I saw this same happen to a coal car back in the 80s. I was out rail fanning and noticed a coal car back about 90 some cars with one axle sliding. I was concerned about it derailing since it has to go through eight switches along the way to where I was to turn off. I drove to Sterling Tower in Ohio and alerted the tower man the car number and how far back it was in the train. When the train came through the Interlocking it made it by staying on the rails. I thought what is going to happen next if they fail to set it out. Train went another 6 miles and they side tracked the car as bad order. The next day I went to see the car where they had set out the car and there was no tread whatsoever on that one axle. It was wore down about four inches. Who knows what would have happened had I not told someone.
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