![]() ![]() Lawrence Hill, Engineer on helper unit 7443 (age 42).Allan Riess,† Brakeman on 3rd locomotive (age 43).The crew that was called for train 7551 East were as follows: ![]() Train and helper crews of Southern Pacific 7551 East It was composited by an SD40T-2, two SD45Rs, and an SD45T-2 on the head end, an SD40T-2 and SD45R on the helper end, and 69 hopper cars loaded with trona. The train catapulted from the 35 mph curve next to Duffy Street, scattering locomotives and cars, as well as lading. ![]() Once dynamic braking had been defeated by the helper engineer's emergency brake application the enormous weight of the heavily loaded cars caused rapid acceleration that could not be resisted solely by mechanical braking. The combination of weight miscalculation, poor communication and faulty brake equipment resulted in a total train weight that was too great to adequately control on the down grade. It was also determined after the wreck that the engineer operating the helper locomotives knew of the faulty dynamic brakes on one of his units, but did not communicate that information to the head end crew. Upon retrieving the locomotives' "black boxes" (event recorders) and the recorded data therein, it was discovered that the third head end locomotive's dynamic brakes were not functioning at all, although the sound of the cooling fans misled crews into believing dynamic braking was functional. The train reached a speed of about 100 miles per hour (160 km/h) before derailing on an elevated 35 miles per hour (56 km/h) curve next to Duffy Street, sending the head end locomotives and several cars off the high railroad bed and into houses on the street below, completely demolishing them. When the helper engineer realized that the train speed was not being adequately controlled, he made an emergency brake application, which deactivated dynamic braking, resulting in a runaway condition. Hence there was not enough dynamic braking force available to maintain control of train speed during the descent. Clerks in Mojave had miscalculated the weight of the train, while the engineer and crew at the head end were unaware that one of the rear helper engines had inoperative dynamic brakes. ![]() Seven houses on the street immediately next to the tracks were demolished by the wreck, as were the lead locomotives and all of the freight cars. Now that’s good customer service.Bottom line, I’m very disappointed in the service I received from Caliber and I would not recommend this company to anyone.The conductor, head-end brakeman, and two residents were killed in the wreck. Why offer the option of uploading pictures if you can’t honor such a service? Why waste your time & my time? I told Caliber up front that towing my car was not an option so they should have just been up front with me and said they could not help me instead of wasting nearly a day of my time.I called another company after and they informed me that they can come to me and provide an estimate with no hassle and no cost. Transparency and good customer service is a must. #Calibre collision rialto professional#I attempted again to call for my estimate an hour later only to be told that they cannot give me an estimate unless I bring my car in!!! Am I missing something?!As a customer I expect certain courtesies when dealing with a professional company. I gave them an hour and no one called me back. I did not get a call back after Three hours so I again spoke with Juan who tells me that the person who is handing my estimate is at lunch and should be back in about 30minutes. Juan, very politely tells me that he would look into it and call me back. I called and informed the worker Juan that I had not received an estimate yet. I sent VERY detailed pictures including my vin number and received an email the next day asking me to bring my car in. I was then told to upload detailed pictures of my car and they can send me an estimate via email by the next day. Caliber refused to come out to see my car and asked me to tow it to them just for an estimate which is ridiculous as it’s just an estimate! I informed Caliber that I could not tow my car to them. I live less than a mile from the shop & my car is not drivable as it was in an accident. I called for an estimate & staff was friendly but the services were very misleading. ![]()
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