Runaway Train at the Nevada Test Site; Nevada Test Site History DOE/NV - - 1049
Las Vegas, NV: National Nuclear Security Administration, Nevada Field Office, Office of Public Affairs, 2013. Presumed First Edition, First 2013 printing thus. Single sheet, printed on both sides. Format is approximately 8.5 inches by 11 inches. Illustrations and text on both sides. The Nevada Test Site was the primary testing location of American nuclear devices from 1951 to 1992; 928 announced nuclear tests occurred there. Of those, 828 were underground. (Sixty-two of the underground tests included multiple, simultaneous nuclear detonations, adding 93 detonations and bringing the total number of NTS nuclear detonations to 1,021, of which 921 were underground.) The site is covered with subsidence craters from the testing. The NTS was the United States' primary location for tests smaller than 1 Mt (4.2 PJ). 126 tests were conducted elsewhere, including most larger tests. Many of these occurred at the Pacific Proving Grounds in the Marshall Islands. The last atmospheric test detonation at the Nevada Test Site was "Little Feller I" of Operation Sunbeam, on July 17, 1962. The Nevada Railway Museum at Boulder City has a diesel locomotive with an interesting history. It was built by General Electric in March 1953, makers number 31827. It's described as a 'B-B-160/160'. The customer was the United States Navy and it carries its 'Navy Plates' - 'LOCOMOTIVE DE 80 TON 56-1/2 IN GA 0-4-4-0 CLASS'. '56-1/2 IN GA' just meant standard gauge. The locomotive was transferred to the Atomic Weapons Testing Site in Nevada, which had its own internal railway. The lighthearted title of 'The Jackass and Western Railroad' stuck and the name appears in black on each side of the yellow-liveried locomotive. In the Atomic Testing Museum in Las Vegas, there is a model of the railway on the test site which seems to have been used as a training aid. I also found the 'Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity' authorizing the operation of the railway on the test site. This was issued on 7th April 1975 by the Public Service Commission of Nevada and allows the Jackass and Western Railroad to operate a freight and passenger service within the confines of the Nevada Test Site. A copy of this certificate is held at the Railway Museum at Boulder City. On the morning of March 8, 1968 during routine operations the brakes failed and the train gained speed, becoming a runaway. There was an attempt to derail the runaway train which was successful. The train was determined to be carrying too much weight. The heavy shipping containers were essentially undamaged, the same could not be said of the train or the track. Condition: Very good.
Keywords: Nevada Test Site, Atomic Energy, Jackass & Western, Railroad, Rundaway, Derail, Shipping casks, Mechanical Failure, Accident Investigation
[Book #90862]
Price: $20.00