Re: Rio Grande 223

jhp43hot Wrote:
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> I remember reading some 50 yrs ago in RAILROAD
> magazine the story of a rod that came loose at
> speed. Damn thing flailed around stripping all the
> hardware and appliances then dug into the gravel
> and dumped the engine over on the other side and
> stripped everything off that side too. Be careful.

D&SL 210, a 2-6-6-0, had a main rod break while coming down off Corona Pass. Stripped all the piping off the side, draining the air lines allowing the engine to run away. Crew bailed before the 210 flew off the tracks, bouncing down the hillside, across a lower level of track just missing another light engine, before coming to rest a couple hundred feet below. The cab shell is still there. This happened on the West side at the loop which includes Rifle Sight Notch.

Robert