May 7, 2015, McCords, MI -- CSX's Q335, heading downgrade with 197 cars, pulled apart, setting the train into emergency on the hill. When the train stopped, the conductor walked back to find...

This is the story of the Q335 who pulled the draft/coupling gear clean off of a Coil Car.

Following the incident, with the remainder of the train tied down, we're treated to a show as the train attempts Fox Hill with 150 cars at restricted speed. The ensuing events are quite spectacular!

Follow along with these events in this episode of the Thornapple River Rail Series!

NOTE: please refrain from bashing the crew. They are faultless in this case. The slack was in, as they were going downhill, when a pair of low-hanging air hoses hit the crossing at Snow Road, in just such a way as to break the line and cause an emergency application on the rear end.

This in turn caused the rear of the train to go into emergency while the head end charged onwards. This pulled the slack out in one big bang, which found a weak spot, evidently.

So, please respect the railroaders involved, who did an admirable job in the aftermath to figure things out and get things moving again, after a random failure which could have collected almost any train. Sometimes these things happen, it just looks worse when you've got a massive barge.

Consist:
- CSX 317 [CW44AC]
- CSX 403 [CW44AC]
- CSX 7665 [C40-8W]
- 197 cars [Mixed]
- --- 150 cars ahead of the break (including the gon left behind at McCords)
- --- 151st car, west end coupler pulled out, from there back left on the hill at McCords)
Location/Time:
- Approximate Pull-apart site: CSX Plymouth Sub, Alto, MI, Snow Rd xing, on 5-7-15 at 16:45 EDT
- Head-end shot at Thornapple: Along Thornapple Bayou Rd, at 17:55
- Rear-end shot: Alto, MI, McCords Rd xing, from 18:15 to 19:00
- WB Departure: Thornapple River Bridge, at 19:09
- Cascade Twp, Thornapple River Dr overpass, at 19:26
- Cascade Twp, Kraft Ave cul-de-sac, at 19:36
- Grand Rapids, along Market Ave/Sunnyside, at 20:12
Train was WB when around Snow road the 151st suffered a west-end coupler failure. Train separates, into emergency. Random failure results in pulling the whole coupler box from a coil car. After securing a gon with the coupler still hanging off, the head 149 cars are taken to Grand Rapids. An extra crew called to Lansing to take these cars back to Lansing, setout the coil car, and then take the train back to GRP, all overnight.

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Equipment: Sony PJ790 Camcorder

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