Where is the cajon pass
The 1996 Cajon pass runaway 23 years later
it's fair to say home past had seen some
tragic freak accidents in the past in
1989 and 1994 so locals wondered could
it get worse well unfortunately it would
get worse
on February 1st 1996 at 1:00 a.m.
Santa Fe train HB alt 1-31 departed
Barstow yard in California the drain
consisted of GP 60 M 157 GP 50:38 53 GP
60 B 342 and GP 60 40 31 the Train was a
manifest carrying all sorts of cargo
like general merchandise iron coils
lumber plastic pellets tires pipes
filler board and hazardous materials
like pesticides in seven tanker cars
like the ill-fated trains that crashed
the fourth this crew had no idea they
were headed for trouble the engineer
tested his brakes at Victorville
California coming to a stop this was
comply with the timetable instruction
requiring him to make an air brake test
at the location the brakes worked fine
so he continued on then the train stops
again at Summit California to wait for a
signal once again the brakes worked
after being cleared at 3:40 a.m. they
descended toward Cajon Pass
as they began to go down the engineer
initiates the dynamic brakes on 157 and
instead of slowing the train down the
train instead accelerates engineer then
hits the air brakes into full emergency
but to his horror the speedometer
ominously creeped up to 45 miles an hour
there was nothing more the crew could do
to save their train the conductor in the
brakeman bailout from 157 but the
engineers stayed with his locomotives
like a captain of a sinking ship hoping
to ride it out in a last-ditch effort he
throws the engines into reverse
but then he felt 127 start to lead to
the right on a sharp curve by a trestle
bridge he ducked to the floor embraced
Vietnam
at 4:10 a.m. the train jumped the tracks
and flies into a dry creek bed 157
skidded onto its right side mostly
intact while the other engines ended up
crushed by 45 of the 49 freight cars -
railing and smashing into one another
the tanker cars exploded and the
wreckage became an inferno like the
engineer of 75 51 East seven years ago
the engineer climbs out of the damaged
lead engine which remained relatively
intact from the rest of the Train two
locals who heard the roar of the crash
came to help the badly injured engineer
the conductor however jumped the wrong
way and smashed his head into a rock
killing him instantly the brakeman
survived from jumping the Train but
later died from carbon monoxide
poisoning from the fire as the fire
burns toxic smoke rises into the air
that can be seen for miles as a
precaution interstate 15 near the wreck
is shut down all firefighters battled
the flames and locals near the area are
ordered to evacuate because of the
chemicals firefighters had to be hosed
down after exposure to the fumes
hours passed and eventually one tank car
containing the flammable liquid butyl
acrylic was found to have its internal
temperature rising from the heat
creating the risk of a BLEVE or boiling
liquid expanding vapor explosion which
occurs when there's a rupture of a
vessel containing a pressurized liquid
that's reached at temperatures way
beyond its boiling point finally on
February 5th at 9:44 p.m. the car was
ventilated by using plastic explosives
that was no longer a threat
therefore interstate 15 and California
State Route 138 were reopened at 11:47
p.m. the National Transportation Safety
Board concluded that the probable cause
was the same reason why the Santa Fe
intermodal ran away and collided with
the yupi coal train in 1994 a kink in
the air hose that triggers the brakes
train brakes work differently than other
air brakes brakes apply when pressure
drops instead of increasing to increase
to keep the brakes off air brakes should
be charged to 90 psi while the air PSI
is for emergency the PSI meter was
however only showing 81 psi when the
engineer applied the brakes instead of
90 psi like it should a crimp or kink
the air hose could block or restrict the
amount of air flowing through the air
brakes such a crimp or kink will gently
reoccur in a worn or damaged hose or in
a hose connected to an unauthorized
design or repair as HB alt 1-31 begins
to descend the slack and the train
couplers and draft gear bunched together
the slack action may have bent the air
hose and pinched off the air flow for
the engines to the rear of the Train and
resulted in the loss of air brakes it
was suspected that the sixteenth car was
the culprit as it was added before the
train left and improper repairs were
done to its air hose
however considering how far back the car
was it was likely it had little to no
impact on the Train
the NTSB then shifted their attention to
the fifth car it was within the effected
position for a blockage as identified by
the simulation for the crash
however the derailment subsequent fire
and the wreckage prevented close
examination of the car repair records
showed no history of intimate problems
indicate avow skanking or restriction
the investigators were also unable to
find any brake hoses that appeared to
have been kinked or crimped before the
accident or that could have been
identified to any particular car in the
suspect zone between five and eight
whatever the case the NTSB concluded
that somewhere between car number five
and car number nine and air hose kinked
cutting off the train's brakes in the
end 38 53 and 40:31 were damaged beyond
repair and scrapped 157 and 342 were
repaired and put back into service still
operating today with BNSF 23 years had
passed since the incident a memorial to
the two crew members that died was
erected by the crash site a chilling
reminder of not just the 1996 crash but
the other two that happened years before
but since then no more trains have run
away down the grid and now safety
systems are in place for where when a
trains air brake pressure drops too much
from a kink or a leak emergency brakes
are applied automatically stopping the
train but locals can't stop wondering
have they seen the last runaway train
you
![[OLD] The 1996 Cajon Pass Wreck - Recreation](https://img.youtube.com/vi/uLGYQBIBQZs/mqdefault.jpg)