The Gettysburg railroad explosion 25 years later
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 15 июн 2020
- Update 5/6/2021: 1 Million Views! Thank you so much
A not so famous incident that I've always wanted to cover. Requested by EvanF1293
Steam locomotives are the most beautiful pieces of machinery man has ever made. However you need to take special care for them as if they were a living being cause if not disaster can occur and this incident changed steam locomotive preservation forever... and made it 10x more expensive in the process.
Please donate!
www.gofundme.com/thunderbolt-...
These donations will help make more videos possible! Thank you!
Discord server: (May return soon)
Patron:
/ thunderbolt1000
Deviantart: www.deviantart.com/pennsy 
Авто/Мото
![The Freight Goes Through 1952 Railroad Film [4K]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/sY3e0oTBGeU/mqdefault.jpg)
![The Freight Goes Through 1952 Railroad Film [4K]](/img/tr.png)
The postwar G-5 pacifics have welded boilers which is why most of the crown sheets staybolts held. I still hold my "Steam Traction Unit" certificate and I remember the first thing I was taught was the proper method of blowing down the water column and glass when taking over any boiler operation. As for removing gauges, the Canadian Pacific was called a "Scottish Railway". They would not spend a nickel of they could get away with four cents. If a gauge was installed it was needed.
Thank goodness the Canadians thought ahead. If she didn't have that design for her boiler, she would of definitely be destroyed in a massive explosion. Thanks for your input!
1278's boiler is riveted. You can clearly see this when touring Age of Steam Roundhouse and seeing 1278's boiler, as she is stored without jacketing. Only 2 of the CP G5's (1216 and 1231) featured welded boilers. If you read the NTSB's Accident Report on the GETY 1278 incident, the staybolt design allowed the firebox to "progressively fail", i.e., do exactly what it did during the Gettysburg incident. It was the button-head staybolts that were quite literally made to fail in those situations, not the boiler itself, that kept Gettysburg from being much worse (and possibly deadly). Sorry, I hate to be a know-it-all here but there is so much misinformation flying around on this video that people are going to start believing some of the innaccuracies.
@@Thunderbolt_1000_Siren hey thunderbolt, can you do the Santiago de compostella high speed rail disaster in july?
@@bmptrainz7980 Most of the G-5's had riveted boiler barrels, wrappers, and mudrings but the firebox was welded. The button headed staybolts were NOT made to fail, the firebox was designed in such a way that the type of stays used were alternated and staggered, 5 rows of button headed stays, then 5 rows of flush stays that were seal welded, then back to button, etc. This pattern went across the full length of the crown. The theory being the seal welded flush stays would let go first in a low water situation, and the button head stays would hold up the rest of the sheet resulting in a slow, progressive failure that would allow steam to escape in a semi-controlled manner through the holes left by the Flush stays instead of failing all at once. This will gradually depressurize the boiler, and avoid a full explosion. In the case of conventional fireboxes with ALL button headed or peened over stays, it would have ended in a boiler launch. This unique firebox construction is the reason why 1278 had no fusible plugs. It sucks that the firebox's failure mode theory was proven on such an Iconic Engine to Early Steam Excursions in the US at Steamtown and the High Iron Company, and my personal favorite Engine (especially when she was dressed up as 127) but the Crown Sheet failed in the way her boiler designers had expected in that case. It should have never happened in the first place, but it certainly could have been much worse and many more people would have been hurt or killed if she wasn't designed the way she was.
@@steamandsmoke97 In a scenario like the one at Gettysburg the staybolts were precisely made to fail. They were intended to fail in stages instead of all at once, creating a catastrophic release of pressure. Read the NTSB report, it says it right in there that the planned-failure of those staybolts is what kept damage and injuries from being much much worse.
Remember kids - this is why you always maintain your equipment.
*proceeds to clean out every game console and game I have*
@@thereallincolntakanashi lol
Even your 1500 ton steam engine? Lol
Definitely! Getting scalded is a bad way to die.
Are you a kid too
It's hard to convince a man that receives 2nd and 3rd degree burns to over 60% of his body that he was lucky.
Feel awful for those poor guys
Poor guys were almost killed !
Why are we talking like this ?
Well when the alternative is *death*...
@@scottl.1568
Yes, death would technically be worse, but at the time, the pain and suffering that person will be going thru is so immense that death could seem like a better option.
Unbelievable that they operated a very complicated steam engine, and didn’t really know how to maintain it.
Its very hard to find people experienced in steam locomotives today they are either dead or very old the last new American steam locomotive was built like 1953 !
Bud I have some devastating news for you about the general public and their cars
@@Ineptus_Mechanicus came here to say the exact thing. We drive multiton vehicles of death and some barely know to check their tire pressure.
@@Sparkfly88 nothing is more baffling/absurd to me that some people who drive don't even know how to replace their air filter or spark plugs. Never had the thought till recently. And some people don't think they need to signal/yield..? 😭 What are you doing, do you not understand what you're doing/what's happening when you get in a car 😂
Lack of investment unfortunately
As an ex-fireman on a British heritage steam railway, I would like to think that we train our staff rather better than seems to have been the case here. It was certainly hammered into me the importance of ensuring that the water glasses worked properly before the boiler reached full pressure (for safety, we have 2 on British locos, not 1) and the importance of ensuring that there was an adequate level of water in the boiler at all times. You can never be too careful on anything to do with steam locos.
Even as just an ex-Loco Cleaner on the NNR and BVR, and _very_ briefly a Penrhyn fireman: same thoughts here.
For what it's worth, you can't be too careful about much of anything with steam under pressure... Just a damn pressure cooker's enough to blast a hole in the ceiling with no more than beans in it...
Jam a water-heater's release valve and it can destroy an entire house in the "launch"... It's not likely anymore... BUT it's happened in the past...
AND a buddy of mine got a mail-ordered "miniature donkey engine" he could assemble and operate on a table-top... It would do small tasks, with about the amount of torque and speed of a 1.5 HP Electric Motor... and he ran the boiler hot and dry, and blew out the front gallery window and wall to his house... wrecked the living room and about half the porch... I can remember him running and screaming and swearing out the back door of his house just before it went...
...and luckily, nobody else was home at the time...
Never laughed so hard in my life as when I overheard his conversation with dispatch (911) over how and why he needed fire and rescue... AND the first words exchanged when his wife and kids showed up about a half hour later... ;o)
@@gnarthdarkanen7464 did he turn single that day?
@@SonsOfLorgar No... BUT there was certainly a "Come to Jesus Meeting" that carried on at high decibels in their yard for a while...
Luckily, he didn't outright destroy the house, and the worst of the damage was to that front gallery and porch, so it was imminently fixable...
She'd known he was a tad "hair-brained" when they first started dating, so it's not like this was entirely "out of nowhere" for him, either... BUT he'll be watching p's and q's for years to come... and it's not going to take away from my entertainment in overhearing their usual conversations. ;o)
The engineers don't wave from the trains anymore, not like they did back in 1954.
Reminds me of the photo of a large yellow sticker on some industrial machine:
"CAUTION: THIS MACHINE HAS NO BRAIN, USE YOUR OWN!"
those decals are on ebay-got a few for my stuff!!
“THIS MACHINE WANTS TO CRUSH AND MANGLE YOU, AND MAY AMUSE ITSELF BY NOT KILLING YOU AFTER TURNING YOU INTO A CRIPPLE!!” - a more realistic warning sign. Should have been on the robot that started up while a maintenance guy was working on it.
“LOCK OUT AND TAG OUT!” and don't give your padlock key to anyone. Let the next shift guy put his own padlock on it. Then take yours off and put it in your pocket.
Ok now that's hilarious. This should be in more vehicles and machines than you'd think
Thunderbolt 1000 Siren Productions Fancy catching you 16 seconds on the fly. Nice video btw dude.
@@Thunderbolt_1000_Siren what's that music at the end of the video
It's amazing how so many disasters were the result of some minor thing that either got neglected or just overlooked.
Chris Jones Usually a comedy of errors, similar to airliner crashes. One thing leads to another.
Often a whole 🚆 of errors, if any one of which had not happened, the bad thing wouldn't have happened.
@@algrayson8965 why the inquiry is so interesting
Yes, that’s true. In fact that’s why I was born.
A similar story with the collings foundation b-17 air crash. A culture of undertrained maintenance and willingness to proceede with faulty equipment.
The zombies theme caught me off guard but, surprisingly, it fits
I’m thinking the same thing
Me 2 Saber. Me 2
I was hoping someone had said this, it brought so much nostalgia it was crazy.
Yes
Ikr, I heard it and was like "Is that the zombies theme from black ops"
This was a true tragedy, as 1278 had been completely restored by Steamtown (Vermont) and was highly regarded as a great locomotive, easy operating, and responsive to the touch. I'd love to see her run again. She deserved better.
Thankfully, the Age of Steam Roundhouse plans on fully restoring her at some point.
She does deserve better and I really think there are enough of us who love them that it would be too much work to get volunteers to take the project on. The expense would be parts... And even at that, how many people have connections to get things done. I am also a major WW2 Aviation person and am part of the volunteer call list for historical airplanes. Don't want a dime... Just love the planes and being part of the history.
@@greggarner4477 Keep up the great dedication, fellow lover of the beasts that wreaked havoc in the skies from 1939-1945.
Boiler explosion: occurs
Black ops zombie theme: hey
I was waiting for some else to make this comment haha
That would be for nukes duh
And that's how zombies became popular...
Hey it's serious side😐😶
Black Ops Theme the Best one🙃
This is so painful to watch. All of this could've been prevented if they actually followed the maintenance procedures/schedule correctly.
It is also an example of "if anything CAN go wrong, sooner or later it will".
@@smitajky- 100% neglect and incompetence.
Yep, one outfit's carelessness caused a lot of hardship for every other tourist railroad.
It's a "belt and braces" matter IMO - there were multiple points of failure and even though the crew were not properly trained, the disaster would probably not have occured if the operating guages hadn't been removed. You should _not_ operate any machinery, and _certainly not_ in the proximity of the public/ customers, with inoperative or removed gauges - gauges are _not_ there for decoration, _ever!_
You are so correct
your statement has been repeated a countless number of times it all comes down to companies refusing to spend money on maintenance
The low-quality microphone that you use paied with the good music just gives this channel early-2000’s RUclips vibe
The kind of age I grew up with if I'm honest. I'm quite old school :P
I remember reading an accident report on this incident. The Canadian Pacific crown sheet was riveted with special double headed rivets in certain spots that if the crown sheet failed like it did the second head of the special rivets would hold and lest the steam out without exploding. Which saved the lives of the crew.
You can read the entire NTSB report online. It’s sadly fascinating
This is why British steam locomotives are fitted with fuseable plugs. If the temperature is too high then the lead core melts and allows water to drench the fire, preventing an explosion
Same here in NZ
same in Germany
Good
This here is America! we like big booms! Just kidding, I’m actually interested in seeing how that works.
British steam locomotives over American ones any time, they're prettier too 😢
Steam doesn’t “trickle” anywhere, it moves with extreme force and heat, and is very dangerous if you don’t maintain your equipment and follow the safety rules and practices!!!
“Pussed in the pishton.” Absolutely crucial step.
When steam was king ,people were trained for steam.
Thousands of people are still "trained for steam" the problem is that there are those who believe that it is a simple machine and behave accordingly. It is not simple. It is easier to design a diesel-electric locomotive than a good steam locomotive which explains, in a way, why there are so few good ones. Plenty of adequate, quite a few less than adequate, but good? If you are wanting a design which includes the best of mechanical design combined with best thermodynamic practice you will be looking for a very long time. There were steps along the way, some designs were produced but little or nothing was built.
@@DeCasoU1- The most efficient designs of railway steam locomotives used water tube boilers similar to ones used on ships and power plants. Unfortunately water tube boilers do not as well under varying loads and do not withstand the heavy shocks of railway operation, so they never became popular.
William schlenger so you’re saying a vertical boiler is an inherently safer design ???
I thought the horizontal boiler was a more efficient design
This was directed to tugiron chief
@@algrayson8965 The most efficient steam locomotives were built by Andre Chapelon and Livio Dante Porta . With not a water tube boiler in sight.
When the locomotive is climbing a grade, the water in the boiler runs toward the back where the firebox is, raising the water level over the top of the firebox.
As the locomotive approaches the crest or top of the grade, the fireman, knowing that the water will run toward the front of the boiler, lowering the water level over the firebox. So the fireman pumps more water into the boiler to make sure that the top of the firebox (crownsheet) always has water over it, typically 3” minimum. If the locomotive is going to be traveling downgrade, causing the water to run forward even more. The fireman pumps more water into the boiler to ensure that the water never allows the crown sheet (top) of the firebox to be uncovered.
The railroad management failed to train the employees.
Almost all steam locomotives have three means of pumping water into the boiler: one feedwater pump and two injectors. Large locomotives would have two feedwater pumps.
Injectors are fast but inefficient; feedwater pumps are efficient but slower.
The NTSB examines and makes recommendations. The FRA (Federal Railroad Administration) commands with the force of law.
Every “Live Steam” club that I have ever heard of in the USA is very strict about boiler safety and wheel profiles and gaging. One boiler failure could have severe backlash against all Live Steam clubs in the country. Hard-soldered copper boilers are almost a thing of the past. Almost all new boilers are stainless steel, seamless pipe with the bulkheads welded in by certified high pressure steam vessel welders.
Restored steam locomotives, rather than replacing old boilers with new ones, typically operate at reduced pressures, reducing power and fuel efficiency. Eventually they will have to be replaced.
You may have noticed that in the cross-sectional drawing of a boiler, the top (crown sheet) of the firebox is not level, rather inclined toward the front. This places the part most vulnerable to being exposed by low water at the front of the firebox farthest from the firing door and cab. If the crown sheet fails by pulling down from the staybolts, the steam will blow through the bolt holes in the crown sheet, blowing the firebed out through the grates and the bottom of the firebox. This saves the boiler from a catastrophic explosion, which can rip the boiler from the locomotive frame and hurl it end-over-end through the air.
If you want to know why the FRA has a 1472-day rebuild policy for steam locomotives, look no further than this massive accident. While the 1278 might never operate again, thank goodness that she survived that accident. The 1278 is now on permanent display at the Ohio Central Railroad Roundhouse Museum in Sugarcreek, Ohio, alongside her Steamtown running mate 1293.
I did some volunteer work in my late teens & early 20s on a local non-profit museum and tourist line as a fireman on a steam locomotive, and the first things I was taught were how to blow down the water glass and test the valve cogs. This exact incident was used as an example of just why it was so important. Because of this the worst things we ever dealt with were the occasional sticky valve. Man, if my life wasn't as busy as it was today, I'd still be volunteering... I miss being in the cab, even if I was just shoveling coal, lol.
10:16 How does no one notice that something is up? The train sounds like a cow choking on a trumpet for Pete’s sake!
Trust me. It is very easy for the abnormal to become the normal. I have seen it happen quite a bit in my 23 years on the railroad
‘a cow choking on a trumpet’ WORD CHOICE 100 (not making fun just a joke)
I had a loose heat shield rattling under my car for 6 months. I got so used to it that it seemed weird for a few days after it was fixed to actually not have it rattling. You just get used to it.
People in general aren't taught to recognize the unique differences between sounds of steam engines, let alone identify fatal problems. If you're not an engineer who really knows the subject, nobody believes you'd be the guy who saved the day.
It's a good thing AND a bad thing that people get used to ANYTHING. It's a good thing because it makes them survive through times of war/disaster/human loss, it's a bad thing because all abnormalities become normal after some time.
Never heard of this incident until today.
Overall well presented and informative.
The moment I heard "poorly maintained" and saw "many gauges were removed," I knew it would only get worse.
Remember to schedule maintenance of your equipment or else it will schedule maintenance for you.
NASA even has a thing about it, it is a a good lesson for planning, managing, safety, and why rules exist!
"The better care you take of your tools, then the better care your tools will take of you."
~ my High School Auto-Tech' Teacher, Mr. Grady ;o)
Repent to Jesus Christ
““I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”
John 15:5 NIV
Now that's what I call... *removes sunglasses*... Shaking hands with Danger.
*guitar riff*
A man of culture I see. I remember being shown that when working with the mines.
@@davidharing6475 thats so cool!
I lived near this when it happened, a friend and his wife were on the train. She was a RN and ran up to help the crew.
"Phishton" -- Thunderbolt 2020
13:25 “Shtricter inshpection”
piston broke
"Blitzkrieg"-- Blitzkrieg 1973. I Type that, because, Blitzkrieg was running, on all Eight, in 1973 and it is the same year my Mom had a Backdraft, thus, i was born.
I wrote this and then saw this
I’m sorry
I have fallen and i can't reach my keg godzilla had a stroke trying to read this and fucking died
We had something similar happen here in South Australia when a boiler plug blew out into the firebox of locomotive 520. The fully enclosed cab was filled with super heated steam. The driver brought the train to a stop before jumping out and died soon after. Also killed was a well known radio personality who was in the cab recording the sound of the locomotive.
I can’t find any info on this one, which radio presenter was it?
Steamranger is an accident waiting to happen, as much as it’s such a big part of my childhood I really don’t see it’s viability in the next few years- the tracks are unmaintained, half the locos are sitting in the yard and in sheds doing piss all (even though many of them like the old STA rail car locos are ready for service) and overall I think it needs a big overhaul. I can’t comment on the condition of the locos, visually and audibly they look and sound fine (haven’t been through in over a year however) but I unfortunately don’t see it continuing later than the next 5-10 years.
@@jnthepassenger347 Surprisingly, I can't find anything about it either. If I remember right, it happened sometime in the mid to late 1980's between Mt. Barker and Strathalbyn. Can't remember if there were two or three deaths, but I do recall several people in the cab had to jump for their lives while the driver stayed on to be sure the train stopped, so the passengers would be safe.
I used to sing on the trains and at the Gettysburg station for the Gettysburg Railroad. There has been a lot of sadness associated with the line, but I miss it as a passenger operation and as a venue to sing railroad songs.
hey ... you can still do you singing about trains. After all, Arlo Guthrie had a big hit about one ...
I’m addicted to your documentaries. As a locomotive engineer for Norfolk southern. I appreciate these.
The engineers don't wave from the trains anymore, not like they did back in 1954.
TACTICAL BOILER INCOMING!!!!
EDIT: Uh, never mind. No explosion.
XD
[pop]
*steam shutters out*
Lol
he exaggerates boiler explosions. They cannot level a city block (unless that block is very small) typically a boiler explosion will just kill the crew and anyone close by (or unlucky enough to get hit by shrapnel)
Gotta love tactical boilers
I've heard about the Gettysburg boiler explosion, I thought the whole boiler explode, but it was only just a backdraft in the fire. Thank God no one was killed!
Boiler (firebox) failed, so yes explosion although by design controlled. The sudden dumping of water flashing to steam on the fire caused it to backdraft into the cab. This has also happened in Australia when a fusible plug failed.
This was NOT a back draft! A back draft occurs when a fire is starved for oxygen, and suddenly gets it from an unexpected source, causing the fire to violently erupt. This incident was a partial failure of the crown sheet (the roof of the firebox) due to the steel crown sheet overheating when there was not sufficient water covering it. The excessive heat on the bare crown sheet softened it, allowing it to buckle downward into the firebox. As it buckled, it tore away from the stay bolts that support it, allowing the steam from the boiler to escape explosively into the firebox. The reasons for the insufficient water level are covered in detail in his presentation. I only wish he had cited the changes to steam locomotives mandated by the FRA and NTSB as a result of the incident
The 3 replies that precede mine are more correct than the video script. NOT a boiler explosion, NOT a backdraft. Hearsay at the time was wildly incorrect (I lived in Biglerville), largely because the people speaking and listening did not have the knowledge or vocabulary. Explosive, yes, in that flames and extreme heat moved extremely rapidly, pushed by steam pressure, but not an explosion. The flame and heat movement looked and acted similar to a backdraft because it moved swiftly and spread out, and flared up , but it was not truely a backdraft (fire where combustion has been constrained due to meager oxygen rushes toward a new source of abundant oxygen with devastating speed and effect). The crown sheet was partially exposed and part of it failed, but it did not rupture or "blow"; both are catastrophic and deadly, differing only in extent of damage. The boiler did not explode, but it did not remain intact and lost integrity while under pressure.
@Paul Zeigler He died 9 years later of a heart condition. But the heart condition could be related to the burns.
i've only spent about an hour helping out in a steam engine cab shoveling coal and even i was taught how to blow down the glass and check the gauge cocks. it's pretty much the most important thing in the cab.
How does blowing the glass work?
@@smolboy1237 there's a vent valve at the bottom that just blows it out to atmosphere
“ living beasts within a steel jacket”
Shed 17 fans:
No no no nnnnooooooooooooooooo no shed 17 not again not here no
oh no
Just to nitpick. I believe the Gettysburg Address was delivered at the cemetery not the train station.
Technically the speach was given on a section of battle field that would later become the cemetery.
Correct (Biglerville and Gettysburg is my backyard and I grew up here)
That is correct.
I think he meant to say Lincoln arrived at that station to give the Address
You are not nitpicking. The video is completely wrong in stating that.
Steamtown also kinda got cucked when they traded the 1278 for the 3254 since the 3254 had bent frames effectively making it unsuitable for running (even though they ran it for over 2 decades lmao). On the other hand 1278 only really needed a flue change and some boiler work from what I heard and it would have been ready to go. Instead, it got shipped off to a railroad which didnt know how the f*ck to maintain their own equipment.
Lack of funds to keep supporting 3254 and other equipment. Not only that I caught 3254 10yrs ago during memorial day weekend before retried in 2012
Even worse is that they parted out 3377, which had been outshopped by CN shortly before retirement and had less than 5,000 miles on the overhaul and was in beautiful mechanical shape, to keep 3524 running over the years. So really, two locomotives got screwed over by 3524.
@@TheD1CT4T0R- Good to see that NC&StL Ry. ALCO J-3 576 4-8-4 is, after being a pigeon latrine for 67 years is now under a complete overhaul. Amazingly it looks like the boiler, after a thorough descaling, will pass inspection for full pressure (250 psi). All of the major equipment is at least in overhaulable condition. Plans are to pull excursions on the Nashville & Eastern RR (former Tennessee Central Ry.) between Nashville and Cookeville or Monterey, Tn. where the N&E RR track ends.
@@TheD1CT4T0R ?
@@joeyknight8272 Steamtown USA had bought CN 3377, another Canadian National S-1 Mikado, in 1969 and it was in excellemy shape. But in transit to Bellows Falls copper thieves stole a lot of the fittings and jewelry and so Steamtown never restored it to operation. Then, over the years they've robbed the lead and trailing trucks, tender and other parts off it to keep 3254 going. From what I've heard, the machining marks are still present on the bearing surfaces, it has that few miles on it. One rumor is that they're going to swap the parts back to #3377 and return her to operation and then put the old parts back on #3254 and leave her as a display piece
I live in Gettysburg I remember when this happened a year or two before this happened we had our son on the Christmas train he was around 3-4 years old at the time I had heard there were some maintenance issues after it blew up but never realized it was this poorly maintained
"You have caused enough confusion and Delay today James"
-Sir Topham hat
Underrated comment. You win
Nice XD
Thomas had never seen such bullshit
James let off steam and let out a small shower of water.
1278 nearly killed a few people.
Luckily no one was hurt
0:57 "The pressure puses the pishton"
Nice
r/ihadastroke
Dyslexia wor the fin
Spoonerism ftw
That was some funny shit. I'd have re-done that take...
@@stepansoukup8571 😂
Everything’s chill until that Call of Duty Zombies theme drops
Thomas Burk lol (breakfast)
Walker Dalton I feel like whenever I comment, someone always says something about the profile picture
Thomas Burk same
I felt nostalgic when I heard it haha
@Simon Read maybe
So it's basically the train version of Chernobyl. Awesome. Thank you spelling it all out for me. People ignoring safety, protocols and the cause of the Chernobyl disaster was because of a reactor operating at too much power that caused 2 steam explosions in the core. This is basically the situation at Chernobyl but people weren't really in denial after the incident
Actually, the issue was Chernobyl was running at too low power.
Nuclear physics doesn't always follow conventional logic.
Good example of the necessity of regulations to keep things running. My father was a fireman on a C&NW Berkshire. (2-8-4) He never lost his love of trains, even though he did it for a short time. World War II intervened.
Fun fact: the four locomotives that operate on Cedar Point's miniature railroad are authentic narrow-gauge locomotives that operated in freight yards.
OwO
ha ha .. "authentic" - based on what ???
@@rhuephus they're not based on anything. They are actual locomotives that were used in something freight around on narrow gauge coal yards.
CP 1278: yay I love existing
Gettysburg Railroad: I'm about to end this man's whole carrer
Lol
It’s a steam locomotive, not a man
@@trainguy611 ik
@@trainguy611 a Locomotive of any kind can have a male or a female personality, it depends on the locomotive. This hole "every Locomotive is a she" is very silly to me.
2718 : 1278!!!!!! ARE YOU OKAY!?!?!
This accident did bring about the newer boiler regulations for locomotives [main line excursion and tourist lines], but much of it is the regs and standard operating practices that were in place when this accident occurred, and if they had been followed this accident may not have happened. What is now covered are more intensive NDT that were mandated and stricter boiler hours in service.
Fortunately, no one was killed or further injuries. Not so six years later at the Medina County [Ohio] Fair when a steam traction engine blew up, killing 5 and injuring 47. That accident was very similar. In Ohio, steam traction engines were not covered at the time. Operator error and ignorance [not stupidity, just not knowing] were prime cause.
Thanks for this. It clears up some of the issues I'd heard about. I'm pleased that nobody died, and to tell the truth I'm basically frightened of steam boilers, but that's never prevented me from poking around steam engines of all types.
I began volunteering for the Hocking Valley Scenic Railway a couple of years after this. Tourist railroads like ours had been exempt from Federal laws that required regular boiler inspections, but the Gettysburg incident ended that, and our enormous steam locomotive was placed beneath a canvas cover. I never had a chance to work on it or with it.
It was my contention that we had the manpower (and womanpower) to remove the boiler lagging, etc., to permit a proper inspection, but nobody seemed to want to try that.
Operations continued with a huge blue General Motors diesel electric locomotive. My spouse Natalie, more popular with the railroad's hierarchy than I ever was, got to drive the thing once. I never did.
But I had great fun working on the railroad anyway. You haven't lived until you've had to hand wax a concert-grand diesel locomotive (it took six of us.) We laid and repaired track (that Gettysburg track looks even worse than ours did) and painted, and painted some more. I personally shoveled eight zillion tons of ballast and never could hit the head of a spike with one of those weird hammers. So they let me use the jackhammer.
It was very good male therapy, which I sorely needed at that part of my life. No, I'm not a rail fan: I don't know if our steam locomotive was a 4-4-0 or a B-52, and it was always fun to have some fanatic begin asking about the proper number of wheels on the trucks when I was lying under a railroad car with a bucket of paint.
The HVSR is still in business, though I've moved on: as often happens in an all-volunteer outfit a period of bitter politics ensued after a few years, and that I did not need. But I treasure the memories and the experience.
A number of our guys were working up at Sugarcreek, so I assume that they're still deciding what to do with that locomotive. I understand that the HVSR managed to have an entire new boiler manufactured for a lovely little switch engine that someone restored, but I haven't seen it in operation.
We had a horrible steam tractor boiler explosion here in Ohio some years back, and now those devices are subject to state inspection. Crown sheet, as usual, several fatalities.
Mark Kinsler Lancaster, Ohio
I have a tough feeling that the accident clip is going to be nasty.
The Moz Stop motion, Exploration and Reinactments me too
Ya
I have a gut feeling about too
Yep
what? there is no video of it
I'll take The locomotive smells and sounds to my grave. When I was young (circa 1950's) my dad used to take my brother and me to Union Station in Columbus, down to track level. We would stand just feet away from those giants as they belched steam and smoke into my lungs. And the chug chug sounds were music to my ears. Better and simpler days.
Nothing like the smell of a steam train!
This just reminds me of 477.059, the last operational steam locomotive of the class 477.0 in Czechoslovakia. In 1981, at the Ostrava locomotive depot, 477.059 was quite famous among railway fans in the communist Czechoslovakia. Even when there were already preserved engines 013, 043 and 060 (all of them still exist), the 059 was believed to be a museum-worthy piece; but only before the boiler pressure test, which resulted in a situation just like this, and the crew was badly injured. The engine was not destroyed (like if the boiler exploded), but against the will of the Ostrava depot, to which 477.059 belonged, now former Czechoslovakian State Railways made an order to sell it for scrapping. the only piece, that survived from the 477.059 is one pair of wheels, which is to this day placed in front of the Ostrava Main Station building...
It’s so painful to see a steam locomotive be treated and eventually thrown away like that, there are so few of them left today, that any one lost or put out of service just seems irreplaceable and like your watching an endangered animal slowly go extinct
Wow, I never knew any bad accidents happened on that railroad! I live just a few miles away from Gettysburg. The whole family is eager to watch the premiere this evening!
The description of the air compressor pump as sounding like an “asthmatic cow” was so apt and funny, in a sad way, thank goodness the accident was nowhere near as bad as it could, possibly should, have been. 😢😀👍🇬🇧🏴
My dad participated in a program that helped fund operations of Pere Marquette 1225 located in Owasso Michigan. They allow people to operate the engine for a one hour period. In order for my dad to participate, he had to take course on steam boiler operations and get a license.
I love the fact that he’s using relaxing undertale music to explain trains
As I recall, this mishap along with an explosion of a steam tractor resulted in the tourist railway industry getting ahead of the situation by developing regulations recommended for the federal government to enforce. The tourist railway industry recognized that if there were not strict operational guidelines, a serious explosion could mean steam engines could be outlawed. The rules revised previous regulations designed for engines in daily service and replaced them with realistic rules for tourist engines which usually operate much less.
When I heard they had to hook up another diesel engine to make it over the hill, I knew they were screwed. That had to be a VERY POORLY maintained POS to not be able to make it over the hill pulling 5 or 10 passenger cars.
Right
Yeah lol.
A well maintained train would have made it with many more cars up the hill
Unless you know the actual loading of the train and the grades on the line, you can't possibly say that. (Though, from the other evidence, 1278 was very poorly maintained. I feel sorry for her).
Sounds like it wasn’t maintained. It had many gauges removed and I seriously doubt they EVER opened the nose to clean the boiler tubes.
@@PrivateMcPrivate If you really knew what you were talking about, you would not refer to a locomotive as a train.
This was a very good documentary, and very informative too. I didn't once get bored and I was interested to hear you explain more. I'm subbing
Glad you enjoyed!
@@Thunderbolt_1000_Siren Mr siren production I feel bad for locomotive 1278 and I am very angry at the crew that they are not been trained probably and too it really hurts my heart that 1278 suffers a backtrath explosion it really does but why they haven't fixed 1278's firebox crounsheet yet I'm seriously anxious I only want to see her running back to steam again that's all I want to see her.
On swedish locomotives there is a plug in the top of the firebox that melts when it gets to hot, this makes steam get out in the firebox and cab so that the crew notise that something is wrong.
Maybe you americans should try it?
Kind of like the emergency release valve on my pressure cooker which is made in Switzerland.
For twenty - two years I ran a machine that used an electric steam boiler as part of several systems. At first, I had great support from management and was able to carry out all of my preventative maintenance religiously. Then in came the bean counter and I found myself being pulled away while the machine was still running to do other jobs. I was given two weeks ( full eighty hours) of training to run the unit but found myself being forced to train my substitutes in just two hours. Several safety systems were bypassed to make the unit run faster. Since I was signing off on the maintenance check lists, I continued to do all of the tasks by skipping my breaks and using that time for the maintenance. I complained to the higher ups to no avail but kept a diary to cover my ass. It was a miserable time in my work life. I can see how this locomotive, which must have been meticulously cared for, wound up be so neglected.
Eventually, they got rid of the unit and outsourced the job. The bean counter was given a slow push out the door and replaced by a less noxious director. I was able to remain employed there doing other tasks.
I have seen those too on finnish steam locomotives. I have seen two tubes coming from boiler, one water filling and second that emergency thing. And of course that third which outputs steam.
This specific safe guard is a British invention and used still to this day
we do its called a fusible plug and its made of tin to melt when the crown sheet gets hot
We've actually long since transitioned to diesel electric.
The live video and the pump sound of 1278 at 10:15 is quite scary...
My taste in in locomotives and trains brought me here.
**Violently vomiting clouds**
"Steam locomotives are one of the most elegant..."
That's normal for a steamer to do that. Means she's working hard.
When I was a little boy I rode on the "Yreka Western Rail Road" tourist steam train called the "Blue Goose." After the company went belly up the Age of Steam bought the locomotive. I wish I lived closer, so I could go see her.
The staybolts were what saved the crew. The builder specifically designed the firebox to use crown staybolts with smaller heads, so that in the event of low water, the crown sheet would soften and pull away from the staybolts, resulting in a tiny leak, bleeding off pressure slowly to prevent a catastrophic flash-boil that would rip the boiler apart.
according to the official NTSB report, there were actually 310 passengers on this train
Con rail: **exists as a company**
Me: *sounds reliable*
Conrail put new York dock railway and brooklyn eastern district terminal out of business !
The steam locomotive is as close to a living thing that mankind has ever made...
"Living beasts within a steel jacket"
Are you saying Thomas the Tank Engine is an Eva?
?
Well technically Thomas was 01. So plot twist the others are also Eva’s. 😂😂
Omg that would explain so much!
Wait were is this can i get a time stamp
GET IN THE TANK ENGINE SHINJI!
Yeah this is scary what can happen on a tourism railroad
The good news is there's plenty of tourist lines that know what they're doing thankfully.
Thunderbolt 1000 Siren Productions yep is true and if you own a steam locomotive pls care of it because if you don’t this will happen
Yeah Diesel engine is a bit less explodedy when something goes wrong
@@Cpt_Boony_Hat The most that can happen is an engine fire, usually from a blown turbocharger. Gettysburg did also have one of their diesels experience an engine fire only adding on to their lack of maintenance.
@@Cpt_Boony_Hat ?? Try what happends with a brake air reservoir especially the loco's main high pressure one...
If you can get access to one, fill it up to normal full pressure (well above 5 bar), make sure that it can't leave (ie dig it down except for the valve, walk away 300 m and shot with a rifle on the reservoir....
The engine starter air is even nicer ....
It is a shame, through lack of training, maintenance and the incident that this train is off the rails, missing parts should always be replaced, as it’s a safety issue. Maybe one day she will run again, we can only hope she will.
It always saddens me deeply when these old steam Engines get left to collect dust. Hi had a dream when I was 6 about an old Victorian railways station that was full of abandoned steam engines covered by dust sheets and everything was dark and dusty and forgotten and I closed my eyes and opened them to a sudden change, now the station was alive and the trains were shine and ready to go and people bustling to and throw and trains coming in and going out. And then I woke up. In fact I had this dream the night before we were going to Cornwall on holiday and mum woke me at 3am and that’s probably why I remembered the dream. But it always felt significant to me and part of my life story. I love Steam Engines and I got to ride on the great Waverley along the Clyde. This is the most powerful and sufficient steam engine ever created.
are you referring to the big boy
I was on that train that night. Will never forget it. It was one of the things that made me want to be in EMS.
How loud was the explosion?
@@jackdundon2261 not at all. was like a whoosh or a big puff.
Me when I see thumbnail and title:did a boiler explode or did a railway explode
Friday, June 16, 1995, a crown sheet failure in the firebox of CPR 1278 burned three members of its crew. One man, James Cornell, the son of the owner of the engine, was critically injured. The train that the locomotive was pulling had 310 passengers on board. None of the passengers, who were taking the "Summer Eve Dinner Excursion" to Mount Holly Springs, were hurt.
Bust my boilers
@@pennsy6755 He said "All the passagers escaped serious injury all 100 of them."
@@AngelBrock1TubbySupporter8888 maybe he was wrong.
Suggestion:
Wreck of the Old 97, 117 years later
Ah, I love that song which was sung by my favorite country singer, Johnny Cash.
@@ricknegan1663 He's not talking about the song
@@florjanbrudar692 I know. I was just making a mention about it, since that’s how I heard and learned about the incident.
@@ricknegan1663 Same. When I first listened to it, I never knew that it was based on a true event. Good song, but sad true story.
@@thomastrain9308 True.
The crown sheet was always the Achilles' heel of the old steam locomotives.
It's pretty cool that you covered a disaster around the area that I live in. I honestly never thought I would hear the words "Biglervile" from anyone online.
Are the womerns there in Biglerville bigguns?
B I G L E R V I L L E
@@amare65 yes! Ugly too
I never heard of this story. As a member of a steam tug crew, I am glad that our tug is proper maintained and in germany we have a new boiler certificate every two years by the very, very strict boiler-inspector. The boiler and the gauges etc are compleetly checked inside and out, the metal is checked with ultrasonic equipment.
Glasses are proper blown down every few minutes and boiler de scaled and flushed regulary. You know why...
Sadly due to the virus there will be hardly any steam tour in 2020 and many maintenance houres to come, after the tug laying all the time up...
But the sound of the air compressor killed me... at 10:13 min.
Thank you for the lesson.
My grandson is a nut for trains and now I can tell him a little something.
I think you might give him nightmares.
My brother was a steam engine fanatic….well, all trains but especially steam engines. I had to stop watching this a few times before finally being able to watch a train video since we lost him to thyroid cancer 10 months ago today. If anything with your health seems off pursue it, get second and third opinions.
So sorry for your loss. I hate how many good people we lose to cancer. My aunt in the UK (who loves steam locomotives herself) and my mother both battled breast cancer and trust me its a slow and agonizing treatment that will likely stay for life so I know what its like. At least he's in a place where locomotives like NYC hudsons and PRR T1s still race each other to/from Chicago.
U make the most amazing train wreck documentaries ever
allah
he does make the most high quality ones tho
I subscribed to him AND Griffin rails.
@@pennsy6755 Allah is not real.
Never karas stop saying that word please
There were a couple of other tourist train accidents. The Texas State Railroad accident in 2007, where a rear passenger car from a passing train collided from a steam locomotive pulling the other train after being drifting onto the other track by that other train. and there’s the Royal Gorge Route Railroad accident in 2016. Where a conductor had fell off the rear end of the train, then the train had started going backwards and killing the conductor. Also I’m not sure you are going to do these in your series. But thanks for the history.
Might cover some of them if there's enough information.
Thunderbolt 1000 Siren Productions also I think the Texas State Railroad accident was in July 6th 2007, because in that one video of the accident it was said that it was July 6th 2007. And I also think maybe that Royal Gorge train conductor accident was in May 28th of 2016. Because in that Tomo News video about the accident it said it was Saturday was the day the accident had happened. Because that video that it was uploaded was uploaded in May 30th 2016.
I remember the Royal Gorge accident quite well. I grew up riding that train.
Ryan’s Colorado Rail Productions yeah. I had went to the Royal Gorge Route Railroad in 2016. Along with other train rides in Colorado. And even went to New Mexico by the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad in Chama, New Mexico. I’m going to have my vacation on this summer of 2020 to Texas. And even the Texas State Railroad. Which I’m going to be visiting it in July 3rd 2020. I’m also going to be visiting the Grapevine Vintage Railroad in Grapevine, Texas.
I rode the Royal Gorge Route Railroad in July of 2016. Two months after the accident.
I've ridden a steam engine before and they are just the best. I love em. I've suddenly become obsessed with trains.
Honestly, the amount of power generated by the pressure made from the simple act of basically just boiling water through different sized pipes is genuinely terrifying.
Life is fragile, one simple mistake, can let you and the others on the other world, or very ingured... we seem pretty strong but we aren't.
The Darwin Awards Committee is always looking for new contestants.
We are tomatoes on sticks. The battery-powered drill sitting on the table can seriously injure or kill by a simple mistake.
Tell me about it! I JUST had a near-death experience from which I escaped against the odds.
3 weeks ago I was sitting down at home right after waking up, doing nothing at all, when I suddenly experienced explosive pain in my neck and a massive headache, which turned out to be a subarachnoid brain hemorrhage, literally blood leaking in my brain where it doesn’t belong. This is a critical emergency in which people often die before they even reach the hospital. In my case I thought I just pulled a muscle in my neck real bad, and tried to tough it out, but ended up going to the ER twice in a week. They even gave me a CT scan of my head but didn’t find anything.
It wasn’t until I had a follow up visit with my primary doctor the next week, and I told her this whole story, and mentioned that the day before I saw her, I was lying down when I heard it begin raining, the soft sound of drizzle on the windows from the next room over. But then I realized it wasn’t raining at all, and this “water pouring sound” was actually coming from inside my head, and pulsing in rhythm with my heartbeat.
That’s when my doctor suddenly became very alarmed and said with everything I described, she’s concerned I might be having a brain aneurysm which is a blood vessel in your brain rupturing and very bad. She picked up the phone to send me IMMEDIATELY for an MRI the same afternoon.
After the MRI she calls and says they did find my brain has a small bleed that’s contained but they’re quite concerned it could bleed again except larger and catastrophically because it’s right near the main blood vessel feeding my brain 🧠 . 😳 So she gives me an urgent referral to a neurosurgeon in Milwaukee, who saw me 3 days later. I go in and discuss it with him and he says “There was a mixup in my office, I first learned about you today. If I had known about you on Tuesday (3d earlier), I would have had you come in immediately.” 👀 Then he on-the-spot admitted me to the hospital’s neuroscience wing, and sent me down to Radiology for a CTA scan of my brain.
They kept me for 5 days in the hospital (I’ve never been in the hospital before and I’m 39) and ran 5 different types of scans on my brain. Fortunately I am fine and nothing further happened. But wow man they monitored me like hawks, taking my vital signs every 20 minutes at first and doing basic neuro tests (raise each limb, stick your tongue out, squeeze the doctor’s hand, state the date, year, and where you are right now, etc.) and checking me every 2 hours the rest of my stay, even all through the night. I was like wow they are really being cautious for a guy who’s pain and headache have largely disappeared a few days before I arrived....
It wasn’t until a few days after I was discharged that I looked up “subarachnoid hemorrhage” and “vasospasms” that I discovered how serious the situation actually was. The statistics were something like this:
25% of patients die before reaching a hospital.
25% of patients die within the first 24h.
25% of patients suffer permanent brain damage and lifelong disability and may have to relearn basic tasks like how to make tea ☕️
25% of patients fully recover and life out a full life with no further impact.
I know you hear cliches about what it’s like to have a near death experience, but wow let me tell you it’s something you really can’t appreciate until it happens to you. It was the only time I have ever felt scared to die. I felt really upset about the fact I had so much more I planned and expected to do in my life, and now it might end right here? And I have so many hobbies and unbuilt model kits still in the box that I’ve all been planning to build someday. It felt so frustrating and such despair to face the prospect of my life coming to an abrupt premature end right here.
I also used to suffer severe depression for years and was very suicidal. Well this near death experience has really given me an eye opening perspective. I definitely feel differently now, about the length of my life, and the fact that my future is never guaranteed. It’s important to do things when you can, and not allow life to slip through your fingers waiting for the perfect time to arrive, because it might never arrive.
I definitely, definitely always thought this type of thing only happens “to other people.” Nobody in my family or even extended family has had anything like this happen to them. And the neurosurgeon was perplexed and unable to determine why it happened to me. He was somewhat baffled that I was doing so well and didn’t suffer any apparent damage. (And he did perform the best test - a “formal catheter angiogram” which was a huge production involving a dozen ppl working on me for 2h, inserting a tube in my hip into my femoral artery, and fishing this tube all the way up to my brain 😳 where it releases dye into my blood, so the X Ray will capture images of my brain’s blood vessels, which were really cool to see, it looks like the gnarly trunk of an old tree.)
@@Syclone0044 God was with you that day. I do not believe in "blind luck".
Ok, I'M SO EXCITED FOR THIS! Never actually heard about this. But didn't Google it, "spoiler"
Us railfans have a Romantic view of Steam - but once in a blue moon you hear an old locomotive man Cursing steamers as dangerous, nasty machines from hell
I live like half an hour from Gettysburg and I recognize places from this video
I took a ride on this line, I don't remember when but it was early 90's. It was a long ass ride too, over 2hours. I remember the double decker observation car and standing at the front of the locomotive as we were steaming back to Gettysburg.
Nicely Done! Also, I hve a Train Wrecks recommendation for u: The 1951 Woodbridge, NJ Derailment AKA The Wreck of the Broker
7:55 *BOOM*
POP! *WHEESSSSSHHHHH!!!*
Please do a documentary on the Chicago O'hare train station collision that happened in 2014
My dad told me about a Union Pacific that derail and leaked toxic liquid and killed a few people
In Nebraska.
Basically a steam locomotive is a high maintenance pain in the ass !
My dad was a huge rail fan and he instilled his love of trains into me at a young age. Even though the steam era was long past by the time I came along, dads love for steam locomotives makes me love them too. They truly do seem to be alive. Unfortunately, dad passed away in 2008 and never got to see a Big Boy under steam again. His favorite though, and mine too, was always N W 611 which was shown early in the video. It's my dream to someday take an excursion behind 611 with my kids and grands. WHEN that happens, I'll be holding a picture of dad the whole time. Thank you for all of your videos.
I've chased and rode 611 during her visit at Strasburg. It was incredible seeing an engine I always dreamed of seeing but I thought "Oh they'll never let it run anywhere near me" but sure enough they announced that she'd visit Strasburg alongside 475 and my friends all hurried down on the 1st weekend. Even got her "lucky ashes" raining on us while we stood on the observation car right by 611. I also plan one day to take my girlfriend and our future children to these kinds of railroads especially New Hope to see 40 (Cause that was my childhood seeing that triumphant little 2-8-0) I'm sure you're father will be proud of you. Not sure of 611's current location but trust me she's gonna be active for quite a while.
The engineers don't wave from the trains anymore, not like they did back in 1954.
Stumbled onto your channel earlier today and really love your videos. I've done some radio PSAs for charities on the radio and other voiceovers so if you ever want help on that end, let me know. I'm looking foward to the next one! :)
Glad you enjoyed! Thanks for the offer to help. I'll let you know if I need additional voices.
Thank you sir for putting all the work into this video. I feel sad.
CP 1278s last year in operation. But still in preservation, and being found at the Age Of Steam Roundhouse in Sugarcreek, Ohio.
It won't be restored to operation,it's being used as a parts source for 1293.As I understand it,Gettysburg had almost non existent maintenance.Some time before the explosion,1278 had a really bad flue leak,and they ran it anyway (Revelation had a video on this).
@@johnwrigley1624 it is sad that it won’t be returning to service. It is another beautiful steam locomotive. I do hope we won’t have an incident like this again.
Oh man I remember this accident. Lived in New Oxford during my teen years, and actually wanted to work on the Gettysburg, but my family and I moved...always wondered *what if* I HAD gotten a job there...
Steam trains and mechanical bits that make them work are, to me, a work of engineering art.
The mona-Lisa in mechanical form.
A steam locomotive is like a nuclear reactor running
@Libturds Suck How shall I put it, have you ever heard of warships that use nuclear fuel? Such is an example. Although the locomotive was powered by steam. Even so, the way the nuclear reactor works with a steam engine is almost the same
@@azaabazha If I'm wrong, I'm sorry. Correct and teach me and other people to better understand and really understand about steam engines 🙏🙏
But in my opinion, steam and nuclear reactor work is almost the same (doesn't mean the same) So the picture is, let's just say that coal is nuclear Rot and the nuclear pool is like a coal furnace on a steam train. Both materials conduct heat energy, and each requires water to stabilize the heat so that it does not exceed the specified limit. So in essence, if the heat energy exceeds heat and there is a lack of water's role to neutralize this heat energy, there will be a high pressure because it is caused by this heat energy. More or less like that a picture that can be conveyed, if it's wrong, please correct it and give instructions so that I can re-correct what I have learned.
Same process. Different fuels.
Wow, I didn't realize that steam locomotives were that complex.
Gabriel Harrison , Any large machine that operates on steam is complex and needs daily or more frequent checks and maintained , that's why they require a stationary engineer .
Even then, they were simplified from engineering designs, and had some risks from lack of failsafes.
0:56 remember, the steam sushes the pishton
Thanks for thing.
There are still a few steam engine passenger excursions in operation. The Union Pacific Railroad had restored a Challenger 4-6-6-4 steam engine and recently restored a "Big Boy' 4-8-8-4 and both are operating pulling passenger cars. In Strasburg, PA there is another group that runs a passenger excursion train
I had no idea this excursion railroad even existed and I lived in that area for years. I can say I learned something watch this!