A loaded Houston Power and Light train broke in two climbing the grade into Decatur, TX on a mild day in January 1980. After replacing the broken knuckle, the power brought the first half of the train up to Decatur and cleared the west switch. The power from an empty Halstead, TX train then cut off from its train and went down to retrieve the remainder of the Houston train. Trains breaking in two was a common occurrence near Decatur during 1979 and early 1980. The local sheriff was getting tired of complaints that crossing were blocked for hours at a time while train crews replaced busted knuckles or set out cars with broken drawbars. One night the sheriff arrested the conductor of a coal train that had broken in two and was blocking several crossings in town. After the BN had to bail their conductor out of jail, the railroad assigned a helper to Decatur. The helper was eliminated with the advent of DPU, but has recently been added again due to increases in train length.

PRB Coal

Helpers on HP&L coal train