Here is a link to a story about an 80-ton centercab diesel being hauled by truck which struck and severely damaged an Interstate highway overpass not far from Cincinnati No deaths or injuries, but months of detours will result. WOulda hated to be that driver...............:tb-wacky:
Oh my Quote from news "The locomotive came off the trailer and continued forward, smashing at least two support columns and bringing a support beam down on top of it." Humm tie downs not tight enought? LOL (now that no one was hurt.)
Amazing what an 80 ton locomotive can do. I don't know much about trucking. Is there some sort of locking device that is supposed to keep the pin on the trailer positioned in the 5th wheel?
Anyone have some info on the engine, and where it was headed, etc? Yes. There is a lock for the fifth wheel. After you back under your trailer, you connect the lines to it. Set the trailer brake, then the tractor makes a brief forward tug. To make certain that lock is securely set. Then you crank up your landing gear. However, even with a careful visual inspection, there is nothing which will guarantee you may spot any forthcoming failure. Such as metal fatigue.... It will be interesting to know how that seperation happened. Meanwhile, that engine is probably scrap now. If it wasn't already. Boxcab E50
Seriously, it has to be a little bit embarassing to the railroads when they are always touting how they're "getting 18-wheelers off the highways". Guess they never said anything about keeping locomotives off the highways. ;-)
IIRC, the article only said to somewhere in Alabama- which, admittedly, covers some territory.........something tells me it's not gonna get there in very good shape, if at all.
Correct. It's been over 25 years since my last drive over the road. Need the lines connected. To set the trailer brake before backing under. Nope. You tug, and the fifth wheel isn't locked, you dump the trailer on it's nose. Landing gear stays down. Pads slide, wheels roll. Doesn't hurt the gear. Boxcab E50
Better stick to the railroading stuff LOL:tb-tongue: You for got to metion to pull a little after stopping at a truck stop incase some one was being funny and pulled your trip pin:tb-wacky:
nope.. How will you "dump the trailer on it's nose"? Your own words (from an earlier post), "brief forward tug". The only way to dump the trailer on it's nose is to drive away with the trailer not locked into the 5th wheel, which neither of is advocating. Besides that would tear away your tractor-to-trailer air lines too. Back up to the trailer Connect the airlines and electrical plug Charge the trailer's air Set the trailer's brakes Back under the trailer Crank up the landing gear (while listening for leaking air) Remove your chocks (like anyone set them out!) Tug (inches) until you feel the trailer tires are retarding your attempted movement - This tells you that your 5th wheel is locked AND the trailer's brakes work** **You still have to get under the trailer and do a visual of the King pin being locked into the 5th wheel, and visually inspect your trailer brakes. Stow your landing gear. Check your lights. Finally, as you pull away, you have to watch your mirrors to make sure none of the trailer brakes (4 on an 18 wheeler) are locked (tires dragging). Oh, I forgot! Make sure your locomotive is secured!! :tb-biggrin:
I've heard tell that's happened... Have never seen it happen but almost every trucker will tell you that he's witnessed it. It probably happened once and became a legend. Something similar to every custom combining crew will claim they've seen a competitor's combine get torched in the middle of the night. Or the guy who gets caught with dyed fuel in his tanks, "...honest officer, some competitor must have topped off my tanks when I was sleeping!"
May be, but we've had a rash of people throwing switches under our trains (danged teenagers thought it'd be funny to throw an unlocked switch while a train was moving over it) and the brakes on our locomotives popped (had a string of 6 roll off the end of the track at low speed because some kids thought it'd be funny to pop 2 of the 3 brakes holding them). We've also had several occasions where standing cuts of cars had half the uncoupling levers pulled by kids and when you hook up and start charging up the air, half the cut starts to roll away and then you have to not only worry about how far the cars end up rolling, but also having to put the cut back together. Vandalism of track appliances and cars is getting bad. I can imagine that there's some cases of kingpin locks being pulled on trailers too if they're left to sit overnight in some of the areas that truck stops are located near.
Leaving landing gear down, is how I was taught. If your fifth wheel isn't locked, the lack of weight when you'd "tug" could allow your tractor to move forward more than intended. BTW- As I wrote that, a long, long time over the road driver, and driver instructor, (for a couple of very large and well known US names), was sitting next to me. He read this thread, and said "the landing gear stays down until after you've confirmed the fifth wheel is locked." And we've both seen someone picking up a trailer, have the trailer nose dump happen to them. Noisy, costly and embarrassing. Boxcab E50
