Trains.com

Oops!

1866 views
15 replies
1 rating 2 rating 3 rating 4 rating 5 rating
  • Member since
    March 2003
  • From: Central Iowa
  • 6,901 posts
Oops!
Posted by jeffhergert on Tuesday, September 26, 2017 8:58 PM

Pictures of a derailment in Mason City, IA that happened Tuesday (09/26/17) morning. 

 

http://globegazette.com/news/local/photos-train-derailment-in-mason-city/collection_9b24daec-c603-5883-bcd3-b54fc0273398.html 

Jeff

  • Member since
    June 2001
  • From: US
  • 13,488 posts
Posted by Mookie on Wednesday, September 27, 2017 8:33 AM

Jeff:  derailments always look kind of painful.  

Can you tell me what the car sitting upright in front of the "on its side" tanker is used for.  It is in one of the other pictures too, but no clue what it hauls....

She who has no signature! cinscocom-tmw

  • Member since
    December 2001
  • From: Denver / La Junta
  • 10,820 posts
Posted by mudchicken on Wednesday, September 27, 2017 3:46 PM

Somewhere there is an MTP, MTM and a trainmaster out with a calculator trying to keep the costs under the magic number for a reportable. When the 250T crane shows up, accounting game is over.

(The mechanical guy has already made the wheel wear gage lie)

Mudchicken Nothing is worth taking the risk of losing a life over. Come home tonight in the same condition that you left home this morning in. Safety begins with ME.... cinscocom-west
  • Member since
    December 2001
  • 1,190 posts
Posted by mvlandsw on Wednesday, September 27, 2017 4:09 PM

   A car department foreman whose name I don't remember anymore always blamed derailments on wide track guage. When he measured the guage everyone present looked so closely at the tape measure around the 56" mark that nobody noticed that the tape had the first 3 inches cut off. 

  • Member since
    December 2001
  • From: Denver / La Junta
  • 10,820 posts
Posted by mudchicken on Wednesday, September 27, 2017 5:20 PM

Probably a blood relative of the ATSF trainmaster at Pico Rivera CA that could see wide gage from his car radio 60 miles away from the derailment.

Mudchicken Nothing is worth taking the risk of losing a life over. Come home tonight in the same condition that you left home this morning in. Safety begins with ME.... cinscocom-west
  • Member since
    September 2010
  • 2,515 posts
Posted by Electroliner 1935 on Wednesday, September 27, 2017 5:52 PM

Mookie
Can you tell me what the car sitting upright in front of the "on its side" tanker is used for.  It is in one of the other pictures too, but no clue what it hauls....

To me, the light grey car on its side and those behind it appear to be covered hoppers and if so, it could be carrying grain, (wheat or corn) sand or other types of granulated material such as potash (fertilizer). 

  • Member since
    June 2001
  • From: Lombard (west of Chicago), Illinois
  • 13,681 posts
Posted by CShaveRR on Wednesday, September 27, 2017 8:51 PM

The car on its side is a covered hopper in the AOKX 78000 series.  It is twice as large as a sand car, and even about 20 percent too large for grain or fertilizer, and a good 15 percent too large for soybeans.  It's larger than most plastics cars, and the one-piece "trough" hatch (open, in this case) also rules out plastics, flour, sugar, sand, cement, or other such commodities.  That leaves one possibility:  dry distiller grain, used in animal feed.  This is a byproduct of ethanol production (which makes sense, since the tank cars in the pictures are for handling ethanol).

Thanks for this...I had to look up the specs on these cars, and in so doing found that there were 150 newer ones that I didn't yet have in my files.

 

Carl

Railroader Emeritus (practiced railroading for 46 years--and in 2010 I finally got it right!)

CAACSCOCOM--I don't want to behave improperly, so I just won't behave at all. (SM)

  • Member since
    June 2001
  • From: US
  • 13,488 posts
Posted by Mookie on Wednesday, September 27, 2017 9:03 PM

CShaveRR
Thanks for this...I had to look up the specs on these cars, and in so doing found that there were 150 newer ones that I didn't yet have in my files.

You're welcome....

She who has no signature! cinscocom-tmw

  • Member since
    August 2010
  • From: Henrico, VA
  • 8,955 posts
Posted by Firelock76 on Wednesday, September 27, 2017 9:13 PM

Had an incident like this on the layout last week.

Luckily, O gauge cars are a lot easier to deal with.

  • Member since
    June 2001
  • From: Lombard (west of Chicago), Illinois
  • 13,681 posts
Posted by CShaveRR on Wednesday, September 27, 2017 11:07 PM

Mookie
You're welcome....



So're you, SJ!

Carl

Railroader Emeritus (practiced railroading for 46 years--and in 2010 I finally got it right!)

CAACSCOCOM--I don't want to behave improperly, so I just won't behave at all. (SM)

  • Member since
    August 2005
  • From: At the Crossroads of the West
  • 11,013 posts
Posted by Deggesty on Thursday, September 28, 2017 7:38 AM

Firelock76

Had an incident like this on the layout last week.

Luckily, O gauge cars are a lot easier to deal with.

 

Am I right--a one-hand crane works in that situation?

Johnny

  • Member since
    August 2010
  • From: Henrico, VA
  • 8,955 posts
Posted by Firelock76 on Thursday, September 28, 2017 9:46 AM

Deggesty
 
Firelock76

Had an incident like this on the layout last week.

Luckily, O gauge cars are a lot easier to deal with.

 

 

 

Am I right--a one-hand crane works in that situation?

 

 

Absolutely!  And for car switching I use what's called the "Hand O' God" method!

It's easier that way.

  • Member since
    August 2005
  • From: At the Crossroads of the West
  • 11,013 posts
Posted by Deggesty on Thursday, September 28, 2017 9:56 AM

Firelock76

 

 
Deggesty
 
Firelock76

Had an incident like this on the layout last week.

Luckily, O gauge cars are a lot easier to deal with.

 

 

 

Am I right--a one-hand crane works in that situation?

 

 

 

 

Absolutely!  And for car switching I use what's called the "Hand O' God" method!

It's easier that way.

 

Deus ex machina in reverse (the machine swoops down, picks the car up, and moves it to where it needs to be?

Johnny

  • Member since
    May 2005
  • From: S.E. South Dakota
  • 13,569 posts
Posted by Murphy Siding on Thursday, September 28, 2017 11:37 AM

     Some years back, on a slow news day, BNSF had a derailment in the afternoon along a busy street in town. It was covered on all 3 local TV stations and was the front page story in the next morning's paper.

     The next day, everybody and his dog tried to go look at the over-hyped train derailment. As it turned out, the big 'ol derailment was only 3 or 4 empty grain cars that had gone off the rails at a switch but were still upright. The railroad had everything cleaned up and gone before sunrise the next morning.

   

Thanks to Chris / CopCarSS for my avatar.

  • Member since
    August 2010
  • From: Henrico, VA
  • 8,955 posts
Posted by Firelock76 on Thursday, September 28, 2017 1:28 PM

Deggesty
 
Firelock76

 

 
Deggesty
 
Firelock76

Had an incident like this on the layout last week.

Luckily, O gauge cars are a lot easier to deal with.

 

 

 

Am I right--a one-hand crane works in that situation?

 

 

 

 

Absolutely!  And for car switching I use what's called the "Hand O' God" method!

It's easier that way.

 

 

 

Deus ex machina in reverse (the machine swoops down, picks the car up, and moves it to where it needs to be?

 

 

That's it buddy!  Deus ex machina, now that's a phrase I haven't thought about in a long time.

  • Member since
    December 2001
  • From: Northern New York
  • 25,021 posts
Posted by tree68 on Thursday, September 28, 2017 8:14 PM

Deggesty
Am I right--a one-hand crane works in that situation?

Like using an 0-5-0 switcher....

LarryWhistling
Resident Microferroequinologist (at least at my house) 
Everyone goes home; Safety begins with you
My Opinion. Standard Disclaimers Apply. No Expiration Date
Come ride the rails with me!
There's one thing about humility - the moment you think you've got it, you've lost it...

Join our Community!

Our community is FREE to join. To participate you must either login or register for an account.

Search the Community

Newsletter Sign-Up

By signing up you may also receive occasional reader surveys and special offers from Trains magazine.Please view our privacy policy