Recent Derailments

[Jordan6]

Has anybody else notice that in the past year there have been a lot of coal train derailments? I'm just wondering why so many.[?] In the newswire there's two mention at the present time.

[Anonymous]

Yes I have maybe America needs new Coal Cars Dosen't make the utilites happy. That remindes me of a story from the 70's there was this SP coal train that had a hotbox and had to stop on a bridge it was a coal train so we know how the wax comes down then it started the bridge on fire and then what the whole train fell in to the river

DOGGY

[Anonymous]

Well, somebody must be ordering coal hoppers. In Danville, IL there is Railcar, INC. and they are making about one unit train a week of coal hoppers that we take to Chicago and interchange with either UP or BNSF and then they bring it back to us full of coal and we take the coal down south. So, maybe those derailments are leading to some new orders. [2c]

[traingeek087]

I spotted two new COEH trains in the last several months, on BNSF, yellow sides.

[mudchicken]

More derailments or more bored newspeople looking for filler on CNN?

[Anonymous]

I think that Mudchicken is on to something there. The media infrastructure is so over-built that in times like these when there isn't quite as much to report from the Middle East or points elsewhere, smaller stuff, like train derailments makes the news more often.

That being said, there has been a pretty notable bump up in derailments since mid-winter but each one has had a unique set of circumstances (far flung locations, different types of trains (intermodal, locals, coal, manifest.))

[wabash1]

This is what i was told by a train master who worked piedmont division and saluda pass on the ns that coal is very corrosive and that after falling off the cars and laying on the tracks that the tie plates and anchors will be distroyed. and after it is made weak then they just break. and the rail will spread as there is nothing holding it in place. and if it is a line that doesnt get regular attention ( t & s ) then derailments happen. the railroad will patch things together and drop the speed till you are just creeping along. they make money but spend nothing. on some lines the speed is down to 10 mph and the ties maybe 4 out of 10 are doing thier job. but if you derail and was doing 11 mph the engineer will be fired for speeding. the way they see it is you was doing 1 mph over the limit that is why it derailed. but if you was doing 9 mph they will say it was track conditions.

[Anonymous]

As to the news people I have to agree with MC. Also, in a post 9-11 AND post Madrid world, more attention is focussing on the rails.

As to the reasons coal trains derail, they are typically very heavy trains often travelling in heavy grade territory for at least part of their route. This presents both MOW challenges as heavy coal trains repeatedly stress the track and related structures and operating challenges in proper train handling for locomotive engineers and conductors. Add in any number of outside factors and it makes derailments more likely to a certain extent.

LC

[Anonymous]

There was a coal train derailment close to where I live last summer-went over a curve too fast and flipped the last 16 cars.

[CShaveRR]

Don't forget, this could also be considered derailment season--the ground has softened somewhat, so some track structures on less-than-optimal track may be in fir a little shifting.

I don't think you'll find that the freight cars are to blame in any of the coal-train derailments you've heard about. The coal-carrying fleet is almost exclusively post-1990 aluminum cars...due to the new cars' economies in carrying capacity and the increase in gross rail load to 286K, the older steel cars (only 100 tons capacity, vs. 115-120) were quickly downgraded to other services. Thus the coal fleet is easily as modern as, say, the doublestack cars.

[jeffhergert]

I've been told that last week's derailment at Carroll, IA on the UP was caused by a coupler pin (not a knuckle pin) coming out and letting the entire drawbar pull out of the car.
The derailment was actually just east of Maple River, IA at the bottom of a hill. Coming down the hill the slack was in and when they started up toward Carroll, the slack came out and so did the drawbar which must have fouled the rail.
Every once in a while we hear of the pin coming out, usually on the wrong end and tying up traffic. For most, tying up traffic is what happens, this is the first derailment I've heard from this.
Also for a while there seemed to be a rash of new aluminum cars (plus older cars) that had buckled. Some said this was partly due to the cars being turned over in rotary dumpers at the power plants.

[Jordan6]

QUOTE: Originally posted by CShaveRR

Don't forget, this could also be considered derailment season--the ground has softened somewhat, so some track structures on less-than-optimal track may be in fir a little shifting.

I've never thought of that, but with 10,000+ tons on soft ground, I can see where you're coming from.

[mudchicken]

QUOTE: Originally posted by jeffhergert

I've been told that last week's derailment at Carroll, IA on the UP was caused by a coupler pin (not a knuckle pin) coming out and letting the entire drawbar pull out of the car.
The derailment was actually just east of Maple River, IA at the bottom of a hill. Coming down the hill the slack was in and when they started up toward Carroll, the slack came out and so did the drawbar which must have fouled the rail.
Every once in a while we hear of the pin coming out, usually on the wrong end and tying up traffic. For most, tying up traffic is what happens, this is the first derailment I've heard from this.
Also for a while there seemed to be a rash of new aluminum cars (plus older cars) that had buckled. Some said this was partly due to the cars being turned over in rotary dumpers at the power plants.

Jeff:

Worked on some tired, old CNW bridges west of Maple Grove and just east of Arcadia (Falcon and Eagle Avenues) 16 months ago...should you see bridge construction activity there at Eagle Ave or Falcon Ave (over the hill north of US30, below the chicken farm)...Give a yell....Still waiting to re-establish a USGS benchmark (3DDB-Reset 2002)on the new Falcon Bridge (New USGS brass disc sits on my desk and haunts me, wants to know when it gets to go to its new home)....As of 2 months ago, no activity there.

Rock Kickin Mudchicken