I was in Chama for the fireman / engineer school shortly after the accident at the C&TS. I heard about it, but did not discuss it here out of respect for the folks far more qualified than me to discuss it accurately and present sound conclusions. I do not work in the railroad industry, but I follow this forum and try to refrain from armchair quarterbacking. I have a great deal of respect for those who are directly involved in the field and generally believe they have vastly more training & experience than I do and are correspondingly more qualified to discuss the goings on.
The version I heard was that someone was using a (power) tool not suited to the task at hand to tighten a washout plug while the boiler was under pressure. I heard it was low pressure, around 15 PSI (about the same as a stove top pressure cooker). The result was the removal of the plug, which caused severe burns. The person who did this was in a hospital receiving care by the time I got to Chama. I do not know the extent of their sustained injuries, but I imagine they were it was not a pretty sight.
I can understand how this type of mistake could be easily made. Someone in a hurry noticed something wasn't as it should have been, didn't want to make a big fuss, and grabbed a power tool to quickly tighten the plug and get on with their day. The probably had other things they intended to do at the time and certainly did not intend to cause an accident and injure themselves. Unfortunately, that is precisely how steps get skipped and accidents happen.
While visiting the railroad, I heard that the railroad was reviewing their safety procedures and making some adjustments to training & procedures because of it, which is exactly what I would have done in the aftermath had I been in charge. I think it would have been irresponsible to not review training & procedures in light of this type of accident. I cannot imagine anyone who worked for the railroad not being aware of the incident. I also cannot imagine anyone who worked for the railroad (and many who didn't) not having a knot in their stomach afterward, it certainly gave me pause. When I took the fireman / engineer school, there were new washout plugs everywhere I could see and the railroad employees with whom I interacted performed their duties with safety first and foremost.
A steam boiler is extremely powerful and can be perfectly safe when properly cared for and extremely dangerous when not handled properly, even if only at a fraction of its rated pressure. This thought was never far from the front of my mind while in the cab or anywhere near a locomotive. The damage done to a kitchen by a failed pressure cooker is alarming to say the least. A locomotive boiler at 180+ PSI is more powerful and dangerous than a stove top pressure cooker by an order of magnitude I'd rather not think about. There are lots of pictures of boiler explosions to be seen online. I hope I only see boiler explosion aftermath in pictures and never in person! The rules and procedures have been developed over the course of 200 years of lessons learned, often the hard way, and they continue to evolve. No matter how much the rules and procedures evolve, they are useless if not correctly followed.
Take care & be safe,
Dave
