Big Derailment on the UPRR.

[Chris30]

Sixty trains a day - main line of America.... gota keep the trains rollin, cause the power plants in Waukegan & Sheybogan need the coal, the fruits gotta get to New York, the autos keep movin west to Milipilatas & Seattle, the orange Schnider & gray UPS trailers zip back and forth from Canal St. to Lathrop, K-line from LA, the boxcars, the stacks, the grain cars & everything else that I forgot. It all has to keep movin. That's why they built the bridge so fast! [;)][;)]

CC

[Anonymous]

Wow they didn't waist no time at all repairing the line.

[rbomier]

I see that replacement bridges are in place per the newswire. What type did they use to have them in place so quickly?

Bob

[ericsp]

http://www.uprr.com/customers/service/galtderailment.shtml

[CShaveRR]

Eric, I'll concur with you on that one wrecked car being an HCGX car filled with salt. The manganese would have been in a covered hopper.

As for the other car (box car or reefer?), it's a reefer (RBL), but not a mechanical reefer, so the commodity is probably canned tomato paste. Looks like it was one of a couple of UP RBLs that were involved.

Lynn at the shop in Rochelle says she heard that a broken knuckle on one of the Center-beam flat cars triggered this whole thing.

[CShaveRR]

I finally got beyond the first picture of your amazing collection. You're lucky to have gotten that close--I was in Galt today, but didn't try to go in beyond the barricades.

One comment for a couple of your pictures--you mentioned the head-end of the derailed train sitting there. I suspect not, on two counts. First of all, those are ballast hoppers and flat cars with panel track--commodities highly unlikely to have been on a train destined for the CSX at Selkirk! Second, the ex-CNW SD40-2s shown are unlikely power for a train other than one staying on ex-CNW territory (they have the necessary equipment for CNW cab signals and ATC, but not for UP's stuff). And UP wouldn't entrust a "Q" train to two small units like these. I think they got the ballast and panel track from Proviso in pretty short order after the wreck, and clearing the track of the head end of QNPSKP would have been a high priority, to get the repair materials as close to the site as possible.

[Chris30]

QUOTE: mudchicken
ISG = Inside Steel Guardrail

I ran accross the website listed below and some of the pictures might help with resolving the issue about the ISG. If you scroll down, there are several pictures of bridges that are very similar to the bridge in Galt that collapsed due to derailment. The track detail in many of the pictures is excellent and you will notice that there is no ISG on these short bridges. Some of the pictures have captions and others do not. It looks most, if not all, of the pictures were taken along the UP Milwaukee Line (ex-CNW New Line).

[code]www.railwatch.com/unionpacific/[/code]

CC

[jeaton]

Jeff

Interesting. Perhaps that situation will change.

Jay

[Anonymous]

Bill, Viewed the entire gallery and wow! [bow][bow][bow] I second Jays nomination for your position. You must live fairly close to site. I live in Erie. Any time you want to "run" email me. Am a s*** photographer but can drive like h*** and run interference while you click. [e-mail] Great job! Willy

[Anonymous]

Has anyone seen the old Bridge at Arlington,Neb? What's the Year on that Bridge?

[jeffhergert]

QUOTE: Originally posted by jeaton

On the closeup of the track over the bridge prior to the wreck. Sure looks like a section is missing.

Jay

A lot of these bridges on the ex-CNW with the ISG are set up for current of traffic running. The ISG come to a point only on one end, instead of both. This area now has CTC, but the ISG protection is still for former directional, current of traffic operation.
Last night returning from Fremont, I tried to note what bridges has ISG. I noticed some similar bridges that do not have any ISG. It seems sometimesthat it is not replaced when a bridge is redecked. My next trip west I"ll try to remember to check a bridge I know was redecked to see if they installed an ISG. (Now I'll probably go east for a month.)
Jeff

[Anonymous]

Wow. The UP crews are realy working their A$$ off trying to restore that line as soon as Possible,Amaizing!
Very Good job to the People of the Union Pacific Railroad.
BNSFrailfan.

[jeaton]

MC

I got it now. Thanks

Jay

[mudchicken]

That close to the bridge, if a stripped joint/blind joint failure happened (broken bolts), properly installed ISG would most likely prevented catastrophic bridge failure. The derailed wheels would not have time to wander. Curious to hear how this is closed out.

My initial comment and question stands. Any trained railway engineer would see the same thing from a distance. Did not look right the first time I saw the before picture and then looked at the deformed first diagonal member in the truss.

[jeaton]

I have got to say they are making quick work of that new bridge. Would it be so nice if highway reconstruction went that fast.

Something for the Mudhen if he comes back on. On that prewreck close up it looks like bolted rail over the bridge span and some missing ISG. Any thoughts?

Jay

[Trailryder]

I have added 7 more photos to the derailment gallery. They are from today and they show the new bridge nearing compleation. I have also learned that they think the derailment was caused by a faulty/broken/missing Angle bar on or near the bridge. Track speed limit in this area is 70mph, but unofficialy I heard the train was doing 44mph when it derailed.

I will post more if and when I get them.
T.T.F.N.
Later Bill

[jeaton]

On the closeup of the track over the bridge prior to the wreck. Sure looks like a section is missing.

Jay

[CopCarSS]

Bill,

Thanks for the great pics!

Chris
Denver, CO

[mudchicken]

ISG = Inside Steel Guardrail

Would normally catch the wheels on a derailed truck and keep them on top of the ties to keep the railcar from striking a fixed object like the side of a through truss bridge (or going over the side of other bridges). On the western railroads, these usually start 50-100 feet in advance of the bridge (or more on high speed lines)......

[ericsp]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Trailryder

I have changed the caption in question above to relate the correct infomation, thanks for the expert help. I have added about a dozen more pictures tonight and updated most of the captions. if you have not viewed the gallery since 7:00pm sunday you may wi***o check it out again. I may add more tomarrow night but thats all for now.
Thank you all for the kind words of encouragement.

Later Bill

You are welcomed, although I am not sure I am an expert. Thanks for the pictures.

[Trailryder]

I have changed the caption in question above to relate the correct infomation, thanks for the expert help. I have added about a dozen more pictures tonight and updated most of the captions. if you have not viewed the gallery since 7:00pm sunday you may wi***o check it out again. I may add more tomarrow night but thats all for now.
Thank you all for the kind words of encouragement.

Later Bill

[ericsp]

The boxcar in this picture http://www.pbase.com/trailryder/image/43134666 is probably carrying salt. I am guessing it had HCGX reporting marks. The manganese [sic] was probably in the GPFX pressure-differential hopper.

Was this http://www.pbase.com/trailryder/image/43134683 a reefer or a boxcar? If it was a reefer, it would be potatoes. If it was a boxcar, it would be some type of tomato product.

[Chris30]

Trailryder,

Thanks for all of the great pictures. FYI... a lot of new pictures of been added. The damage to some of the cars is amazing - ripped apart like tin cans! Trailryder, please alert when, if, you add any more new pics.

CC

[MP173]

Mudchicken:

What is an ISG?
Bill....great photos. Thanks for sharing.

The creek looks like it has quite a bit of water...and it has been very dry this spring. I share your concerns regarding rain...we are expecting rain this week.

ed

[jeaton]

Bill

No. The big bucks in this place don't come until you get stars. Each star doubles the money paid to you by Trains.com for each post. You can contact Eric Bergstrum about this. I am sure he will tell you that the check's in the mail.

[Trailryder]

Is there any money involved with this position? LOL

Later Bill

[Anonymous]

Jay,

Work is good. I work less often and make more money. I have also interviewed for a train dispatcher position here in Indy and should know very soon if I will have a new job. Even if I don't make dispatcher, I am enjoying my new work environment and learning a lot of RR history from the old heads.

[jeaton]

Trailryder

You are hereby nominated for the position of correspondent and photo journalist of the of the month for the Trains.com forum. Very nice piece of work.

Nate

How's work at the new location?

Jay

[Anonymous]

Speaking of detour trains, we've been experiencing some of them out of St. Louis heading East. I caught a 120 car loaded coal train with 17,000 plus tons, and its destination was Selkirk, NY. Had three UP engines Two SD70MAC's (one on the lead and one on the rear), and also an SD90MAC. We had never seen a coal train with the radio controlled power on the rear in these parts before, and my engineer wasn't sure how to run the control box on his stand. Eventually he got it figured out and we pushed the train up Bellfountaine hill at about 20mph, which is very impressive for 17,000 tons!!! We are supposed to keep getting detour trains through this week as far as I know.