The Jan 1, 2020, derailment into the Kootenai River is below.
May 12, 2010, into Wind River Canyon Because of a Boulder
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| John Murnan II May 12, 2010 Wind River Canyon BNSF train wreck [No one seriously injured.] Rick Pierce: Hit a huge boulder. Mike Riley: I was the first bnsf there, across the river. The crew climbed out the engineers window and slid into the water. A farmer on a 4wheeler drove them out. Highway patrol saw the rock fall, tried to get train stopped. |
5:58 YouTube video driveby, fortunately, they finally zoomed out. Then parked on the side of the road for more footage. There is a decent shot at 2:47. According to the comment, BNSF had a second derailment here 6 days later!
Josh Melia uploaded 11 photos as comments on John's post:
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The Jan 1, 2020, derailment into the Kootenai River Because of a Landslide
To understand the video below, I include some photos The crew survived. A track inspector knocked out the rear window with a sledge hammer before the cab filled up. Rescue was attempted from a boat, and then a helicopter, and then a boat using a rope system to deal with the fast flowing Kootenai River. The lead engine did leak diesel fuel into the river.
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| safe_image from Aaron Bryant's share of a KHQ link [The KHQ article has a slideshow of 13 photos. Is that yellow thing next to the cab of the trailing unit an excavator that has already been deployed to the scene?] |
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| Idaho State Police via KHQ |
#update: A true Hero for the crew trapped in the train is coming to light.Track Inspector, Adam Reeves, climbed down the steep bank and made his way out to the lead engine. He then broke the glass with a sledgehammer for Bill and Brian to escape.
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| safe_image from Tim Hare's share of a weather.com link that is now broke [The weather channel's headline was: "Idaho Train Derailment May Have Been Caused by Landslide." It looks like they brought in a crane that can go back and forth on some flatcars.] Justin Goodwin Slide fence not working? Stu Hart I worked this territory for 38yrs,,,,what slide fences Stu Hart Kyle James Jarvis they came around the curve and hit the slide Marcus Gillebaard They almost drowned guys! Kyle James Jarvis Yep. The Kootenai is one hell of a river. Thank god it wasn't flood season. Erik Sorbo “Engine and six cars in the river...” Unbelievable!! We’re literally looking at two locomotives that got wet. Yet somehow only one engine and six cars are in the river??? News... |
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| Satellite |
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| Fifth photo in slideshow in KHQ |
(new window) (source via share)
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| BNSF Railway posted BNSF crews worked diligently over the weekend to remove the final locomotive from the Kootenai River near Bonners Ferry, Idaho, as part of our remediation efforts after the Jan. 1 derailment. To accomplish this, a team of divers placed air bags below the locomotive so that it was able to float to a more accessible location on the other side of the river. More at http://www.bnsf.com/news-media/kootenai-river-subdivision-rockslide.html. [I would like to see photos of the other locomotive on its "extraction ramp" for the Jan 14 recovery mentioned in their news release. Did they pour a lot of rock into the river? At least they should be able to remove the rock.] Kootenai Valley Times posted on Jan 27 The BNSF lead engine that has been submerged on the south side of the Kootenai River in a steep canyon about three miles west of the Montana State line since it derailed at about 9 p.m. January 1 is again on shore and should be removed from the river bank without a trace by the end of this week. Read more at https://www.kootenaivalleytimes.com/…/article_a4229724-4178…. Kirk DeHaan Was a wet winter which caused a big slide where there was no rock fence. |
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| Josh Parrow commented on Kootenai Valley Times post |
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| Terence Campbell commented on Kootenai Valley Times post |
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| KVT posted a Jan 2 a link Derailment appears to have been caused by rock slideTim Lisa West Mike Weland, the North Idaho News is reporting that track inspector Adam Reeves went down the bank and smashed out the engines windows to free the two guys, can you confirm or deny that? If he did, he sure deserves the credit for helping to save their lives. |
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| KVT |
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| KVT posted a Jan 2 link As ever, dire situation brings out community's best "Unassuming hero Adam Reeves, a BNSF track inspector, is credited with giving the rescue effort time to unfold by driving his highline truck to the scene. Climbing out to the lead engine, he smashed out the thick rear window with a sledgehammer, enabling the two men inside the cabin to scramble out before water filled the compartment."[He climbed down that embankment in fog that reduced the visibility to a few feet.] |
Jan 4 post: BNSF line could reopen today "A forward thinking first responder radioed in to have sheriff's dispatchers to notify workers at the Kootenai Tribe's Twin Rivers hatchery and have them shut off the Kootenai River intake and open their Moyie River intakes instead.
Kootenai River intakes at the Mission hatchery were closed as well, and sturgeon at the facility were transferred to the Twin Rivers hatchery."
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| KVT posted a Jan 7 link Both tribal fish hatcheries safe after diesel spill |
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| KVT posted a Jan 9 link EPA update on Kootenai River cleanup |
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| EPA Photo |
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| KVT posted a Jan 14 a link One locomotive recovered, work underway to bring up lead engine |
A May 19, 2021, post of two of the above photos with at least 209 comments I looked at just some of the comments at the end.
Kevin Mumaw: This was last January near Katka ID. East of Bonners Ferry. Crew went in the water with it at night. Speed is 30 in the area and they were doing about 25 after they dumped it for the rock slide they hit. They were trapped and the cab was nearly submerged. A MOW guy who is also search and rescue high railed in with a fire chief and made his was out onto the loco and beat the back window out with a hammer. The cab was tweaked and the crew could not get out the back door and the front was completely submerged. Luckily it was just above freezing and after a couple attempts a boat was able to get the crew off the top of the loco. Also the water level was down. Had it been high they probably would have drowned. They also had a helo inbound from Whitefish MT in case the boat could not get to them. The area is completely cut off from roads.
Dan Gurley shared
Ted Gregory: From comments in this FB post It was a derailment due to rock slide in Idaho Jan 2020.
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| Shaughn Voepel commented |
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| Shaughn Voepel commented |
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| Derrick Martinez commented I didn’t get a whole lot of photos, but we weren’t the first responders to this wreck. But we were there for two weeks. |
Bonus: Jan 21, 2022 Landslide North of Seattle
This is not in a mountain canyon, but it is a landslide shoving a BNSF intermodal train off the tracks.
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| safe_image for Mudslide Derails BNSF Freight Train "BNSF has installed barriers, improved drainage and removed 13,000 tons of debris all along the waterfront line that these tracks cover and is continually doing slope restraint and repair." |
A screenshot form the video in the above report. I came across the raw video, but I screwed up saving the URL of that video.
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| Screenshot @ 0:09 |
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