CSX breaks off a coupler on A very busy morning at the Lafayette junction

[@JawTooth]

wow, you were right there at the right time! Nice catch. Its been a few years since I filmed at Lafayette.

[@therailroadtiespiker]

One of my favorite spots and yes I was panning the camera just right. Just amazing luck that day. Lol

[@robertanderson5987]

Maybe Jawtooth should buy that whole crew of " Do- Nothings" a Pizza with extra Cheese !!!

[@JawTooth]

@@robertanderson5987 Yes Lol

[@kingjames8283]

Good thing it was an easy one to fix and not a derail as the Crawfordsville sub would be used later that night for the southbound Amtrak Cardinal towards Indianapolis. Though a vague memory now, I was one of the dump truck drivers who worked on that new elevated stretch back in the early 1990's. Now you can drive through downtown Lafayette without having to stop at any grade crossings and the many many trains that traverse through Lafayette every single day and Amtrak three days a week.

[@Madhuntr]

right time right place. its bit sad that we couldnt get a full 90 degree angle but well. someday itll happen. nice catch

[@shawnpowell5876]

Great video RRTS, and sometimes it doesn't surprise me when these situations transpire. I've seen videos like this one where they seem to take off abruptly unless it's just all the slack in the train tightening up. I have to agree to see so many CSX locomotives in 18K but it's how they repay each other in hours of HORSEPOWER owed. Thanks again for sharing your videos with us along with your time and effort!

[@therailroadtiespiker]

Thank you

[@AMPProductionsVideo]

Nice catch of all the Trains, and the broken coupler

[@therailroadtiespiker]

I was a fun day to watch trains. Lol and that all took place in about three hours.

[@billsharpe2746]

I always wondered if you have a long heavy training the weight of each coupler increases closer to the engine I would believe, I thought that's why they always put an engine in long trains in the middle or the end to help stop or relieve some of the pressure on the couplers from breaking.

[@cdavid8139]

You are correct on both

[@robertanderson5987]

That yarf Foreman must be a valuable customer at Domino's delivery twice a night !!!

[@therailroadtiespiker]

Wow as I sit here eating Dominos pizza and reading the comments. Lol

[@kens.3729]

Furloughed Workers are treating like 💩. Hundreds are Quitting this Nonsense. Remaining employees getting the Shaft. Shame on the Class I’s. 🤪👎

[@Queenie_78]

Texas? Wow 😮 it just rolled away 10:30

[@conraillock666]

That coupler finally said I quit

[@Wildfire86872]

Glad it happened when it started moving. Had it been at speed it probably would've been messy.

[@northfloridarails2136]

Love your videos.

[@therailroadtiespiker]

Thank you

[@tomstarcevich1147]

Good ole presicion shedule railroading at its finest🚂🚃🚃🚃🚃😳😳😳🥺

[@TomYoureDoingItWrong]

That's not just the coupler, it's the whole drawbar. Drawbars are never the Engineer's fault. Couplers could fail during questionable train handling, but I would argue that make-up with heavy loads behind empties are the primary cause of most coupler and drawbar failures.

[@therailroadtiespiker]

And the DPU was towards the front of the train and there was at least 50 or more cars behind the one that broke off.

[@kens.3729]

Very Valid Comments! 👍

[@TheNemosdaddy]

There's no such thing as a drawbar anymore. It's a coupler and that refers to the entire piece, shank, head and guts. To make a statement that "drawbars" are never an engineers fault, is just demonstrably false and made up bullshit. I've seen plenty of them in my 23 year carman career that were failures because of a engineer. Engineers today don't even run the train enroute though, TO does it for them. Most failures are because of slack action, or because something securing the F-pin or cross key in place falls out. So you should revise your statement. In this case you can see and hear what's happening, they are slacking the shit out of that train repeatedly, until the F-pin retainer plate bolts break, and allowed the f-pin to drop. Could they have been previously loose? Probably. It's still the repeated slack action that finally put over the edge and made the pin drop.

[@TomYoureDoingItWrong]

Every DRAWBAR failure I have ever observed in my 30 years of being in train and engine service is the result of mechanical failure, as evidenced by the locomotive engineer NEVER being held responsible for that failure. Knuckle failure can be attributed run-in/out, most often over a lengthy period of time wherein fatigue cracks begin to develop and expand. This can be seen by the amount of corrosion present where the crack exists. FYI, I spent 25 years as a BLE&T Local Chairman and have extensive training and experience investigating most forms of railroad incidents, and have a great win record deflecting allegations or poor train handling leveled by Mechanical and/or Maintenance of Way Department, neither of which ever accept responsibility for their own failure if there is an operating crew that can be blamed.

[@MatthewMello]

@@TheNemosdaddy A knuckle is supposed to break long before a drawbar. Drawbar failure is a mechanical failure. Is it TO's fault? Is it the increased slack action due to longer trains? Is it a combination? Your guess is as good as mine. But, we have also been seeing more knuckles breaking while kicking cars in the past few years.

[@natgass8102]

Nice video I was surprised to see 3 of the 4 locomotives in NS 18K were owned by CSX? thanks

[@therailroadtiespiker]

I thought it was kinda funny how NS flew past using there CSX power as they were fixing the coupler.

[@northfloridarails2136]

Horsepower hours.

[@railfan439]

Anxiously awaiting the follow up video on this incident. Thanks for the video. Jon - Railfan 439

[@michaeld53]

How many workers does it take to find out it’s broken??

[@therailroadtiespiker]

Lol there were two more that showed up later.

[@hankkellerman3011]

How many men do you need to see the broken coupler before anything is fixed?

[@ngauge22]

Where's the rest of the broken coupler saga?

[@therailroadtiespiker]

Unfortunately they didn't move it till after it was dark and didn't get to film it.

[@lasnow805]

You can tell its a union,, they all stand around and watch

[@paulbergen9114]

Only saw the aftermath of this situation once. It was on the Wisconsin Central on a unit train of 40 year old ore cars and it was so intense it also bent the end of the car. It was unloaded and sent to scrap. The 350+ mile trip was too much for it

[@MatthewMello]

LOVE IT when shit hits the fan.

[@trainguy7261]

LOL😂

[@MTstone8]

Is there a fix video?

[@therailroadtiespiker]

Unfortunately not the train sat there for several hours and I had to leave for work.

[@alangordon7102]

Do you have to weigh over 220 pounds to get a job on the American railways?.

[@therailroadtiespiker]

That's probably why I never could get hired. Lol

[@jovetj]

What a catch!!! LOL!!

[@johnathanlewis2049]

If you work for the railroads I feel for you. One man crews on the trains are coming.

[@therailroadtiespiker]

With the super long trains and one person it's suicide

[@johnathanlewis2049]

@@therailroadtiespiker - Yeah more accidents are sure to happen, more train crew deaths are sure to occur but the CEO’s just don’t care.

[@TheNemosdaddy]

@@therailroadtiespiker why is it suicide? The engineer won't be walking them. The engineer doesnt walk them now.

[@therailroadtiespiker]

@@TheNemosdaddy Good point. Now would they use just the engineer for a point-to-point kinda run with no yarding along the way?

[@TheNemosdaddy]

@@therailroadtiespiker There plan is to take the conductors and cut them by approx. 30%. Conductors will go back to being UB's (Utility brakeman) being assigned to yards for setouts/pickups and some being given territories to cover on line of road for incidents and pickups and setouts in sidings. Expansion of the Utility Carman role, which allows a carman to attach themselves to a crew and remove/replace eot's, lace airhoses, apply/release handbrakes without blue flag protection. The class 1's are seeking expansion of this role to include simple repairs such as replacement of a knuckle and end air hoses. Once you're attached a utility carman then has to report Hours of service for 30 days.

[@kens.3729]

The Recent Hearings by the STB are Hammering the Terrible Service that PSR is causing to both Customers and Employees. 🤪👎

[@robinstewart6510]

What does PSR have to do with this video? Pushing an agenda? Anyway, PSR is relatively new, so there's going to be problems. The STB & railroads have sought ways to reduce those problems, but, as both have said, there are no quick & easy answers. Regardless, since it benefits railroads, PSR is here to stay.

[@eddiecane6532]

@@robinstewart6510 you must be company guy?👀

[@robinstewart6510]

@@eddiecane6532 .. I don't even work in the railroad industry. Never have. However, I do try to keep abreast of the latest news & developments in many areas. PSR caught my attention one day, so I quickly read up on it.

[@eddiecane6532]

@@robinstewart6510 well your opinions doesn’t mattter

[@robinstewart6510]

@@eddiecane6532 .. Well, since I don't see the industry bowing to your wishes, your opinions (what little you've offered) don't matter either. Have a nice day, Eddie.

[@sd90mac8]

Damn engineers need to take it super slow when pulln a long STOPPED train, especially when your rolling stock consist of them high cube box cars, 87' lumber/flat cars, 87' box cars, auto rack cars, all these cars have a tremendous amount of slack in the draw bars of these couplers, any sudden take off jerkn, like this engineer did, will damage the these couplers, and draw bars, good grief, thank God it did break off while the train was in high gear, this would of been HELL OF A DERAILMENT, LET ME TELL YOU.🤯😲😵😱,. GREAT CATCH👌👍

[@michlo3393]

...and we are to assume you've pulled a throttle once or twice in your life?

[@RealJeep]

@@michlo3393 Sure he has, on Train Simulator games. As usual, the least knowledgeable are the ones with the most solutions.

[@norbertdx]

I gotta ask, isn't the coupler system a manmade object? if so, that means it's gonna fail at some point.

[@kens.3729]

Any of the Class I Railroads that Don’t Regularly use Mid-DPU’s and/or End-DPU’s have their Heads Up their Butts. 🤪👎

[@BLmediaproductions]

you mean Q500 lol

[@therailroadtiespiker]

Wow I never noticed I did that my dyslexia kicked in. Lol

[@mjjuntunen]

Must be a union job

[@richardarthur4024]

Cowboys using poor kit

[@7171-Ws6]

Cause Csx sucks