One of the most infamous types of railroad incidents are runaway trains, these incidents happen when unattended locomotives and/or rolling stock are accidentally allowed to roll down a rail line uncontrollably. Whether it's real life incidents such as the three Cajon Pass Runaways that took place from 1989 to 1996 or in works of fiction like in Thomas The Tank Engine and the 1985 film "Runaway Train", these incidents are a mix of fear and chaos combined into steel and metal. And one of the most well known runaway train incidents to take place in the United States is the CSX 8888 Incident, better known by some as the "Crazy Eights Incident".
On May 15th, 2001, an engineer is using a locomotive to switch 47 freight cars from track K12 to track D10 to be put onto an outbound train at CSX's Stanley Yard in Walbridge, Ohio, a town located seven miles south of Toledo. The locomotive in question is No. 8888, an EMD SD40-2 built originally for Conrail as No. 6410 in September 1977. Out of all the 47 cars No. 8888 is switching, 25 are empty while 22 are loaded.
Among the loaded cars are two tank cars carrying molten phenol, a toxic ingredient used in the production of many things such as plastics, epoxies, nylon, various pharmaceutical drugs, detergents, and paints. If it makes direct skin or eye contact, It can result in severe chemical burns and is very dangerous when ingested. Noticing a misaligned switch, the engineer fully applied the locomotive's air brake and partially the automatic brake before climbing off believing that there wasn't enough time for the train to fully stop due to the rain-dampened rails, not to mention that the airbrakes between the locomotive and cars were disconnected since this was a yard maneuver. He then seemingly applied the dynamic brake oblivious to the fact that he actually set the throttle to full power by mistake.
Initially unaware of his error, the engineer ran ahead to realign the switch just seconds before the locomotive entered the switch. While attempting to get back onboard No. 8888, the engineer was dragged by the accelerating train for a distance of 80 feet before letting go. As a result of this, he received minor cuts and scrapes.
At 12:35 PM, the train becomes a runaway as it begins its southbound journey down the Toledo Branch Subdivision without a crew in control while flying at 53 miles per hour. Plan A to stop the train came in the form of using portable derailers, these attempts have backfired as derailers were thrown from the tracks by the force of the train. Now onto Plan B, shoot at the red fuel cutoff button. Police officers shot at the cutoff button to shut down the locomotive by starving its prime mover of fuel. This didn't work out either as three shots mistakenly hit the larger red fuel cap, not to mention that on all SD40-2s built under Conrail specs, like No. 8888, the buttons must be pressed for several seconds until the switch activates.
And now for Plan C, stop the train using one locomotive or multiple locomotives. CSX Q636-15, a northbound manifest being pulled by SD40-2 No. 8392 (EX-Chesapeake & Ohio SD40 No. 7533), had been diverted onto a siding to allow the runaway train to pass. Afterwards, engineer Jess Knowlton and conductor Terry L. Forson decoupled the locomotive to chase the runaway. An additional locomotive, EMD GP40-2 No. 6008 (EX-Baltimore & Ohio 4108) was located further down the line to couple up to the front of No. 8888 if necessary. Once they've coupled up to the last car, Knowlton and Forson applied No. 8392's dynamic brakes slowing the train to 12 miles per hour allowing CSX trainmaster Jon Hosfeld to get onboard No. 8888 and shut down the locomotive.
After a 66 mile journey, the train comes to a complete stop at the Ohio State Route 31 crossing located southeast of Kenton, Ohio, preventing an even worse disaster from unfolding. Immediately afterwards, an inspection launched by the FRA on No. 8888 showed that, apart from burnt brake shoes from the runaway trip, the locomotive had no defects. CSX never publicized the name of the engineer whose error lead to this incident nor what accountability he faced, but let's just say that lessons have been learned. Knowlton, Forson, and Hosfeld on the other hand have been praised as heroes for their actions, it was these events that would go on to inspire the 2010 20th Century Fox film "Unstoppable".
No. 8888 would continue to serve CSX while several railroad museums offered to preserve the locomotive. CSX wasn't interested and by 2015, the locomotive was rebuilt into an SD40-3 with a more squared-off cab, repainted into the YN3 "Dark Future" livery, and renumbered to 4389, it is still in service with CSX as of April 2026. No. 8392 was retired sometime in the late 2000s and sold to NREX while No. 6008 is likely still in service as of October 2019. Overall, we are grateful for the heroic actions made by Knowlton, Forson, and Hosfeld as we would've otherwise been telling an entirely different story.
Models and Route by: Jointed Rail, Auran, and Download Station
Information Sources Cited in Chicago Style:
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