1986 Dismal Swamp Accident Footage

[NW Mailing List]

Gordon:
 
Thank you for this first-person account.  It is always much more  
informative and enlightening to hear or read the conclusions resulting from  informed 
analysis such as yours rather than the speculative rants of the  ignorant!
 
Dave Phelps
 
 
In a message dated 2/2/2014 8:56:08 A.M. Eastern Standard Time,  
nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org writes:

This film was particularly interesting to me because I  had a role in the 
cause-finding investigation of this accident.  As  background information, 
prior to the June 1982 merger of the N&W and  Southern the former had a 
three-man derailment cause-finding investigation  team (some call it a "go-team") 
comprised of a representation from each of  Transportation, Engineering and 
Mechanical departments, whereas the Southern  used Research and Test 
personnel for derailment cause finding.  This  arrangement continued for some years 
after the merger, i.e, derailments on the  former N&W were still 
investigated by the team of three departments  reps, and derailments on the former 
Southern were still investigated by  Research and Test personnel.  Coincident 
with the merger I became the  Mechanical Department representative on the 
cause-finding team for derailments  on the N&W.
 
Shortly after the subject derailment occurred I received  a telephone call 
from Mr. Hobart Scott, Vice President - Mechanical in Norfolk  to pick up 
Bruce Smith, Foreman of the Roanoke Shops Passenger Car Shop and  head to the 
derailment site ASAP.  By the time we arrived at the site,  all of the 
passengers had been evacuated, but the cars and track had not been  disturbed.  
Mr. Scott saw me and called me to him where he showed me a  track condition 
that he alleged was a contributing factor to causing the  derailment.
 
The National Transportation Safety Board sent a  number of investigators to 
the site, and after days of investigation by a  number of their 
specialists, the NTSB took 16 months to report its  findings.  Although the NTSB listed 
other contributing factors, their  report basically confirmed what Mr. 
Scott had told me 16 months  earlier (with no taxpayer dollars spent by him 
either).
 
When it was learned that the NTSB was sending a team to  investigate the 
derailment, I was told that it would no longer be a Norfolk  Southern 
investigation and that I should work with the NTSB's mechanical  specialist, who 
told me that he had been previously employed by the Burlington  Northern.  The 
two of us inspected the cars as well as the 611 steam  locomotive for any 
signs of a missing part that might have fallen to the track  and caused the 
derailment.  Of course, we found none.  I did find  one thing on the 611 that 
required correcting.  While we were in an  inspection pit at Shaffers 
Crossing checking the underside of the 611 and  its tender, I noticed an Armco 
brand wrought steel wheel set under the 611's  tender.  Armco wheels had been 
prohibited under interchange freight cars  for many years prior to our 
inspection because of a high failure rate, so it  was arranged to replace that 
suspect wheelset with another brand.
 
I later testified at the NTSB hearing in Norfolk, mainly  to the effect 
that the cars equipped with tightlock couplers had remained  coupled and 
essentially in line, whereas it was the cars with E-head couplers  that had 
jackknifed and, in one case, turned over.
 
Gordon Hamilton
 
----- Original Message ----- 

From:  _NW Mailing List_ (mailto:nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org)  
To: _NW-Mailing-List at nwhs.org_ (mailto:NW-Mailing-List at nwhs.org)  
Sent: Friday, January 31, 2014 12:13  PM
Subject: 1986 Dismal Swamp Accident  Footage


Not trying to bring up a grim topic, however, I have never seen  footage on 
this accident until now;  



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7oFsP6ODmw





Jeff Lisowski
-- 
"Sic Semper Tyrannis!" 

 
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