Amtrak Silver Meteor "toilet incident"

[=FI=Ghost]

Thank you all for these rather fascinating stories! Should I say that it was a pleasure to read them or would that sound... weird? One way or the other, I am happy to have learned something new, so once again thank you!

[eric]

Gives new meaning to crappy design...

[drjayyyy]

An addition to that.

I believe I read this following story in Kalmbachs "Classic Trains" magazine. It took place way back when before the firemens position was eradicated . But in this case it wasn't a steamer but a E Unit. The railroad I don't remember. The train leaves the station. Rolling along through the countryside. The engineer tells the firemen. "Hey kid takeover I gotta go" The storyteller says the engineer drops a rock or a piece of rail on the deadman. Climbs out of the seat .The storyteller hops in the seat. Observes the speedometer...the upper 90s. He hears the noise of the twin V-12s roaring in the engine room as the engineer opens the door leading to the toilet located at the extreme end of the engineroom. After a few minutes he hears the door open to the engine room. The engineer re-enters the cab cursing up a storm, he's holding his hat, wiping his face [still cursing] his hair is a mess. With small chunks of a dark substance in it. Here's what happened .It was a quirk with the cab units design(Remember the toilets dumped on the tracks) If there's anything in the toilet and you flush it (especially at 95+mph) it blows the contents of the bowl on your butt. In this case your face.
P.S. Question the preceding crew.

[cuontv]

It was not this one incident, but many through the years which prompted self-retaining septic systems to be installed on passenger equipment. The Florida story may have been the last incident but was not the only occurrence of this happening. Direct-discharge toilets were replaced by emaciating tank systems which would fill up and allow the contents to break down, then be sprayed onto the roadbed when the tanks were full. This was deemed a lesser of two evils and the emaciators help the effluent wash away quicker in the rain. I recall in the 1980's a Rio Grande bridge gang being 'cropdusted' by a California Zephyr passing over a bridge while they were working under it in the Utah desert. Lawsuits were filed as a result. Being splattered by toilet contents could go both ways. In the early streamliner era of F and E units before engine compartments were pressurized to keep dust and dirt out, enginemen answering natures call could experience the same fate if not careful. On these units the toilet was located at the rear of the engine room by the back door. EMD Sales Engineer Jack Wheelihan once recounted that with all the cooling fans running in a carbody unit, enough negative pressure was generated that if you flushed the toilet, which opened the discharge pipe directly onto the tracks, instead of the bowl's contents dropping down onto the tracks by gravity, the suction pressure from the fans would cause the contents to shoot upward out of the toilet as air was sucked in through the discharge pipe. Some cases, he said, left a stain on the ceiling. There were warning signs posted not to flush when all the fans were running, but sometimes habit got the best of them with embarrassing results.
-TK

[jbtower]

Most equipment that Amtrak started with was cast off equipment from the railroads that gave up their passenger routes and most equipment as part of the agreement with Amtrak in order to get out of the passenger hauling business. Other than the Hilevel cars built for the SantaFe the majority of the equipment was built just before or after WWll. In that era when you flushed a toilet the discharge (like most cabooses) dropped right on to the tracks which is why it was not uncommon to find DO NOT FLUSH IF TRAIN IS STOPPED warnings posted above the toilet. Go to aany railroad museum and look at the underframes of the older roomettes, sleepers and coaches and you'll find tubes dropping out from the floors underneath any toilets just as you will on cabooses and even some older locomotives. The sewage was dumped right on the tracks until the EPA got involved and stopped the tradition by requiring chemical toilets and holding tanks!

[oper190]

Been searching this, and found the Formus at the "Amtrak Unlimited" site. There is a post there from an Amtrak Service Attendant, who remarks about the incident and say he was in the court room. The Post is from July 2021.

[rfranzosa]

Charles Geletzke Jr, a lifelong railroad employee (from late teens, now retired) has a series of collections of railroad stories on Amazon Kindle. One is titled "Don't Flush In the Station and Other Railroad Stories." I've read two, interesting stories, none the Silver Meteor, however.

Aloha, Jeff Link

Aloha, Jeff,

I was riding Amtrak from Los Angeles to New Orleans in the late 1970's. During a stop in Del Rio, TX, I got off the train to stretch my legs and, being young and single, I started to flirt with the female car attendant that was standing there next to the car. Suddenly, there was a flushing sound and I jumped out of the way as the 'deposit' was made not six feet from where I was standing. It really broke the mood…. 😏

Rick


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[=FI=Ghost]

Thanks! I will check it out.

[linkj]

Charles Geletzke Jr, a lifelong railroad employee (from late teens, now retired) has a series of collections of railroad stories on Amazon Kindle. One is titled "Don't Flush In the Station and Other Railroad Stories." I've read two, interesting stories, none the Silver Meteor, however.

Aloha, Jeff Link

[=FI=Ghost]

Hi, guys!

I've just read a rather interesting story about toilets on US passenger trains and an "incident" that changed the way the toilets are installed on US passenger cars.

Can anyone confirm this story? I've tried to find more about it, or about the alleged lawsuit, but I haven't found anything other than this one story:

https://corridorrail.com/u-s-amtrak-silver-meteor-history-kindly-do-not-flush-toilet-when-train-is-standing-in-station/