Collapsing railcar during multi-forklift unloading - video

[Jon]

Collapsing railcar during multi-forklift unloading. 2:34 video:

Previously:

Controlled vacuum collapse of rail car - GIF
Railroad bridge catches fire and collapses - GIF and photo
Forklift moves burning van from riots - GIF
Double forklift lift - photo
Forklift driver collapses entire warehouse of racks - GIF
Forklift collapses scaffolding during crane installation - GIF

[Crusty]

I saw that coming as soon as the end driver picked up and did absolutely nothing to correct his forks tilting downward.

[jdurand]

Any one of those lifts that moved back slower than the others would also cause that.

[Frank S]

They all needed a stack of what a friend of mine calls mafia blocks on the back of them. His large forklift is capable of lifting its 30,000 lb rating but anything over 20,000 K he stacks a 10,000 lb block on the back. He says it is there for the just incase. When I had my 25,000 Taylor we welded a 6in. thick steel plate the same size as the counter weight on the back so that the forklift would always run out of lift power before the back got light. We sold it to a guy who welded another 10 inch thick plate added 10,000 lbs to the fenders turned the hydraulic pressure up to 3000PSI from the 2000 PSI setting added 2 more hoist chains foam filled the tires then had it certified as a 50K forklift He said those old Taylors the size of that one because of its shared components and frame of much large cap. forklifts, could actually lift 80K before the mast and carriage reached their safe limits. I don't know I was happy with being able to lift 25K and still be able to drive over rough terrain

[Frank S]

In the rail way lifting If the load is 100K you don't use 4 25K lifts you use 4 50k lifts that way if soughing does not go as planned and the choreography is a little off you have extra cap to help keep you out of trouble.

[MeJasonT]

Case of wrong tool wrong job, uneven ground with the ballast falling away from the track. Whats wrong with a gantry lift over the rail car trailer, easier to construct and a whole lot safer. Spreading a load across what 4 forklifts of varying size and capacity umm. To say i saw it coming was an understatement. 1x bigger forklift able to lift 1.5 times the actual lift weight required wouldn't have been a miss.
Its hard working in Africa and India and not being able / or being powerless to say anything when you watch this **** unfold.
But you have to admire the pure genius when they pull it off and it works as it should. Jon has already posted video clips of guys loading a JCB into the back of a lorry, it might work 99 out of 100 times then **** happens. Its the old mith about the guy with the hand grenade, if you lie face down on the ground and place a hand grenade out to the side at arms length 9/10 time you will survive due to the angle the explosion projects, my question has always been how successful was the guys 11th attempt. 0 points for effort.

[DIYSwede]

Well, doesn't seem to be neither in India nor in Africa - in my head the acronym "BNSF" on the flatcar end means
"Burlington Northern & Santa Fe"
Even worse: the flatcar seemed pretty much brand new itself.

[Frank S]

The thing is we don't know but they may have already unloaded a dozen or more flat cars exactly the same way without incident. This may have even been a case of laxation of procedural protocol due in part of the ease of off loading several cars previously. Or one operator could have sneezed causing him to jerk a lever or step on the gas but what ever the reason there still no getting around the limited safety factor of possible overloading calculated for the pick.

[Radioman]

All it takes is one driver to let up just a touch and it’s all over. Like others have said we all saw it coming. When the guy on this end raised is forks did all the others follow suit? I think not and that’s what triggered the collapse.

[suther51]

Having watched twice with time to think between, it seems one mistake made was not tilting back when the stanchions of the rail car were cleared. As noted in a previous post the ballast is tapered, dropping the front of the lift as they backed up. This creates a tilt too far forward condition, load too far in front of the wheels. Not only would tilting back have made a difference with the uneaven ground but would have moved the load closer to the front wheels increasing the stability of the lift with a load so close to the limit. Can always tilt forward when the load is closer to the ground. Then the forks can act like wheelie bars if things go wrong. If you are going to push the limits, best think of what will happen when those limits are exceeded and how to at least keep to the knife's edge, not past, it can be a long drop.
Eric