Re: Georgetown Loop - and everywhere else - SAFETY FIRST!! 
| October 09, 2007 12:12AM |
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Eye yam talking about the bolt that holds the pin, not the "pin" itself ... (witch is MUCH bigger than a bolt).
As best as I can remember, which is going back over thirty years ...
The "pin" you are talking about is a huge cylinder, made of steel, which is the pivot, or hingepin, for the drawbar. As you have stated, it is pushed up from below. On 4449, at least, there is a steel plate that fits into a pair of grooves on each side, which - after the "pin" has been pushed up - is slid in under it to hold the "pin" in place. Then a relatively small bolt - about 1" in diameter, is supposed to be dropped in - FROM THE TOP - to keep the plate from sliding out from under the "pin". In 1984, somebody apparently pushed the bolt up from the bottom, and put the nut on the bolt at the top. When the nut worked loose then the bolt fell out, then the plate worked out from under the "pin", and then the "pin" fell out. If the bolt had been put in from the top then even if the nut fell off it is very unlikely that the bolt would have popped up out of the plate, the plate would have worked out of the grooves, and the "pin" would have fallen out.
I did NOT post this to blame anybody - NO names have been mentioned - I am posting this to remind everybody, especially well-meaning but ignorant/uneducated* volunteer Foamers - like myself - that the railroad industry has established nit-picky detailed rules and procedures for doing nearly everything EXACTLY RIGHT to increase the safety factor as much as possible.
The NEXT time somebody is killed on a steam-powered tourist railroad could very well be the LAST time there IS a steam-powered tourist railroad. Anywhere. PLEASE, follow the rules - SAFETY FIRST!!
- El Curmudgeonito
* Ignorant = not yet educated; stupid = not able to be educated - there is a HUGE difference ...
I don't know about the rest of you, but all I knew when I was born was how to eat, pee, and poop. I learned to smile pretty quickly - all the rest has been a very slow process of education, and, in my geezerhood, I am still trying to improve (not that I succeed very often).
As best as I can remember, which is going back over thirty years ...
The "pin" you are talking about is a huge cylinder, made of steel, which is the pivot, or hingepin, for the drawbar. As you have stated, it is pushed up from below. On 4449, at least, there is a steel plate that fits into a pair of grooves on each side, which - after the "pin" has been pushed up - is slid in under it to hold the "pin" in place. Then a relatively small bolt - about 1" in diameter, is supposed to be dropped in - FROM THE TOP - to keep the plate from sliding out from under the "pin". In 1984, somebody apparently pushed the bolt up from the bottom, and put the nut on the bolt at the top. When the nut worked loose then the bolt fell out, then the plate worked out from under the "pin", and then the "pin" fell out. If the bolt had been put in from the top then even if the nut fell off it is very unlikely that the bolt would have popped up out of the plate, the plate would have worked out of the grooves, and the "pin" would have fallen out.
I did NOT post this to blame anybody - NO names have been mentioned - I am posting this to remind everybody, especially well-meaning but ignorant/uneducated* volunteer Foamers - like myself - that the railroad industry has established nit-picky detailed rules and procedures for doing nearly everything EXACTLY RIGHT to increase the safety factor as much as possible.
The NEXT time somebody is killed on a steam-powered tourist railroad could very well be the LAST time there IS a steam-powered tourist railroad. Anywhere. PLEASE, follow the rules - SAFETY FIRST!!
- El Curmudgeonito
* Ignorant = not yet educated; stupid = not able to be educated - there is a HUGE difference ...
I don't know about the rest of you, but all I knew when I was born was how to eat, pee, and poop. I learned to smile pretty quickly - all the rest has been a very slow process of education, and, in my geezerhood, I am still trying to improve (not that I succeed very often).
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488 stops for water at Los Pinos tank on closing day Oct. 1979. Photo courtesy Don Richter
The NGDF was started by Don Richter and is currently operated in his memory by Nathan Holmes and others. Others who have contributed to the upkeep of this board are (in no particular order): Charles McCandless, Everett Lueck, Ted Wilton, Cole Adams, James Bane, John Moellmer, Jon Bentz, Linn Moedinger, lloyd lehrer, Rod Jensen, John Craft, Steven Forney, Herb Kelsey, Bill Ramaley, Russ Sperry (El Russo Loco), Josh McNeal, John West, Jim Armstrong, Bob Bergstrom, Greg Scholl, Blake Forbes Doug van Veelen and Mark Fuller.