8 is not a lucky number

Posted in The World Of Orcaz(blog) Posted in The World Of Orcaz(Hobby Matter) Posted in The World Of Orcaz(Photography)

The movie "Unstoppable" at last being showed in Japan from 7 Jan. Inspired by a true runaway train incident, the film tells the story of a runaway freight train, and the two men (Washington and Pine) who attempt to stop it.

I watch the trailer. The attempt to stop the runaway train was very heroic. But I also felt that something is fishy. So, I do a little research about the incident which inspired the film.

The incident was known as Crazy Eight incident. Happened in spring 2001, a train move without any engineers on board. But unfortunately for those who watch the film and don't know the truth, the attempt to stop the train was very anti-climatic.

Taken from several sources

The train involved was owned by CSX Transportation. The locomotive is numbered 8888. It pulled more than 40 cars. Some of them loaded with phenol, a toxic ingredient of paints and dyes that is harmful when it is inhaled, ingested, or comes into contact with the skin.

At first, the company attempted to derail the locomotive which ended with failure. A policeman tried to shoot out the fuel release valve and also failed. Then another locomotive which heading northbound and in head-on collision course, directed to a siding. The company ordered the northbound locomotive to decouple their cars and chase the runaway train. The engineers chased the runaway train and able to couple onto the rear car. Dynamic brake applied.

And the runaway train stopped...but that is not the story.

The runaway did not stop. When the runaway slowed down to about 11mph, a crew try to jump in into #8888, the runaway locomotive, but failed. However, another crew managed to get onboard and shut down the engine. And the train stopped.

No property was damaged, nobody was threaten to be fired, nobody got any disciplinary action (?).
And the train never got any higher than 51mph.



But Unstoppable is a movie. If the storyline is the same as the real incident, nobody want to watch it.

The news..


-The Crazy Eights is crazy afterall, another incident involving the same locomotive (#8888), occured in 2005. number "8" is not a lucky number afterall.