Buttigieg blames Trump. How trite

@Carla Do you know how many freight trains crisscross the USA on an hourly basis that carry hazardous materials? Or would you prefer long haul trucks!. I spent 3 hours a few days ago watching trains go through our community because on another site I saw a similar question being asked. The count was 22. 4 of them were Amtrak. 18 had hazardous materials on them including 11 that had cars with the same material as the Ohio one did.

@dakotaviper How fast were they going? That's the issue here.

@ElwoodBlues Three of the Amtrak trains didn't stop at the Station and they were moving in excess of 20 mph. We have dual tracks running North and South with a 9 track Switching Yard just south of downtown, a Repair Yard, and a new Container Facility north of town. We have 1 track that runs west to the Recycling Facility west of town. That train seldom goes over 10 mph.

@dakotaviper The hazardous materials train that derailed in Ohio was 9000 feet long and going 47MPH. Did you see anything like that going thru your community at that speed?

@ElwoodBlues Not excessively long and not excessively fast. If the hot wheel detectors worked properly or if the bearing had not failed then everything would be normal. However a hot bearing and a series of failures in the hot wheel detection system led to this disaster.

@hippyjoe1955 So infrastructure shortcomings were part of the problem too? Gosh, if only they'd had those electronic brakes that Obama mandated and Trump cancelled!

@ElwoodBlues And what would those magical mystical brakes have done that a hot wheel detector not done?

@hippyjoe1955 They would apply brakes to all cars simultaneously, not sequentially like the air brake design from 1869 that's currently in use. Faster braking results in fewer derailments.

@ElwoodBlues Let me answer it for you. The electronic brakes that Obama mandated are supposedly intended to prevent 'jackknifing' should the brakes at the front of the train be applied to hard or too fast before the brakes at the rear of the train engage as happens with the old pneumatic brake system that has worked for hundreds of years. Nothing wrong with the idea and nothing wrong with the technology but this train was not derailed because the brakes worked or didn't work. This train derailed when a bearing/axle failed due to excessive wear and substandard maintenance. The short coming in maintenance is usually caught by a hot wheel detector that is build into the train tracks. Pretty fool proof system that has worked for decades and is improving all the time. However for some reason the train in question went through multiple hot wheel detectors and the 'hot wheel' was not indicated in the engine. Not sure why but from what I do know about the modern trains is the hot wheel detectors look for multiple potential failures and when one is spotted the conductor is alerted with an error code. For example if the train is dragging something or if the airhose is not connected properly or if one wheel is riding higher than the other or even a hot bearing or maybe a flat spot on a wheel there an error code that goes to the train engine AND to the train company operating the train. This derailment was not caused by faulty or misapplied brakes. It was the result of poor maintenance and a failed hot wheel detection system. Was the hot wheel detection system tampered with? We don't know but it's malfunction was a major component in this train's derailment. Nice of you too look foolish again. You do have a track record of being wrong about things don't you.

@hippyjoe1955 And once the engineer knew he had an axle on fire, he tried to slow the train, but couldn't decelerate fast enough.

@ElwoodBlues The electronic brakes would not have had any effect. By the time the engineer knew he had a fire, was about the time the train left the tracks. The fault was the hot wheel detection system not the brakes.

@hippyjoe1955 You're making stuff up again. NTSB hasn't released a detailed timeline of when the brakes were applied and when the train derailed. Flames alone don't push 38 train cars off the track.

@ElwoodBlues I am not making anything up. I am simply stating the obvious. Ever watch one of the many videos about the Columbia space shuttle? It had a catastrophic structural failure because there was too much heat. At least the people on board were no aware of a problem before the wing fell off and the rest of the shuttle broke in many many high speed parts. You on the other hand are making things up based on your political bias. You will strain at gnat and swallow a camel to make this somehow Trump's fault. Well sorry but Biden has been in power for 2 years now and if Trump's rule change was that dangerous then Biden had more than enough time to correct Trump's folly. Since the brakes had nothing to do with the structural failure of the train blaming the brakes is like the old Canadian farmer whose crop was failing. He had had a late frost that killed a lot of his crop then he had a hailstorm that took out most of the rest then a plague of grasshoppers devoured every last green leaf he had in the field. He was seen shaking his fist in the air and screaming at the top of his lungs "GDamn the CPR!" The CPR in case you didn't know is the Canadian Pacific Railway. Did the CPR have anything to do with the farmer's crop failure? NO! Why did he chose to be angry at the CPR? Because for years he felt that the CPR was overcharging him for shipping his wheat to market. Ditto you. There is no reason whatsoever to believe this was anything more than a hot wheel incident. Why the hot wheel was not detected is the only question that needs to be answered.

@hippyjoe1955 [quote]I am not making anything up.[/quote] Source then?

@ElwoodBlues You and your silly sources. There is video evidence of a fire in one of the wheels several miles before the crash. Try to think once for yourself. Hot metal is weakened and prone to failure. Maybe you could try some basic metallurgy courses for a source.

@hippyjoe1955 The video evidence is 20 miles before the crash.

So, no source then?

@ElwoodBlues So you can't figure it out yourself? Were you raised under a rock? Try to think for a change. Not everything comes from a 'source'. Sometimes you actually have to think. Maybe you should try that for change.

@hippyjoe1955 I don't read your drivel. No source then?

@ElwoodBlues No thinking then? Seems rather typical for you. Do try harder. You keep embarrassing yourself.

@ElwoodBlues Guess I am not alone in my diagnosis.
[quote]NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy says the brake rule 'would not have prevented' the East Palestine derailment.

"The wheel bearing failed on car number 23. So even with ECP brakes, the derailment would have occurred."[/quote]

@hippyjoe1955 Wow, you found a bureaucrat covering her butt!
Isn't that AMAZING!!! Aren't you the guy who tells us never trust the government? [b]ROTFL!!![/b]

@ElwoodBlues You mentioned the NTSB and its report. I posted a quote by the NTSB's head. She was being interviewed on CNN at the time. She is correct. A wheel bearing failure will cause a derailment that no braking regulation would have prevented. Then there is the small matter of the decision to burn the contents of the tanks rather than drain them. This was more than possible since the tanks containing the chemicals were not breached in the derailment. Your fearless leader Buttegieg is a bit a dud. Maybe you should stop listening to democrat talking points and actually get out in the real world. You might actually learn something for once.