Investigative Reporter Darrel Richter has uncovered new information about efforts to stop the train that ran away from a Walbridge rail yard last spring. We've obtained a detailed internal memo from the Federal Railroad Administration, outlining exactly what happened. The FRA memo said there were two attempts by railroad workers at stopping the runaway train, before a Kenton, Ohio, trainmaster brought it to a halt.
On a cool May afternoon 47 freight cars traveled 66 miles across northwestern Ohio with no one on board. How did they stop it? Our investigation found that the first two efforts to stop the
runaway train weren't successful. It wasn't until CSX Trainmaster John Hosfeld jumped onto the train in Kenton, Ohio, that the train was finally stopped.
When the train first took off at 12:35 p.m., two Stanley Yard employees hopped in a personal vehicle to beat the train to the next road crossing. They tried to hop on board the train, but by that time it was moving 18 miles per hour--too fast to jump onto the engine.
At 1:35 p.m. the second effort to stop the train took place. At railroad mile post 34 at a siding called Galatea, railroad workers placed a portable derail on the track to derail the locomotive and stop it from going any further. That didn't stop the train, either. The engine and 47 cars ran over the derail and kept on going.
In Dunkirk, Ohio at 2:05 p.m., a locomotive crew was ordered to unhook a single train engine from a different train and wait until the runaway train passed them. The train passed, and the Dunkirk engine and crew took off after it. They caught the runaway train and attached their locomotive to the back of it. By the time the train passed over the crossing at Route 31 south of Kenton, the crew slowed the runaway to 11 miles per hour. That's when CSX Trainmaster John Hosfeld was waiting for them at the crossing.
