Train dropped whilst being unloaded

[bolli]

The rest of the world needs to stop copying our Newpudliun ideas!

[youtube]OvyIrsZ7Zhs[/youtube]

 

[ATW Alex 101]

Correct me if I'm wrong but 2 ropes just didn't look enough for a big loco like that, and if it were, surely they need to be tested?

You could also count the fact that they couldn't have been tied on properly

 

[Harbon 1]

Pretty sure both Class 66 and 67 (all of them) were delivered on two sets of cables. Might just be that they were corroded from the sea air, or just old

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Surely an assessment of the locomotive weight would have been provided to those responsible for carrying out the unloading in order that the correct number of chainage barriers to allow an equal weight spread to be effected. Four, not two, of these should have been the minimum requirements with a load of this fixed length.

 

[LexyBoy]

They could've done with a couple of chaps underneath to help ease it down (toecap boots of course).

 

[John55]

Surely an assessment of the locomotive weight would have been provided to those responsible for carrying out the unloading in order that the correct number of chainage barriers to allow an equal weight spread to be effected. Four, not two, of these should have been the minimum requirements with a load of this fixed length.

Given that the locomotive seems to have been built with 2 lifting points (one at each end) all you would do with 4 slings is apply stress in the wrong place and bend the locomotive in an even more unusual shape as you lifted it.

In normal use the loco sits on only 2 bogie pivot points (of all sorts of designs) so it would be odd to design it to be crane lifted from 4 points.

All locos are lifted with attachments in 2 places as far as i can tell (this includes all reasonably sized steam locos as well as diesel) and are designed with this in mind.

For docks and shipyards locomotives are not especially heavy items but clearly if the equipment is not maintained correctly this sort of failure will happen.

 

[Ploughman]

Pity it wasn't another Class 70.

Where was the drop anyway?

 

[Trainfan344]

They could've done with a couple of chaps underneath to help ease it down (toecap boots of course).

Doubt Toecap boots would offer much protection in the case of a 40 Plus Tonne Loco...

 

[bolli]

Doubt Toecap boots would offer much protection in the case of a 40 Plus Tonne Loco...

However only if combined with a hard hat and hi vis!

 

[Trainfan344]

Well if you were underneath that when it got dropped like LexyBoy suggested then i doubt it would be stopped by a hard hat...

 

[MidnightFlyer]

I think both LexyBoy and bolli's comments were in jest...

 

[Jonfun]

Well if you were underneath that when it got dropped like LexyBoy suggested then i doubt it would be stopped by a hard hat...

No of course not - you'd need eye protection too...

 

[sprinterguy]

Well if you were underneath that when it got dropped like LexyBoy suggested then i doubt it would be stopped by a hard hat...

Yeah but it is common knowledge that wearing a hi-vis vest makes the wearer indestructible and impervious to all harm.

 

[DaveNewcastle]

. . . . . Four, not two, of these should have been the minimum requirements with a load of this fixed length.

I'm not persuaded. A load between two anchors is easier to control and specifically, to maintain under defined tension. With 3 or more lines, then it is increasingly difficult to distribute the mass and therefore the tension - as the mass distorts (which longer objects will tend to do) then these tensions will change radically.

John55's analysis of 2 lifting points and corresponding 2 load-bearing bogies seems right to me.

Anyway, what was missing here wasn't the Protective clothing, it was someone with a clipboard and a pen to generate the press release with positive 'spin':
e.g. When dropped ten meters our locomotive lands upright.
No one was injured.
The fuel tanks do not rupture when dropped.
The wheels did not leave the track.
Our newly designed driver's seat-backs remained upright.
Free of import duty.

 

[upnorth71]

Pity it wasn't another Class 70.

Where was the drop anyway?

Owendo, Gabon, apparently:
http://jalopnik.com/5958494/this-is-what-happens-when-you-accidentally-drop-a-200+ton-locomotive#13524416747503

*error in article: Australian built, not American.

 

[gingerheid]

It looks like the front of the loco snagged on the side of the boat?