July 26, 2002

MORE NEWS ON REMOTE CONTROL ACCIDENTS AT HINKLE, OREGON

The below message was received from an employee in the Hinkle, Oregon area regarding a remote accident that occurred on July 26, 2002.

On 07/26/02 the MHKSK-25 was dog caught by an extra crew.  When they arrived at Hinkle they were told by the Hinkle yardmaster to cut off the PFE cars on the head end and come up Rita's hill from the receiving yard so that they could set the Hinkle fruit train with those cars. When they got to the top end of Rita's hill, they asked the conductor (east end trim foreman) for permission to come off Rita's hill to go to the departure yard. Trim foreman told the dogcatch crew to come into the old trim tower pocket and stay in the clear of the power crossover. There were a number of witnesses to this conversation. An RCO Locomotive was then lined through the power crossover from the south side of the bowl to the trim pullback. When the remote locomotive came through the crossover it sideswiped the standing cut of PFE cars because they weren't in the clear.  Crews were not able to confirm the amount of damage because they never did see the locomotive or the sideswiped car, and once again, local company officers denied the incident occurred.  We do know the car was bad ordered and was set to another track and didn't go out with the rest of the cars.  Incident has since been reported to FRA due to likelihood that the incident was not reported.

In other remote control news out of Hinkle, BLE has learned that 2 CANAC beltpacks have been replaced.  3 locomotives have undergone repairs directly attributable to rough handling (radiators, flat spots, etc.).  The company has now determined that heat greatly affects operation of remote control - now instructed to keep air conditioner on inside an unoccupied cab.  Also, on hot days, there has been problems with locomotives communicating with wrong or undesignated device which has caused emergency shut downs.

PHOTOS WILL BE POSTED IF THEY ARE MADE AVAILABLE!