Bridge Collapse causes CSX Derailment

[Deggesty]

Let me say that I have learned not take a mouthful of coffee (or any other liquid) before  reading a new post. Ain't I smart?

[Deggesty]

Paul, you beat me to this one; I was still pounding my pillow when you posted, and when I read Houston Ed's comment, I planned to ask him what Germany had to do with southeast Georgia (that would be a rather large plate). I know he meant to write tectonic and not teutonic. (my spell checker was put together by an unlearned someone, who knows nothing of the teutons.

[Murphy Siding]

edblysard

Murphy Siding

     We can't rush to judgement.  How can we be sure the highway bridge fell on the rail line, and that it wasn't a case of the rail line rising up into the path of the highway bridge?

True, it is quite possible that the cars were constructed by a consortium of evil shippers, with no push back couplers and built to inferior specifications, so that when they contacted the bottom of the bridge, they ruptured, then fell back on the tracks, taking the bridge with them.

The other possibility that has yet to be explored it teutonic plate shift or a fault slide.

  Yes, but....  Here's my theory- Using intuition, common sense, connecting the dots..... things like that, I can see that it's clearly a case of the railroad being at fault.  Clearly, at some point, the railroad re-paved their tracks, raising the height of the rails.

     Because there was no flashing lights to warn the train operators of the new, lower headroom requirements,  and no flashing lights to warn the train operators of more flashing lights to come, the engineer drove his train right into the bottom of the road bridge.

      Surely, this will lead to the heavy hand of the federal government forcing stricter regulations about where to place *Danger- falling road bridges* signs along the tracks.  It's clear that this is all part of a political conspiracy by various organizations against fossil fuels, and railroads and highway bridges in general.

     I'll keep you posted when I come up with a new theory that I can use to justify some other random event.  Right now,  I'm thinking it all comes down to the government trying to control our precious bodily fluids.

[CSSHEGEWISCH]

edblysard

The other possibility that has yet to be explored it teutonic plate shift or a fault slide.

I thought that this collapse occurred over a CSX line, not Deutsche Bundesbahn.

[art11758]

You guys are too funny. It's been a while since I snarfed coffee while reading the forums......

[edblysard]

Murphy Siding

     We can't rush to judgement.  How can we be sure the highway bridge fell on the rail line, and that it wasn't a case of the rail line rising up into the path of the highway bridge?

True, it is quite possible that the cars were constructed by a consortium of evil shippers, with no push back couplers and built to inferior specifications, so that when they contacted the bottom of the bridge, they ruptured, then fell back on the tracks, taking the bridge with them.

The other possibility that has yet to be explored it teutonic plate shift or a fault slide.

[Norm48327]

The Duke Boys wouldn't have left a tire track on the bridge. They would have been going too fast.

[mudchicken]

darned helium cars!......(as the county scrambles to find ANY real record of honest bridge structural inspection)

(wunnerful argument for collision rails/armoured piers and track bridge guardrails)

[Murphy Siding]

     We can't rush to judgement.  How can we be sure the highway bridge fell on the rail line, and that it wasn't a case of the rail line rising up into the path of the highway bridge?

[tree68]

cx500

Wonderful Ed, but next time warn me so I'm not having a drink as I read.......

Yeah - and I've got two screens to clean off...

[cx500]

Wonderful Ed, but next time warn me so I'm not having a drink as I read.......

John

[Norm48327]

edblysard

Yee, but I see two possible scenarios for this…either the bridge received permission to collapse from someone at the moment unknown to us, or the truck driver…..oh, wait, wrong thread, sorry….

ROTFLMAO!

[dehusman]

edblysard

Yee, but I see two possible scenarios for this…either the bridge received permission to collapse from someone at the moment unknown to us, or the truck driver…..oh, wait, wrong thread, sorry….

No, go ahead and continue, its just as logical as some of the other threads.

[edblysard]

Yee, but I see two possible scenarios for this…either the bridge received permission to collapse from someone at the moment unknown to us, or the truck driver…..oh, wait, wrong thread, sorry….

[zugmann]

Reminds me of some local potholes.

[Semper Vaporo]

And there AIN'T NO WAY the pickup truck "jumped" the gap!  NO WAY!  It would take a ramp on the approach side to give the truck an upward momentum to get over the gap.  Gravity would pull the truck DOWN into the gap and at a minimum the front of the truck would have been impaled on the opposite edge of the gap.

Gravity, it is not just a good idea; it's the law!

I suggest the truck struck the side of the bridge, damaging it to the point of failure and careening off of it as it fell on the train.  Maybe the driver was a railfan and was too busy looking at the train going under the bridge and steered into the side of the bridge... or maybe was trying to toss his beer can into one of the train cars and got too close to the edge of the bridge and struck it.

 

 

EDIT: I see an update to the article that says the bridge was higher on the approach side and thus the truck could 'jump the gap' and land on the other side without falling in the gap.

Personally... I still doubt it!

[PNWRMNM]

To be clear a highway bridge collapsed onto a train passing under it.

[GP-9_Man11786]

A bridge over the CSX former ACL main line collapsed and caused five cars passing underneath to derail. Also a guy in a pickup jumped the bridge. Only in the South!

here the story from the Charleston Post & Courier: http://www.postandcourier.com/article/20140428/PC16/140429325