Train Wreck in Alabama

[Blueberryhill RR]

By JAY REEVES - Associated Press Writer

MYRTLEWOOD, Ala.(AP) A freight train carrying segments of the space shuttle's solid rocket boosters derailed Wednesday after a recently repaired bridge collapsed over boggy ground, authorities said. Six people aboard the train were reported injured, one critically.

NASA said it was not immediately known whether the equipment was damaged. But space agency spokesman Allard Beutel in Washington said the accident should not delay any shuttle launches.

The trestle collapse was under investigation.

[dwiemer]

Thanks for posting this.  I will have to look into it.  Do you know which Railroad it was?  My neighbor's railroad has some trackage over there and he runs a few trains there.  I know that we have had issues with some of the bridges with washouts after a few of the storms.  They had lots of ballast trains come through to repair roadbeds and I know they worked on some trestles lately too.

Dennis

[Blueberryhill RR]

The picture, which I could not post, had some engines on their sides. Looked like Union Pacific colors.

[BMRR]

Dennis - I watched the local news and they never did say which railroad it was. I did see it was pulled by two Union Pacific locomotives. 

Stan.

[Blueberryhill RR]

It was the second time in less than a week that the train jumped the tracks while carrying the booster segments across the country from the manufacturer, ATK Launch Systems Group of Promontory, Utah, to Cape Canaveral, Fla., Herring said.

[jefelectric]

The railroad was the Genesee & Wyoming's Meridian & Bigbee Railroad

[csxt30]

This should take you to a video of it !!

http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/space/05/02/derailment.shuttle/index.html

Thanks, John

 

[USNRol]

How in the heck are they gonna get those Locos back on the track??

Roland

[csxt30]

Roland : they will probably cut the knuckes on them & drag them out with big cable winches & the then lift them up with cranes or sidewinders !!  Then start repairing them enough to move them to a shop. Quite a bit of work on that derailment.

Thanks, John 

[USNRol]

Wow John...didn't think of the winch dragging them out...would that be a railcar mounted winch do you think? positioned somewhere back on a good section of the track I guess?  What's a sidewinder? is that what might right the loco?  I can't imagine the damage...if this happened to my car the insurance company would "Total" it for sure...guess there's still a lot left to salvage with a locomotive.

I'd love to watch the documentary showing the recovery.

Roland

[csxt30]

Check this site out Roland !! Sidewinders are basicly a big Cat with winches & a boom on the side. They can get over almost any terrain.  Very powerful . They may be able to get right up alongside of the train but if not they will drag them out of there. There are sevaeral of these companies the RRs use now days.

  http://www.rjcorman.com/derailment.htm

Thanks, John

PS : HERE'S A GOOD PLACE TO EAT !!

http://www.rjcorman.com/dinner/index.html

 

[USNRol]

Awesome link...thanks John.  Never seen such a machine!!  Looks like the RJ Corman Co. could definitely get the job done.  Anyone ever seen some 1:48 or 1:64 scale "sidewinders"?  Could use a couple on my railroad derailments I bet.

Learned something from this forum once again...

Roland

[wrmcclellan]

Hulcher is another rail derailment response company.

http://www.hulcher.com/

 

[csxt30]

Roy : yes, we use Hulchers & Cormans at times .

Roland : I saw models of those somewhere. They were around 90 dollars though, I think ! They were originally used for laying pipe.

Thanks, John

[ChiefEagles]

CNN version

 

Tools: Save | Print | E-mail | Most Popular Train carrying shuttle rockets derails POSTED: 5:01 p.m. EDT, May 2, 2007 Story Highlights Train carrying shuttle rocket boosters derails in western Alabama At least two people injured, says a NASA spokeswoman Train was on its way to Kennedy Space Center No spill reported, NASA considers the situation stable From Miles O'Brien and Kate Tobin CNN Adjust font size: (CNN) -- A train carrying reusable solid rocket booster segments for the space shuttle derailed in western Alabama Wednesday, leaving at least two people injured, a NASA spokeswoman said. The train was on its way to Kennedy Space Center in Florida from Utah, where the rocket booster segments are manufactured, when the accident happened around 10 a.m. ET near Pennington, Alabama, about 100 miles west of Montgomery, spokeswoman Katherine Trinidad said. One of the injured was an employee of ATK, the company that makes the segments, and the other was a railroad employee, she said. The two were airlifted to Mobile, Alabama, said George Torres, a spokesman for ATK. (Watch rail cars strewn along the tracks ) The fuel inside the segments is ammonium perchlorate, which has the consistency of a rubber eraser. Because it is a solid, nothing has spilled out of the railcars, Trinidad said. The train, which had 16 cars, went off the tracks in a forested area after a bridge collapsed, she said. Not all of the cars carrying the eight segments derailed. No residents or nearby communities are at risk, and the fuel cannot explode unless it is deliberately detonated, Trinidad said by telephone from Washington. However, once the fuel is ignited, it cannot be extinguished. NASA considers the situation stable, she said. This is the second time this train has derailed on its journey from Utah, Trinidad said. On Friday, a few wheels went off the track in Kansas, but no cars turned over, she said. The segments will be sent back to Utah for inspection by the manufacturer. They had been intended for use in the October 20 launch of the space shuttle Discovery, NASA officials said. The derailment is not expected to affect that launch, the officials said, because NASA has an ample supply of other segments available.

 

[Boyd]

Any still photos of this? I'm on dial-up.

[dwiemer]

John, Thanks for the link.  That is not my neighbor's railroad.  Thank goodness.  His trackage goes to the middle of Alabama from the middle of Georgia.  He has a agreement with NS for shared rights, but that area is not part of it.  Also, thanks for the links regarding the recovery equipment.  I have only seen a major recovery once on a Penn Central wreck in the 70s.

My neighbor told me he has a bunch of the Trains magazines from the next issue that has a story on his company.  I think they go on sale the 9th.  I have gone by some of his locomotive servicing facilities and he has several used pieces that are to be painted.  Some of which are UP.

Dennis

[Bob Keller]

From the Trains magazine site:


NASA train derailed twice

May 3, 2007
MYRTLEWOOD, Ala. - The special train carrying segments of the space shuttle's solid rocket boosters that derailed Wednesday near Myrtlewood also derailed last Friday, the Associated Press reported. Two axles on one car derailed on Union Pacific about 60 miles west of Salina, Kan., while the train was traveling at less than 20 mph. The train was rerailed after several hours.

Yesterday's accident was far more serious. Two locomotives, an escort passenger car, and one freight car carrying a rocket booster fell onto their sides when the trestle they were crossing collapsed on the Meridian & Bigbee, a short line owned by Genesee & Wyoming. Six people in the escort car were injured, two seriously. Twelve cars remained upright and didn't overturn because the trestle sank evenly to the ground. Eight booster segments were on the train, which carried only the shuttle shipment.

The train was en route from Utah to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The derailment took place in a remote stretch of track near Myrtlewood, about 110 miles southwest of Birmingham. The bridge had been closed for repairs Sunday night and reopened Wednesday morning, Mike Williams, a spokesman for Genesee & Wyoming, told AP. Williams said he was unsure of the nature of the repairs, but said the bridge was inspected. The train was taking the same route to the Kennedy Space Center that has been used for 30 years or more.

Historically the Meridian & Bigbee was a 51-mile short line that ran straight through Alabama and Mississippi between Myrtlewood, where it interchanges with CSX, and Meridian, Miss. In 2004, it acquired two line segments from CSX, including 30 miles between Burkeville and Dallas County, Ala., and 63 miles between Dallas County and Myrtlewood. The transaction also included CSX's yard in Selma, Ala., and overhead trackage rights between Burkeville and the CSX yard in Montgomery, Ala. The M&B was acquired by Genesee & Wyoming in 2005. When Hurricane Katrina destroyed CSX's line along the Mississippi Coast, CSX routed many of their trains north off the coast to Montgomery to run across the M&B for interchange to the NS at Meridian for movement either south to New Orleans or due west to Houston over the KCS Meridian Speedway. One advantage of the M&B route is unrestricted clearance, perfect for the huge rocket boosters.

NASA Spokesman Allard Beutel in Washington told the AP the accident should not delay any shuttle launches. The shuttle's twin boosters are 150 feet tall and consist of four propellant segments each. They are used during liftoff and the first two minutes or so of flight to help the spacecraft break free of Earth's orbit, and then are jettisoned into the sea. They are then recovered and sent to ATK Launch Systems Group at Corrine, Utah, to be refurbished and reused. The booster segments on the train will probably be sent back to the Utah plant to be examined. They were scheduled to be used on shuttle missions in October and December. The fuel in the rocket, aluminum perchlorate, has the consistency of a rubber eraser, and there was no danger of it igniting, according to NASA.

[Dr. John]

From the Montgomery Advertiser:

Train carrying boosters for space shuttle derails

By Lisa Horn
[e-mail]

MYRTLEWOOD -- A freight train transporting rocket boosters for NASA's space shuttle partially derailed Wednesday in western Alabama on its way to Cape Canaveral, Fla. Six people were injured.

Four cars derailed after the bridge collapsed as the train crossed it. Investigators are still trying to determine why the recently repaired bridge collapsed.

The train was traveling on tracks owned by Meridian & Bigbee Railroad. The tracks and trestle where the accident occurred were closed for repairs Sunday night and reopened Wednesday morning.

The Meridian & Bigbee Railroad runs from Meridian, Miss., 51 miles southeast to Myrtlewood.

The accident occurred in a remote and heavily wooded area about one mile from the Tombigbee River in Myrtlewood, a Marengo County town of about 200 people. Myrtlewood is located two hours west of Montgomery.

The train's next stop would have been in the Capital City en route to Florida, said Gerry Gates, an official with Genesee and Wyoming Inc., the parent company of the Meridian and Bigbee Railroad.

Kevin McKinney, director of the Marengo County Emergency Management Agency, said the wreck was the county's third accident this year on Meridian & Bigbee tracks.

"They've had a lot of derailments on this track between here and Selma," said Jon Haydrick, who lives about a mile from the accident site on Alabama 114. "It's a swamp down there."

It was the second time in less than a week that the train was involved in an accident while transporting the booster segments from the manufacturer, ATK Launch Systems Group of Promontory, Utah, to Cape Canaveral, Fla., said NASA spokesman Kyle Herring.

Last Friday, two axles on one car came off the tracks for unknown reasons about 60 miles west of Salina, Kan., while the train was traveling at less than 20 mph, he said. The train was back on the tracks after several hours.

Two of the six people injured in today's accident were airlifted by helicopter to a hospital in Tuscaloosa.

One suffered serious injuries."(Officials) were saying mostly broken bones," McKinney said. "I don't think anyone had any life-threatening injuries."

The rocket boosters were carrying aluminum perchlorate, a solid fuel, which did not pose a threat of igniting or spilling, said NASA spokesman Steve Roy.

"It takes a very intense ignition source to set off the rocket fuel," Roy said. "It's far more stable than the gasoline in your car."

A remote sensor linked to a Global Positioning System lets NASA officials monitor the rocket boosters during transport.

"So we know almost instantaneously if there's been a disturbance to the solid rocket motor equipment," Roy said. "If there's been damage, obviously they're not going to fly on the space shuttle."

The rocket boosters, which take a week to reach Cape Canaveral by train, were to be used on shuttle Discovery's STS-120 mission in October and shuttle Atlantis's STS-122 mission in December.

"This is the most serious incident we've had moving rocket boosters and solid rocket fuel to Kennedy Space Center involving rail transport," Roy said.

The damage assessment and how the accident will affect the October and December launches are not yet known, Roy said.

[dwiemer]

bob and Dr. John, thanks for posting the stories.  I am glad this doesn't involve my neighbor's railroad, but sorry that it has happened.  While it is a blessing that this happened away from an area that more people would get hurt, I am sure it is quite difficult for them to do this recovery so far from any towns.

Dennis

[csxt30]

Awesome link...thanks John.  Never seen such a machine!!  Looks like the RJ Corman Co. could definitely get the job done.  Anyone ever seen some 1:48 or 1:64 scale "sidewinders"?  Could use a couple on my railroad derailments I bet.

Learned something from this forum once again...

Roland

Found them in 1/50th. scale at diecast direct.  May be a little expensive for a pair of them though !!

http://www.diecastdirect.com/asp_modules/add_item.asp?ProductCode=CON2807

Thanks, John

[USNRol]

Wow John, thanks again for that link...they look great!  I can imagine how well a couple of those would cherry off a nice derailment scene on a layout.  140 kinda takes my breath away though but neat to know you can get them!

Roland

[csxt30]

Wow John, thanks again for that link...they look great!  I can imagine how well a couple of those would cherry off a nice derailment scene on a layout.  140 kinda takes my breath away though but neat to know you can get them!

Roland

We just need to figure out a way to make them ourselves !! Get a cat & put a boom on er " !!

Thanks, John