Knowlton and Forson successfully coupled onto the rear car and slowed the train by applying the dynamic brakes on the chase locomotive. Once the runaway had slowed to 11 miles per hour (18 km/h), CSX trainmaster Jon Hosfeld ran alongside the train, climbed aboard, and shut down the engine.

The runaway CSX 8888 train, also known as the "Crazy Eights" incident, was finally brought to a halt on May 15, 2001, by CSX Trainmaster Jon Hosfeld. The unmanned locomotive had traveled 66 miles through Ohio at speeds up to 51 mph due to a series of errors by its engineer. After a trailing locomotive (CSX 6008) managed to couple onto the rear of the runaway and slow it down to roughly 12 mph, Hosfeld ran alongside the moving engine, jumped onto the boarding steps, and climbed into the cab to manually shut it down. His heroic actions prevented a catastrophic derailment in more populated areas. This dramatic real-life event eventually served as the primary inspiration for the 2010 film Unstoppable, where Hosfeld’s real-world bravery was translated into the cinematic heroics of characters played by Denzel Washington and Chris Pine.