them properly, thus more broken knuckles and other complications as a result.

It's rare

Yup 👍 that is exactly what I was thinking

@@freddypflugbeil6 That is what I was thinking also.

I think I understand what you are saying...would there be crosstie damage or could it cause such damage without becoming jammed?

What pin??? Auto racks and all freight cars have a pole and pocket fifth wheel, no pin. If you lift a freight car up, the wheelset will stay on the rails. The flotsam from the tank car ahead probably rolled beneath the car far enough to lift it out of the pocket on the wheelset. The rest is history and mayhem.

Right, it's surprising they don't get more breaks like this, those forces are tremendous!

Pretty impressive to pull information out of something 1M times your size

Ha, true, this is so weird, amazing we got to see it firsthand! Insurance companies and accident investigators must love these channels!

I know, right?

Glad you enjoyed it!

That's what I am thinking

no it failed when the autorack stopped all of of a sudden and the head kept pulling! if it wasn't for that sudden jerk that wouldn't have happened!

This is the scenario I was thinking. The frame on the tank car may have been already stressed before the trip, and just happened to fail on this trip. Its possible the leading edge of the tank car coupler may have fallen down and got caught on the rr ties which pushed up the leading truck on the autorack which caused it to detach form the auotrack. It would have been interesting to see the damage on the tracks where they were doing the repair, that may enlighten our aanlysis.

That's a good guess

Did anyone notice that the train was actually parted a few cars from the end? (1:30 in the video). My guess would be that it broke there, throwing everything into emergency. As the air pressure bled off from back to front, it applied the brakes on the back portion of the train first. At some point, it over-stressed the drawbar on the tanker in front of the auto rack. I could then imagine the broken bit of drawbar dropping down and jamming in the tracks, pole vaulting the auto rack just enough to jump the bolster. And with the brakes hard on on the auto rack, the loose truck would stop almost instantly, so that when the car came back down it missed the pin.

Awesome, thank you!

My thoughts exactly, you can see where it all started where the drawbar broke from the tanker car

I like big trains, but they need DPUs.

@@stormingcoasters I agree. DPUs do make a difference. This has been an issue on this line

@@WideWorldofTrains Yes it might have started there. Haven’t seen that happen either.

Loads make a difference. Looks like lots of hoppers. How much tonnage was in that line up. It's possible a DPU may have averted this disaster but that sheared end on the tanker looks like metal fatigue

Good question - I would wager the tank car failed first (looks like a pretty clean fracture). Then the knuckles flopped down on the road bed and the front truck of the autorack stumbled over the debris, rolling it under the car, plowing along for awhile. Very good fortune that it did not tip over and make a grand pile. The zig-zag wreckage could have easily shoved out onto the highway. Interesting wreck, happened in a place and at a time that permitted a video - good catch !!

Actually, if there had been a DPU further back, it might have shoved the wreck along for a greater distance.

That's my thought

@@john_nip_nop If there had been a DPU there might not have been a derailment.

@@john_nip_nop - True, but wouldn’t a DPU have also reduced the load on the coupler (prior to the failure) possibly preventing said failure?

Thanks for the info!

It's coming it's a lot of work. I was out there about 12 hours that day just getting the video and it's gonna take at least that long to put together the videos

No, it's not. It was clearly a 100% fresh break caused by severe slack action, same slack action that lifted the multilevel out of the bowl, causing the multi to be de-trucked.

Could be because the tank car has a " Shelf Coupler so it can take a hard bounce. That Auto- Rack might have been empty and it got lifted and the wheel truck kept rolling the direction and ended up like it did. And a DPU wouldn't make a difference.

Metal failure on the draft gear frame and structure

Laying off all the car shop employees would cause that to happen possibly.

@@maxrshelltrack7443 Again, no it wouldn't. This was a train handling issue, not a mechanical failure.

Thanks! Glad you enjoyed the video

Thanks for watching!

Thanks for watching!

I think your theory is correct.

Right on

You're very welcome

That's awesome

Glad you enjoyed it

I know, right?

I think you mean danville, the only coal trains that run through SoBo run south to the power plants in person county NC.

Our pleasure!

My pleasure!

Saw a video awhile back, think it was from Florida IIRC, where a train went into emergency because of a failed coupler box... in this case it was an OLD beat up gondola, and the WHOLE FRIGGIN COUPLER BOX broke free from the underside of the car... it was still hanging off the front of the car behind it that it was coupled to! About 4-5 feet of steel box framework just sticking out of the front of the car behind it when it rolled to a stop. The rear bolster and truck was unaffected and remained under the car, and kept rolling right along until it stopped, as did the car hitched behind it which rolled to a stop with the rear half of the train! This one, looks to me, like the tanker coupler box sheared in half through the couple pin holes, the rear half of the coupler box took the entire catwalk and hand brake and air chamber off the rear of the car (there's pics of the car online if you Google the reporting number (UTLX number on the side of the car). In this case, the coupler then dropped free of the coupler on the front of the autorack behind it, and fell between the rails. The autorack then ran over the coupler, and since autoracks use smaller diameter wheelsets, the bolster is closer to the ties and it probably "jumped" the coupler when it hit it and rolled over, it, lifting the front truck of the autorack enough to allow the rear wheel set to roll free from it's side frame bearing hangars, and the bolster to turn enough to jump off the king pin and pivot pad on the bottom of the autorack's front frame, which let the bolster roll back and free of the car's frame pivot point, then the car simply slid up over the bolster and front axle, which slowly rolled back under the car as it rolled to a stop... the rear wheelset of the front truck probably derailed from the impact that lifted the side frames off it, or else the car rolled along and it lifted the car up by rolling under the frame lifting the car up enough so the bolster came free from the car pivot point on the frame, and then it dropped off the rails and rolled along til it was against the rear truck of the auto rack which just pushed and rolled it along with the rear truck til the car stopped. What a mess! Later! OL J R :)

That's what I am thinking. my guess was 2 1/2 miles knowing this area pretty good

Yep not sure what caused the main frame to brake but it is a clean brake no sign of fatigue. I would imagine the broken coupler made it pass first axle on the truck. Got lodged under the center of the truck lifting it off the track then rolling the truck slightly forward and the rear axle came out from the truck. The coupler parts are probably sitting by the rear wheels in front of the rear truck. My guess anyway. Crazy stuff happens when you’re trying to move so much tonnage. A little slack and a hard pull something going to go.

There is an underpass a mile from the last blocked crossing and another a mile from there.

Glad you enjoyed it!

Bout like a school bus or semi-truck... brakes release at 60 PSI (sometimes a little less) and you can get rolling, but the brakes are REAL soft and sometimes the spring brakes drag a little til the air pressure comes up. Should be at 90-110 PSI or so before you really get moving down the road with any speed... but crawling around in the yard or whatever, so long as the spring brakes release enough to move you're fine... Later! OL J R : )

A broken axle is a good guess you see its missing one of its wheels.if the wheels and axle is fine then a broken pin is a good guess.

@@hifijohn Yea, strange thing is it's laying against the trailing bogie!

I didn’t think an axel on a train wheel could snap…I didn’t think it was possible…I was gonna guess a broken center pin or a worn out center plate if that’s even a possible guess 🤷🏻‍♂️

Wow, thanks

I think the pin broke, truck rolled under the car and lifted the end and uncoupled, didn’t see the end of the tank car, maybe that coupler and rail car piece made the auto-rack jump up and then the truck came off the pin

Glad you enjoyed it

Thanks for watching and I'm glad you enjoyed it

I know for a fact that dumb, curious and destructive kids put mettle objects on the tracks. I'm sure it happens all the time.

well most trains dont run DPUs

@@matthewwilson5019 Hmm, I’m not sure where you’re from but the ones around here do frequently.

@@themousefiles the ones in Oregon and Washington don't lol, and they only get up to about 2 miles here though

@@matthewwilson5019 Ahh, yes that makes sense. :)

@@themousefiles it sure does lol and whats the longest trains get there? I have heard about 3 mile long trains before

Glad you liked it!

I'm not sure. The tanker with the knuckle pulled off looks more like a shock-load failure than metal fatigue. The failure surface looks too clean for it to be a long term failure. I'd expect more corrosion of the fracture surface if it had been developing over any length of time, but that just begs the question of what could put a shock load through there, large enough to do that sort of damage?

Thank you! Cheers!