Thursday, April 23, 2020

BNSF/CB&Q Apr 20, 2020, derailment between a rock and a hard place

(Satellite)

You can see the path down the hill made by the boulder that slid down onto the tracks.
Roger Kerns Jr. commented on a post

The locomotive that fell over was the second unit.
Dan Mahoney posted

The lead unit did hit the bolder, and it was derailed. But it stayed upright. No one was injured.
Trevor Young commented on a post
Notice how the rail rolled. Not my photo.
Joe Smile commented on a post

Joe Smile commented on a post

The autoracks were empty. That should make cleanup easier. And those cars piling up brought the revenue cars to a more gentle stop.
JR Sampson commented on a post

Joe Smile commented on another post: "They were at train speed. They watched it come down."
Nick Bradbury Joe Smile Wow. Takes electronic/remote monitoring system out of the equation for avoiding this one then.
Joe Smile Nick Bradbury this is the 2nd time in under a year this has happened. Last 1 was 7 miles north. But hit head unit. They weren't as lucky. They at least made it to my house to wait for help. All I got to say is BNSF is amazing. If you have questions pm me on it. Won't put here.
[The other detection method, sending a HyRail track inspector out ahead of the train, would have also missed this boulder.]
Scott Thomason commented on a post
Scott Thomason It was at milepost 192.8ish.
Main 2 was open and running a train about 10:30 this morning and main 1 wasn't far behind.
[Since the derailment happened at about 10:50am, they got the tracks open in about 24 hours. (The timestamp for Scott's comment was just "1d".) I assume they had to run trains at 10mph through here. Nnetheless, they were running. And another work window for a surfacing gang should have them running at track speed.]

3D Satellite
That bluff is so steep, I wondered what it would look like on a topo map. Bethween the "Y" and the "611", there are three 50' contour lines merging into just one for a little stretch.
1956 Dubuque North @ 1:24,000

safe_image for UPDATE: Officials: Train derailment in Grant County caused by boulder; no injuries reported
The derailment occurred at about 10:50am. The unit on its side did leak diesel fuel.

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