RAILFREIGHT HISTORY

AUGUST 30

2007 AT about 04:59, a westbound BNSF train, consisting of a locomotive and two cars, was being remotely controlled when it collided with the side of a standing tank car that was fouling a crossover between two tracks at BNSF’s Mormon Yard in Stockton, California.

A helper, who was remotely controlling the moving train, had been riding the side ladder on the leading end of a covered hopper car. When the hopper car collided with the tank car, the helper was killed.

The cause, says the NTSB, was the remote control foreman’s failure to ensure that the crossover was not fouled when he lined switches to allow the helper to move the remotely controlled train through the crossover.

Contributing to the accident was the yard trainmaster’s failure to inform the remote control crew that a local train crew had left rail cars on track 132 that were not clear of the crossover.

Contributing to the severity of the accident was the remote control helper’s position on a side ladder of the train’s leading rail car as he was controlling the train through the crossover.

AUGUST 31

1987 SUBSIDIARY CSX Transportation absorbs Chesapeake & Ohio, the only corporate survivor of the Chessie System Railroads.

September 1

1886 REGULAR goods traffic begins to pass through the Great Western Railway’s Severn Tunnel linking southern Gloucestershire and Monmouthshire as it is initially freight only.

SEPTEMBER 2

1976 THE MV TILLIE Lykes anchors in Dublin Bay, having arrived from New Orleans with 18 new 071 Class GM locomotives for Córas Iompair Éireann.

SEPTEMBER 3

1982 CANADA Dock Goods shed in the Liverpool docks closes after 116 years of operation.

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