[Scan-DC] VRE runaway locomotive

[RICHARD ROWLAND]

Just wondering if any rail buffs monitored this.

FREDERICKSBURG, Va. (AP) - Two Amtrak contract employees 
who repair trains for Virginia Railway Express have been fired after 
they failed to stop a runaway train locomotive. 
It happened Sept. 26 when the 118-ton engine that was under repair 
rolled out of a train yard and went on a six-mile run. Workers hadn't 
blocked its wheels or put on the emergency brake. 

VRE officials say the runaway locomotive went onto the main tracks 
and reached speeds of about 40 miles per hour. There was no 
announcement of the incident until a report Wednesday in The Free 
Lance-Star in Fredericksburg. 

The engine rolled from the train yard in Spotsylvania County and was 
eventually stopped just north of the Rappahannock River in Stafford. 
It was on tracks shared by both freight and passenger trains. It 
approached the Fredericksburg train station going about 10 miles per 
hour. 

VRE spokesman Mark Roeber says the public was not in harm's way and 
no other trains were in the way. 

Richard Rowland
RichRowl at worldnet.att.net