ALLENTOWN, Pa. — Railroad officials are looking into why a tank car began rolling and kept going for 11 miles Sunday before Norfolk Southern railroaders could climb onto the car and apply handbrakes to stop it.
The Morning Call of Allentown reports that a paraffin wax-filled tank car went rolling from Emmaus, Pa. The car rolled from Emmaus through Bethlehem, Pa., where a videographer caught it on video. According to the video, the car managed to shunt track circuits activating crossing gates as it rolled.
With all the trouble Denver RTD is having with their crossing signals on the commuter rail, perhaps this technology is what they need. It also changed the signal on the other side of the bridge from clear to stop. Sarcasm.
Better than gravity: once, some vandals loosened parking brakes on a cut of hoppers stored on the Dakota Southern Ry main. Some time later, the prairie wind began to blow and the whole works began to drift down the rail at a couple miles per hour. The owner of the RR got a call from the sheriff reporting a self propelled train!
Railcar: I must escape the crayon factory!
Bet you Hollywood’s already talking to Denzel and Chris Pine about a sequel!
Oh wow, I hope PTC is installed on this RR soon, it WILL prevent this sort of thing, right?
No.. What we are seeing here is a fully autonomous railcar in test phase. They even gave the loose car a highball lol…
At last a gravity railroad returns to eastern Pa!