Engineers Has this happened to any of you on a DPU train?

Question

The other day a fellow engineer where i work was on a DPU train with one pusher engine.They were coming to a stop for a meet and the remote engine would not throttle down.It stayed in run 7 even though they didn't show a comm loss or any other fault.They plugged the train and the unit wouldn't even PC.Lucky for them it was an AC unit so it didn't burn through the rail.But it stayed in run 7 til the emergency fuel cutoff was activated.Then they cycled the BCC breaker and restarted the engine.They never had another problem but that's a scary scenario to say the least.That could have been very ugly had they been on a heavy grade or had a non AC unit in the rear consist!So have any of you encountered anything like that before?The DPU technology is getting some age to it now and it makes me wonder if we don't have more of this to look forward to in the future.

Update:

Edit Jim this one was actually stuck in run 7.Scary that pcing it didn't even knock it down to idle

Update 2:

Edit Bob i'm not sure if they reported it of not.I hope so! One thing that amazed me was the fact that after it reset they continued on!I think i would have taken a stand for putting the train back conventional til the reason was found.

Samurai Hoghead · Accepted Answer

Did this get reported to the FRA, BLET and / or NTSB?

Perhaps slightly improved over the Locotrol crap, I've been bitchin' about these since day one; they are dangerous.  On the Modoc line a five unit helper sideswiped its own train after having been set out.  Post accident investigation determined that the crew was not to blame and the puzzle was never solved.  They didn't work on the Hill, the Tehachipi or Siskiyou lines either.

Sooner or later there will be a major pile-up because of them.  But hey, the good news is the carrier's bottom line looks better...  Making money hand over fist each day they are in service, the UP isn't worried about a $500 million pile up.  To them that's only chump change...

Not only a safety question, but an important one as well.  Concerned citizens should contact municipal, state and federal representatives and demand an injunction against their use.

Anonymous · Answer

I had one a week or so back that showed it was still loading but we had a meeting train stop and look at it and it was in idle, just showed otherwise on my screen.

It is almost every trip that either us or another train in the vicinity experiences some sort of trouble, usually minor but it is definitely enough to be of serious concern. 

I worked on the first series of Locotrol units in the 70s, similar things, when they worked, they worked very well, nice to have, almost like a helper engineer that actually does what you want. 

But when they messed up, it could get really ugly, real fast.
Bob is 100% correct, it was the safety issues that scrapped them in the first place, I saw them do lots of things the technicians said "coulndt happen". Same thing now, things that can't happen, are happening. 

One constant in railroading, if you imagine something that is utterly absolutely impossible, it will happen, probably to you.

Derail · Answer

I have had precious little experience with DPUs, as my railroad doesn't set them up. But I have often wondered about the "what if" scenarios. Your wide-eyed encounter is the first SNAFU I"ve ever heard of though.

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Engineers Has this happened to any of you on a DPU train?

3 Answers