Chuck Sartor posted:I don't often disagree with Jack, but this time yes. If it was simply just forgot to throttle back the diesels, why didn't Ed just do that instead of the emergency stop and then putting the 844 in reverse and opening the throttle trying to fight the diesel pushing, there by stalling the drivers and skidding. If the MU box for the diesels was still in RUN, Ed would have seen that.
And there you have the sixty four thousand dollar question! Ed was NOT on the Engineer's side, but was on the Fireman's side. What got his attention was, when Ted put the brake valve in emergency. Both men had obviously overlooked that the Diesel MU Control Box was STILL dialed up to throttle #7 or #6.
Nobody's questioning the integrity of the design of the MU box, but parts do wear out and break.
Except nothing was worn out nor broken, which was carefully verified.
Otherwise EMD would not have a parts dept!
On a side note, I hear the original MU box has since been replaced.
The "new" and much larger "MU Box" has all sorts of color lights, to fully indicate EXACTLY what throttle position the operator is using. Internally, it is still the same electrical design.
