# Train derails



## rrman987 (Aug 29, 2021)

Just seems that RR are in such a hurry that there is little time windows to do proper inspections, it seems to this armchair RRer.... Just say'in. No explosives or chemical leaks.








Major train derailment will take days to clear in Warren County


Authorities are still working to clean up a train derailment in central Iowa late Friday night. It happened in Warren County near 183rd Street and Highway 5. Hartford Fire reports approximately 20 cars derailed as well as one engine. Authorities say no hazardous materials spilled and there is no...




cbs2iowa.com


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## Xrperry (Aug 10, 2021)

I’m glad I don’t have to clean that up


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## rrman987 (Aug 29, 2021)

Here is a video update. Hint how to create a protypical looking mess at your next derailment 
https://www.kcrg.com/2021/11/01/multi-day-cleanup-expected-following-derailment-near-carlisle/


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## Xrperry (Aug 10, 2021)

Wow


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## JeffHurl (Apr 22, 2021)

"Crews hope to have the wreckage cleared and the track rebuilt in the next day or so."


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## Trackjockey05 (Jun 30, 2020)

rrman987 said:


> Just seems that RR are in such a hurry that there is little time windows to do proper inspections, it seems to this armchair RRer.... Just say'in. No explosives or chemical leaks.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I spent a whole day considering whether or not to respond to this post, I’m going to, I’ll start with the title, it implies that somehow a derailment is a humorous thing, I can assure you they’re not, I’ve been employed with Union Pacific for 21 years, been a track supervisor for 16 of that, as a supervisor the “proper” inspections you mentioned are part of my responsibilities, there are many things that cause derailments, human factor, weather, equipment failure or mechanical issues, as far as being in too much of a hurry to perform proper inspections, that’s regulated by the Federal Railroad Administration, every two years I have to get recertified on my FRA qualification to continue this job, so that statement kinda maligns the people who do this job as I can tell you the folks who do this job myself included take this responsibility very seriously and do our jobs in all types of weather and at all hours, your follow up post about creating a realistic mess modeling a derailment was in poor taste again it implies humor, not funny, even though there were no human casualties with the initial derailment, there are still a lot of people in harms way cleaning it up, the equipment can be repaired and rebuilt, the track restored, and hopefully the environmental impact isn’t too great, just keep in mind that there are people working around the clock to clean this up and don’t automatically assume that someone wasn’t doing their job or that the company was lax in some way, not exactly sure what your intentions were with your comments but it stuck with me and I needed to respond, if you have any questions about how things work out here or how we do things feel free to PM me and ask, granted there are some things I can’t discuss but I’m happy to share what I can


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## JeffHurl (Apr 22, 2021)

Trackjockey05 said:


> I spent a whole day considering whether or not to respond to this post, I’m going to, I’ll start with the title, it implies that somehow a derailment is a humorous thing, I can assure you they’re not, I’ve been employed with Union Pacific for 21 years, been a track supervisor for 16 of that, as a supervisor the “proper” inspections you mentioned are part of my responsibilities, there are many things that cause derailments, human factor, weather, equipment failure or mechanical issues, as far as being in too much of a hurry to perform proper inspections, that’s regulated by the Federal Railroad Administration, every two years I have to get recertified on my FRA qualification to continue this job, so that statement kinda maligns the people who do this job as I can tell you the folks who do this job myself included take this responsibility very seriously and do our jobs in all types of weather and at all hours, your follow up post about creating a realistic mess modeling a derailment was in poor taste again it implies humor, not funny, even though there were no human casualties with the initial derailment, there are still a lot of people in harms way cleaning it up, the equipment can be repaired and rebuilt, the track restored, and hopefully the environmental impact isn’t too great, just keep in mind that there are people working around the clock to clean this up and don’t automatically assume that someone wasn’t doing their job or that the company was lax in some way, not exactly sure what your intentions were with your comments but it stuck with me and I needed to respond, if you have any questions about how things work out here or how we do things feel free to PM me and ask, granted there are some things I can’t discuss but I’m happy to share what I can


I was amazed when I heard the reporter say that crews hoped to have this fixed an a day or so. That seems like a monumental task. Hats off to you and your colleagues!


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## Trackjockey05 (Jun 30, 2020)

It is a monumental task, the first priority is restoring service, but the cleanup will be ongoing, they drag the wreckage off the right of way restore the mainline and get trains moving then clean up everything, we have a contractor like Hulcher come in to remove the rail cars and wreckage then we lay down 39’ track panels and dump ballast and the surface gang brings their machines out to tamp and line the track, they’ll spend several days after service is restored surfacing the track and eliminating the joints in the panels, depending on the severity of the derailment it can take several weeks to get back to normal


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## rrman987 (Aug 29, 2021)

Trackjockey05 said:


> I spent a whole day considering whether or not to respond to this post, I’m going to, I’ll start with the title, it implies that somehow a derailment is a humorous thing, I can assure you they’re not, I’ve been employed with Union Pacific for 21 years, been a track supervisor for 16 of that, as a supervisor the “proper” inspections you mentioned are part of my responsibilities, there are many things that cause derailments, human factor, weather, equipment failure or mechanical issues, as far as being in too much of a hurry to perform proper inspections, that’s regulated by the Federal Railroad Administration, every two years I have to get recertified on my FRA qualification to continue this job, so that statement kinda maligns the people who do this job as I can tell you the folks who do this job myself included take this responsibility very seriously and do our jobs in all types of weather and at all hours, your follow up post about creating a realistic mess modeling a derailment was in poor taste again it implies humor, not funny, even though there were no human casualties with the initial derailment, there are still a lot of people in harms way cleaning it up, the equipment can be repaired and rebuilt, the track restored, and hopefully the environmental impact isn’t too great, just keep in mind that there are people working around the clock to clean this up and don’t automatically assume that someone wasn’t doing their job or that the company was lax in some way, not exactly sure what your intentions were with your comments but it stuck with me and I needed to respond, if you have any questions about how things work out here or how we do things feel free to PM me and ask, granted there are some things I can’t discuss but I’m happy to share what I can


Apologies if I offended someone. It just seems these days there are more and more accidents.
If moderator wants to delete/close thread, fine no hard feelings. But lets pass a hard fast rule, no accident postings or discussions, they never happen. OK??


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## MichaelE (Mar 7, 2018)

For more than four years the tracks within 200' of the grade crossing I use twice a day had locomotives and rolling stock rocking severely as one rail of the track would sag under the wight of the train and then recover. This repeated itself with the passage of every train and would have been impossible for a train crew not to notice.

One day after enough ballast had finally been washed away by two days of light rain, the track gave up and the locomotive rolled off of the track with about the first ten open coal hoppers.

This was a problem for at least four years before the train finally fell off the tracks. I watched many trains rocking and rolling through that crossing and was always careful to keep my distance if stopped by the train on the north side of the tracks because of the roll-over risk.

Why did something that was entirely preventible happen? This could have been avoided and it was only a matter of time before this happened.


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## shaygetz (Sep 23, 2007)

Trackjockey05 said:


> I spent a whole day considering whether or not to respond to this post, I’m going to, I’ll start with the title, it implies that somehow a derailment is a humorous thing, I can assure you they’re not, I’ve been employed with Union Pacific for 21 years, been a track supervisor for 16 of that, as a supervisor the “proper” inspections you mentioned are part of my responsibilities, there are many things that cause derailments, human factor, weather, equipment failure or mechanical issues, as far as being in too much of a hurry to perform proper inspections, that’s regulated by the Federal Railroad Administration, every two years I have to get recertified on my FRA qualification to continue this job, so that statement kinda maligns the people who do this job as I can tell you the folks who do this job myself included take this responsibility very seriously and do our jobs in all types of weather and at all hours, your follow up post about creating a realistic mess modeling a derailment was in poor taste again it implies humor, not funny, even though there were no human casualties with the initial derailment, there are still a lot of people in harms way cleaning it up, the equipment can be repaired and rebuilt, the track restored, and hopefully the environmental impact isn’t too great, just keep in mind that there are people working around the clock to clean this up and don’t automatically assume that someone wasn’t doing their job or that the company was lax in some way, not exactly sure what your intentions were with your comments but it stuck with me and I needed to respond, if you have any questions about how things work out here or how we do things feel free to PM me and ask, granted there are some things I can’t discuss but I’m happy to share what I can


I was given a small group of photos from a friend who worked for the Frisco for over 30 years. This was when most of the work cleanup was still performed by the road involved and not outside contractors...at least in the transition period from in house to outside contractors. While as a general rule, derailments are, at the least, costly disruptions, there were moments of humor he gave me in those pictures. A entire refrigerated boxcar full of frozen french fries that caught fire inside, a gondola accidentally pushed off the end of a siding, and into a nearby warehouse, and a deep forest cut filled with 24 boxcars that telescoped into each other on a downgrade, completely wedging themselves in the cut so that you could walk from one side to the other on the crumpled roofs. I have fond memories of our laughing at the absurdity of each situation with him, knowing full well we were laughing at untold millions in damage. But the stories of the cleanup and what it took, had a great effect on how I model rumpled sheet metal, broken trucks and graffiti...and gave me a greater respect for the work involved.


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## Trackjockey05 (Jun 30, 2020)

MichaelE said:


> For more than four years the tracks within 200' of the grade crossing I use twice a day had locomotives and rolling stock rocking severely as one rail of the track would sag under the wight of the train and then recover. This repeated itself with the passage of every train and would have been impossible for a train crew not to notice.
> 
> One day after enough ballast had finally been washed away by two days of light rain, the track gave up and the locomotive rolled off of the track with about the first ten open coal hoppers.
> 
> ...


Unfortunately there are untold numbers of short lines out there who operate on FRA excepted status, which restricts speed to 10 mph no passengers or hazmat and only real requirement is maintain track gauge of 58 1/4”, standard gauge is 56 1/2”, While the FRA mandates out of service at 58” UP’s standard calls for out of service at 57 3/4”, but shortlines aren’t the only ones that use FRA exception, class 1 companies use it on branch lines and industry spurs, in order to attain FRA exception it has to be petitioned, it’s more than just declaring it so, there’s a process involved


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## Old_Hobo (Feb 20, 2014)

rrman987 said:


> But lets pass a hard fast rule, no accident postings or discussions, they never happen. OK??


it’s ok to post about derailments, but it was your description in the thread title that made it seem like it was just a little irreverent…..”fall down and go booomp“ was less than thoughtful as a decription of a serious incident….


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## rrman987 (Aug 29, 2021)

Old_Hobo said:


> it’s ok to post about derailments, but it was your description in the thread title that made it seem like it was just a little irreverent…..”fall down and go booomp“ was less than thoughtful as a decription of a serious incident….


If there had been any injury or explosion etc I would never have titled the thread as I did, but it was just cars going onto the ground that prompted my bit of levity. Gee folks lighten up, its healthier in this day of killer politics, pandemics and grim headlines......


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## Old_Hobo (Feb 20, 2014)

Well, maybe its just me, but I find no levity in destroyed trackage and badly damaged railcars…..


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## MichaelE (Mar 7, 2018)

Trackjockey05 said:


> Unfortunately there are untold numbers of short lines out there who operate on FRA excepted status, which restricts speed to 10 mph no passengers or hazmat and only real requirement is maintain track gauge of 58 1/4”, standard gauge is 56 1/2”, While the FRA mandates out of service at 58” UP’s standard calls for out of service at 57 3/4”, but shortlines aren’t the only ones that use FRA exception, class 1 companies use it on branch lines and industry spurs, in order to attain FRA exception it has to be petitioned, it’s more than just declaring it so, there’s a process involved


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## rrman987 (Aug 29, 2021)

I changed thread title to bland for everyone's satisfaction..


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## Old_Hobo (Feb 20, 2014)

Hardly bland….that‘s what it is…..


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## Trackjockey05 (Jun 30, 2020)

MichaelE said:


>


Never would’ve guessed NS, do you know if this track is a mainline or branch line? It definitely has seen better days, I see fouled ballast holding water, poor tie condition, obvious surface issues


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## MichaelE (Mar 7, 2018)

8183 is still in service:


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## MichaelE (Mar 7, 2018)

Trackjockey05 said:


> Never would’ve guessed NS, do you know if this track is a mainline or branch line? It definitely has seen better days, I see fouled ballast holding water, poor tie condition, obvious surface issues


More or less a branch line that runs to a power plant and a coal mine. I don't see much but 100+/- unit coal trains. Sometimes there is a four to six car local freight going to Coulterville, IL or beyond. I also see MOW vehicles more than occasionally. 

This line is also used by UP as there is an interchange about six blocks from my house in the other direction that this line intersects with. UP or NS could be pulling the coal consists. CN is pulling the local freights on old IC trackage. Never coal. Sometimes an IC locomotive is seen too that hasn't been repainted.


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