Subject: Fire Prevention (7/10/1990)
[12/29/86] I would now like to quote from a letter from a vice president of the Chicago and Northwestern to Dante Stephensen:
"On a related subject, I recently spent a fine week on a special inspection train to the Powder River Basin and our other lines in Wyoming, South Dakota and Nebraska that came close to ending in tragedy due to a fire on board car 404 'Wyoming'.
"The fire started as we finished dinner at Norfolk, Nebraska. It was caused by a fuel oil leak at the boiler on equipment purchased from Vapor Corporation and less than two years old. The car suffered nearly $100,000 damage, a good portion due to smoke. One of our new sleepers suffered considerable smoke damage as well.
"My point in telling you this sad story is that all railroad business cars should be equipped with smoke detectors, but very few are. Had that fire started while we were sleeping, the chances of getting out alive would have been somewhere between slim and none. The environment is far more hazardous than in most homes, yet the issue of fire safety on this equipment has been sadly neglected."
The matter of smoke alarms should be addressed by you before your next trip. You will note that it is one of the items mentioned in our Car Owner/Operator Safety Manual, which you should always review before every trip.
If you do not have a supply of the car owner's manuals nor the Passenger Safety Rules Brochure, both can be obtained from Larry Haines at nominal cost.
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[3/2/87] Fire Hazards - Peter Moseley advised me of two incidents which I will pass along to you. First, he was having a workman work on the inside of one of his refrigeration compartments. The workman attempted to unscrew some old screws from the steel liner, and used a propane torch. The refrigeration compartment was insulated with cork, which caught on fire. The cost to repair the damage was over $4,000, caused in part by the Fire Department having to rip the stainless steel apart to get to the fire.
The second incident he relayed concerns electrical fires. An outside receptacle was not weather tight, and when he was washing down the platform, the switch shorted to ground, causing an electrical fire. The fire in turn, caught up the insulation in the car. As the old-timers know, the insulation in older cars is typically horse hair, and not fiberglass. It burns. It also smolders for considerable lengths of time, and doesn't actually catch fire until you go home at night. This is why you do not weld on the exterior of old cars, without removing the innards so that the insulation can be removed, and watched. The lesson here is to know the car construction and have a liquid type fire extinguisher, as well as a powder type, on board. Also, all electrical receptacles that are likely to be exposed to water, should be properly fused and of the weather-proof variety.
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[9/26/88] Fire Protection - A very graphic seminar was provided by Dave Schumaker (Anschutz - D & RGW). He had slides showing the effects of a fire which had broken out in the Utah. The fire was apparently caused by improper termination of heat tape cables under the car. The intensity of the fire was so great that it melted copper tubing. However, because he had protected all of the wood and the fabric in the car with fire retardants, the actual amount of damage to the car was minimized.
Dave brought with him Edward Goldsmith, Director of Technical Services for Ocean Coatings, who talked about the line of intumescent coatings which his company manufactures, and which had been applied to the Utah. The Ocean brand coatings are available through many national paint store chains. When they are subjected to fire, the coatings bubble up, and form a protective barrier which retards the flames from burning the underlying wood or fabric. In this regard, Dave emphasized that only natural fabrics, which will absorb these coatings, can be treated to help retard flames. If you use plastic materials for upholstery, the coatings will not stick, and you must buy fire retardant plastics in the beginning. Next year, Dave will present a program on smoke and fire detection.
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[7/10/90] City Tunnels (particularly New York City) - The Fire Department of New York City has written to the Long Island Railroad opposing the use of diesel fuel in locomotives in the tunnels on the grounds that diesel fuel will create an unnecessary hazard to the riding public, transit officials, and to fire fighters should an incident occur. As you know, propane bottles are already banned from the tunnels in New York City. Carried to its logical conclusion, diesel locomotives and diesel fueled generators would next be banned. One of our members, Al Siebold, who is a professional fire fighter and is a member of the National Fire Prevention Association-Railroad Committee, has agreed to assume the responsibilities for fire safety issues regarding AAPRCO. A ban on diesel fuel in the New York City tunnels would be a considerable hardship to private car owners, and likewise to Amtrak, who currently moves diesels through the tunnels on work trains.
On the same subject, but from a different aspect, Amtrak has complained about the use of diesel generators while in Penn Station. Apparently the fumes fill the underground station with noxious odors, which are upsetting to the otherwise pleasant New York City commuters. After January 1, 1991 everyone will have full 480, hence there should not be a problem in Penn Station, assuming we can get the station personnel to plug in the 480 to parked private cars.
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[7/10/90] Heat Tapes - At the Savannah Board Meeting, Robert McCown explained a phenomenon which we all know happens - the frequent destruction of house trailers by fire. It appears that heat tapes are the villain. There are basically two types of heat tapes. One is a pre-determined length of resistance wire encased in a plastic wrapper. The other comprises two parallel bus bars and the plastic between the two wires is conductive and heats up when the current is passed between them. Both can cause fires. The fires usually occur because the insulation is shorted across causing a hot spot, which catches on fire and burns until the electricity is turned off. Particularly insidious is the cascading effect, where after a fire starts, it may burn inside the insulation, invisible to the outside, for several feet before bursting out into flames. The amount of current drawn is relatively low, hence the ordinary circuit breaker cannot detect the short or the fire.
A ground fault interrupter might work, but if you were to use a heat tape that was not grounded, then it would not give any indication either. The experts seem to agree that all brands are subject to this phenomenon, and that more protection is provided if you use a shielded heat tape wherein the shield consists of a copper braid surrounding the resistance elements. Apparently a ground fault interruptor can be made sensitive enough to turn off the circuit if the current begins to pass between either of the conductors and the grounded metallic shield.
What causes the cable to go bad? Two things come to mind, namely mechanical pinching and water penetration, either at a bad termination, or as a result of mechanical abuse, such as rocks being thrown against the tape under the train.
If you are going to use heat tapes, you should pay more and get the grounded metal braid variety, and then protect the circuits with a ground fault interrupter. Bob McCown will present a seminar at Galveston on this phenomenon.
Paul L. DeVerter II
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