Hot Water posted:Kerrigan posted:Dominic Mazoch posted:Back in the day, was there an emergency cord in the caboose where somebody could pull the air if something was going wrong?
On one of the SPS700 excursions the power car behind the tender started to derail and the conductor in the tail car pulled the emergency handle.
How did the Conductor, all the way at the rear of the train, know about the power car problem RIGHT BEHIND the tender? If someone called him on the radio, why wasn't the Engineer called on the radio? Something doesn't sound right.
That turned out to not be too good a move as it caused some bunch-stacking making the derailment worse.
Passengers rode the bus back to Portland.
Someone on the radio hollered "we're on the ground!" and he pulled the plug causing the remainder of the train to bunch. The headend was still pushing when it all happened in less than a couple of seconds. I was standing next to him and had just said "I'd be tip-toeing through this puzzle" when it went to ground. He yanked it before anyone could think. In retrospect it at the speed we were moving it probably wouldn't have made any difference to let the head-end do the stopping.
