Sperry 131 hit by derailment!

Sperry Rail Service 131, Aleza Lake, Fraser Subdivision MP 108.8, June 1954. It doesn't get any better than this! A derailment created by a split rail, sending a boxcar into a Sperry Detector car!

Studying the clothing, you can determine who is SRS crew is as compared to rail crew. The technicians are obviously concerned to prevent further damage to the rail detection car while the rail crew ponders what to do next.


Many external defects and visible indications of internal defects are overlooked in visual inspections. With a Sands Mirror an inspector can visually inspect approximately one mile of rail per day.

However, even this type of inspection, acknowledged as the most efficient method of visual inspection, cannot detect those internal separations of the steel within the rail head known as Transverse Defects, and frequently overlooks vertical split heads.

The transverse fissure first came into prominence as an outstanding cause of rail failures as a result of a derailment at Manchester, N.Y. in 1911 in which 29 persons were killed and over 60 seriously injured. In the investigation following the accident, Dr. Howard of the U.S. Bureau of Safety identified a broken rail as the cause of the derailment.

A study of the rail revealed a defect which was entirely internal (which Dr. Howard termed "transverse fissure") and which was definitely established as the cause of the rail failure. A number of other railroads began private investigations to determine the prevalence of transverse fissures in their rails. The results of these investigations showed that transverse fissures were widespread.

Sperry Rail Services has been responsible for thousand of miles of safety inspection over all railroads, and have been responsible for preventing hundreds of accidents.

Railroad Stuff: Sperry Rail Services 131, Built by St. Louis/EMC for Lehigh Valley, 1925, serial number 1376134. To Sperry 1941.