His expectation that he would be successful may have rested on several misapprehensions: He thought he had engaged dynamic braking and thought it would be effec

His expectation that he would be successful may have rested on several misapprehensions: He thought he had engaged dynamic braking and thought it would be effective at that speed. On account of the first issue, he did not realize that increasing the engine output would cause the train to accelerate (as opposed to merely energize the field windings, as it would with dynamic braking properly selected.) In addition, "the engineer seemed to believe, in error, that an automatic brake application would improve braking power on single locomotive with the independent brake fully applied" (from the conclusions of the report.) Plus he was acting in haste, and therefore not thinking it through.