The track was in a condition to
make the journey a slow and careful one. At several locations,
ties had wheel flange damage between the rails for thousands of
feet. I
wondered where the outside wheel was riding. They were so far
out, they damaged concrete at a crossing
The culvert below had been recently
replaced. The old pipe was
still visible inside the curve on the ground.
One of my jobs was to
flag following cars in case of certain conditions such as road
crossings
and track defects. We finally arrived at Curtis and parked the
car, got out, flagged cars behind us in a curve, took a potty break
(boys on the right, girls on the left), and walked up the track to the
derailment site. For all derailment site pictures click
here.
The underbelly views of the
centerbeam car allow for understanding of
rail car braking systems. The inventors of this type of system
used rods, levers and fulcrums to their advantage to brake heavy loads.
