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View Full Version : Link to BTMRR 911 call and investigative report



jrsharp21
10-11-2003, 02:07 PM
911 calls -

http://www.anaheim.net/911/document%20one.pdf

Ivestigative reports -

http://www.anaheim.net/911/document%20two.pdf

IndyBones
10-11-2003, 07:35 PM
Hmmm. They named more cast members than I had expected.

SpaceMTJunkie
10-12-2003, 07:42 AM
Very interesting. There is a diagram in the report that a rider drew showing a "broken rail" underneath the 3rd car.

Bruce Bergman
10-12-2003, 05:38 PM
Originally posted by SpaceMTJunkie
Very interesting. There is a diagram in the report that a rider drew showing a "broken rail" underneath the 3rd car.

I saw that too - but remember, that's a "Chicken or Egg" situation that is beyond the purview of a police criminal investigation. Something that a structural engineer will have to investigate - Did the train crashing and breaking cause the rail to break, or did the rail breaking cause the train to crash?

Since the odd noises are only reported on one train (which was about to be cycled out of service for inspection), I suspect that the train broke the track during the crash, rather than the other way round - it's more logical. But I've been wrong before... :D

I will be dong a bit of educated speculation here, but I sat down and read that whole report (whew!) and it fits the known facts so far. (Remember, I fix electrical and mechanical systems for a living, I've never had any formal engineering courses.)

Note also the part where the 'engine' car broke off one of the brakes mounted on the track and drug it forward of it's normal mounting locations, and the notes of gouges on the ceiling from the top of the 'cab' - that 'engine' had to really get wedged by the front pasenger car to go up that high...

That would lead me to believe that when the one rear bogie on the 'engine' broke loose the rear end of the 'engine' rotated to one side to slip the up-stop wheel on the opposite side clear of the track, and then the 'engine' could lift up at the rear a few inches...

Allowing the first coaster car to jack-knife the coupler and go underneath and into the rear of the 'engine' car when the 'engine' hit a solid obstacle in the track (like that brake) or something else like a cross-tie or some steel mounting a track sensor.

When the rear of the car goes up. the front of the car (ahead of the front axle trucks) is going to go down - just like a simple lever or see-saw when the fulcrum point is at the front trucks. And I'd have to study the "cow-catcher" details on the front of the 'engine', but that might have been just enough to catch on something solid on the tracks and start it all off.

Someone (coughDisneycough) is going to be paying for some serious outside engineering studies, and probably one of those animated accident reconstruction videos to be made, from many angles. (Maybe they can farm out the rendering to The Secret Lab so it comes out nice, not all stick-figurish and badly lit like they usually do.) That will show exactly what happened, and what needs to be done to prevent it from happening again.

I'm betting the fix will involve redesigning the 'engine' car wheel trucks, and stregthening the tow-bar and safety cables system between the engine and first car so they can't jack-knife like that. It wasn't the sudden stop that killed, it was more likely the blunt force trauma to the chest and head of hitting the back of the 'engine' cab. Keep the cars from jack-knifing and you prevent the trauma.

--<< Bruce >>--

Icy Bacon
10-12-2003, 08:52 PM
Page 94 is the really interesting one with a diagram of the actual resting place of everything. I'm betting DL will pull a Top Thrill Dragster and take off the decorative locomotive.