A friend told me about this Strasburg incident today, no one hurt. That's former N&W 475. Seems that the likely cause is that the MOW crew failed to realign the switch and that the engineer didn't look at the switchstand to confirm the switch's position. Some of us are wondering too if the diverging route is the normal route here, adding a bit of confusion. All just conjecture at this point.
It was at Leaman Place, PA (aka Paradise, PA) where the Strasburg meets the former PRR main. There's an interchange track and runaround there and it appears that the 475 was running around its train, all on Strasburg track. There's also a short track that comes off the runaround and it seems that the MofW equipment was there.
I should have been more clear that it didn't involve the locomotive highlighted by Hank at the top of the thread. Nonetheless, N&W 475 is a jewel. My wife and I saw N&W 611 at Strasburg several weeks ago, tied down away from public view in preparation for upcoming fantrips. She's now running there, 09/30 through 11/13. I'll bet that NS will now be asking some questions.
So, if the run around is other than main track, which is likely the case. Why weren't they operating at a speed that would allow for stopping short of; switches, derails, mis-aligned, men and or equipment, just to name a few, fouling the track. Don't want to come off like jerk but, just curious. Could have been a mechanical failure of some sort too.
That was just the smoke box. It does not appear that boom penetrated far enough to hit the flue sheet. If so, and the smoke box itself was not distorted, should not be a difficult repair for those very highly skilled mechanical folks. Their shop might even be able to make most parts in-house. Certainly not welcome or cheap, but the loco will be OK. The smoke box door was a casting, so that is why it broke quickly. I agree with Tom about the speed. And in the "Virtual Railfan" views, you can clearly see that the switch is aligned for the excavator, and the engineer is NOT paying attention as you can see him waving toward the passenger cars. I might guess it was due to their having made such a move many times, and it had become so habitual they were not paying close enough attention. If no mechanical failure was involved, the crew is going to be at least partly at fault here. That crew may end up no longer ever running another loco.
Where was the Brakeman? Brakeman would have been at the point the engine cut away from the train and most likely would have stepped on the engine to ride to the switch to throw it for the engine to go down the siding for the run-around of the train. Why wasn't the Brakeman riding the lead end of the engine as he would be required to throw the switch behind the train to facilitate the ending to complete the run-around move. Were the Brakemen riding the point he would (or should) have seen the switch on the siding lined to the track the excavator occupied. Whoever the 'ground man' was with the excavator set the entire incident in motion when he DID NOT close the switch for a route other than directly to the excavator. Lack of vigilance by everyone else brought it to its crashing conclusion.
