BNSF derailment Kewanee, IL 5/4/12

[beaulieu]

Now high winds, possible tornado, toppled a BNSF stack train at Toluca, IL blocking that line too.

[Chris30]

Thanks Carl. Now that you said that… That should have been my first guess because it’s the obvious answer.

[CShaveRR]

The detours would take the Chilli Sub to Joliet, then get on the old GM&O (now CN) for the trip into the city.

[edblysard]

Environmental clean-up means the engine leaked lubricating oil, diesel fuel or coolant, (if used) on the ground, or a combination of any of the three, or the engine room sump leaked...any of the four would require clean up.

[Chris30]

Hello,

Working at home today and I've been listening to an excellent internet feed from Radioreference.com that scans the BNSF East End, C&I, Mainline and Chilli (west dispatcher) subs in northern Illinois - http://www.radioreference.com/apps/audio/?feedId=1111

 

It's been a very interesting day. There's a derailment on the Mainline Sub that happened very early this morning just west of Kewanee. According to a report in the Star Courier (I think it's a Galesburg newspaper) at least thirteen empty coal hoppers cars derailed and were blown over by very high winds or a possible tornado. Both tracks were affected. Amtrak, and possibly other freight traffic, is detouring over the Chilli Sub. Amtrak trains are still stopping at Galesburg using the Cameron connection. As the Chilli Sub no longer goes through all the way to downtown Chicago, I'm not exactly sure how Amtrak is connecting. My first guess would be the IHB between LaGrange and McCook. Here's a link to the story from Star Courier: http://www.starcourier.com/news/x1018082796/Train-derails-near-Kewanee

Slowing things down on the Chilli Sub this afternoon around milepost 59 (Coal City) was an incident that I picked-up on through the radio chatter. It sounded like the dispatcher and train crew were talking about an engine that blew up, to paraphrase the train crew, and needed  what was referred to as a environmental cleanup. Can anybody expand on that?

There were probably a lot of unhappy Metra commuters this morning. #1370, the last morning Rt. 59 / Naperville express, had engine problems somewhere around Naperville. It limped to Lisle where all of the passengers had to get off cross to the north platform and attempt to board #1360. It sounded like not everybody was able to get on... #1360 was probably a shorter train. #1360 then assumed #1370's schedule and ran express to Chicago. #1370 meanwhile, assumed #1360's schedule and made it as far as Fairview where it met an extra dinky that had been dispatched out of Chicago to relieve the disabled train / engine. So, some of the commuters expecting to get downtown at their normal 9am didn't get there until sometime after 10am today. If anybody can provide updates on this, please do. Most of it was picked-up through radio chatter and sometime the details can be a bit sketchy.

CC