# What if a modern DAY steam wreck occured?



## sedfred2 (May 16, 2015)

EDIT: Title is meant to say " What if a modern DAY steam wreck occured. I don't know why you can't edit the title!!!  I am just curious, what would happen if a steam locomotive on an excursion was wrecked in this day and age? like if the UP 844 collided head on with an intermodal train at a high speed? Or if a boiler explosion happened? If it were totaled would it be scrapped or repaired to the best of their abilities and put on display once more? This also includes smaller heritage railways.


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## Nikola (Jun 11, 2012)

I don't know, but I do know that if you 'edit...go advanced' you can edit the title.


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## flyboy2610 (Jan 20, 2010)

It would make some lawyers a lot of money.


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## J.C. (Dec 24, 2016)

a head-on might be repairable but a boiler explosion of any dynamics would leave nothing but scrap.


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## Old_Hobo (Feb 20, 2014)

sedfred2 said:


> EDIT: Title is meant to say " What if a modern DAY steam wreck occured. I don't know why you can't edit the title!!!  I am just curious, what would happen if a steam locomotive on an excursion was wrecked in this day and age? like if the UP 844 collided head on with an intermodal train at a high speed? Or if a boiler explosion happened? If it were totaled would it be scrapped or repaired to the best of their abilities and put on display once more? This also includes smaller heritage railways.


I doubt that there would be any intestinal fortitude to spend a pile of money to re-build....I know that CPR 2816 cost over 2 million to get it back in operating condition, and that was back in the late 1990's.....

Unless, of course, you could find funding for such a project....

But as J.C. said, an accident like you described would damage the locomotive beyond repair, no matter how much money you could raise....


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## ebtnut (Mar 9, 2017)

Having been present at the last boiler failure in the U.S., the answer is "it depends". The engine in question is a CP 4-6-2 built in the late 1940's. These engines were designed to try and minimize damge from low water. The proximate cause of the failure was that the water glass feed line got plugged and no one in the cab thought to blow it down periodically. So, they thought they had half a glass when in fact the water was way down. The crown sheet collapsed which blew one crew member out of the cab and seriously burned the engineer. The loco was ultimately sold and is being used for parts to keep another loco of the same class running out in Ohio. This incident is also the basis for the current FRA rules regarding how long a steam engine can run before being taken down for its Form 4 inspection and servicing.


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## mopac (Feb 24, 2011)

One reason we don't see many steam engines running is the insurance is so high. 
A few years back a boiler did explode and insurance has been high since. Diesels
do not tend to explode.


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## 1905dave (Sep 18, 2016)

*Wreck*

Same thing that would happen in 1918, only more lawyers.


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## Nikola (Jun 11, 2012)

Hmmm - wondering......could an old steam engine be rigged to run as an direct-injected opposed 2-cycle internal combustion engine?

Add fuel injectors, spark plugs, sensors and a computer.

It might need a compressed air system to get started, but once moving should scoot along nicely.

The upfront and operating costs would be miniscule compared to restoring boiler. It could make more engines available to run.

I guess an alternative would be a modern steam plant mounted on a flat car and piped to the cylinders.


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## Old_Hobo (Feb 20, 2014)

But that wouldn't make it a REAL steam engine again, and would defeat the whole point....


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## Nikola (Jun 11, 2012)

Old_Hobo said:


> But that wouldn't make it a REAL steam engine again, and would defeat the whole point....


I would rather see something running than rusting away because it is impossible to restore or operate. (Internal combustion option - with a mobile steam plant it is still a steam engine, just the boiler is elsewhere.)


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