John,
Is there still a siding at Partridge? I know it's been removed and put
back a few times over the years. My understanding was the train was left
on the main and was blocking the tracks, thus the hurry to get it going
again and perhaps the reason not to set handbrakes?
Similarly, is the siding at Yoho long enough? Still on the 2% grade though.
Craig
John Sutherland (Redacted sender sutherail for DMARC) wrote:
Craig: Leaving the train at Stephen would block the north track all the way from Lake Louise, and the south track is the one with the heavy grade against westbounds. There had been a single crossover at Divide but it was removed in the EHH era. It was facing the wrong way anyway, originally set up to enable /The Canadian/ to get to the platform at LLouise (south track) from either track at Stephen. I did hear that there was talk recently of reinstalling the crossover, possibly facing the opposite way to enable freights to overtake. Therefore the only place to stage a westbound train before Partridge would have been Eldon. Presumably at Eldon it was still expected the original crew would reach Field within their hours. We will have to wait for the TSB report which will probably list where and when the problems occurred.
