Is this a loco locomotive, or what?
CSX Transportation's Engine No. 8888 made national news on May 15, 2001, when a mistake by its engineer sent the diesel and 47 attached cars rambling loose from a Lake Township railyard for 66 miles across northwest Ohio. As the nation watched on CNN, a railroad employee finally managed to climb aboard the free-spirited diesel near Kenton, Ohio, and stop it before anyone was injured or any damage occurred.
Last month, the railroad was not as lucky.
Engine 8888 - which has since become known as the “Crazy Eights” - derailed in Stanley Yard on Jan. 6 and struck some freight cars on a parallel track, said David Hall, a CSX spokesman. Although nobody was hurt, the engineer's side of the locomotive's operating cab, along with equipment beneath the cab, was damaged. The value of the damage has not been estimated, Mr. Hall said.
The day after the runaway incident 21 months ago, Daily Number lottery players who bet thousands on “8888” the next day were skunked and public attention quickly turned elsewhere. The locomotive became a celebrity among rail enthusiasts, however, who keep track of its location by computer. Up until the Jan. 6 accident, its normal assignment remained at Stanley Yard, though it occasionally ventured elsewhere on the CSX system.
The notoriety of engine 8888 is not lost on railroaders, either. Scrawled in magic marker inside the cab after the runaway was a poem that read, in part, “I am the 8888, let it be known - I move alone” and “I'm infamous as very few; I'll always be more famous than you.”
But contrary to rumors spreading on some rail watchers' Internet bulletin boards that the “Crazy Eights” has run its last mile, Mr. Hall said the engine will be repaired.
“We are getting bids,” he said. “It will certainly be repaired and put back in service.”
Burlington Northern & Santa Fe Railroad recently renumbered one of its engines from 666 to 599 because of Satanic superstitions associated with 666. But Mr. Hall said CSX has no plan to change the 8888's memorable number when it is repaired.
First Published February 10, 2003, 12:30 p.m.
