Witnessing a train derailing

[Soo 6604]

I was wondering with all the railfans and railroad workers that are on this forum. I'm sure over the years and hundreds of thousands if not millions of trains combined, how many of us actually seen a train derail. Not the couple of cars splitting a switch derailment but like hitting a broken rail, burned off journal, broken axle kind of pile-up. With all the video cameras out there now, I'm surprised that there isn't any really derailments out there.

For me, the closest I've been was i think it was 1996 in Waupaca. A semi-driver went thru a crossing only protected by crossbucks (at the time) just East of Waupaca Foundry and a northbound (westbound in SOO, WC days) empty hopper (ore) train nailed him at speed. Derailed all 3 locomotives and about 25 cars. I was about 1/2 mile away at Faulks Bros loading my tire truck to head over to their Peet plant to fix a loader tire (using the same crossing as Wendt Road wasn't there at the time (next crossing down now)). I heard this very unusual metal crunching and squeeling sound and my first look was to the silos on the property that I thought that was collasping. I just thought maybe something happened at Waupaca Foundry and didn't think much of it anymore until I turned on the road and there was the derailment. I got there maybe 3 minutes after the noise and not an officer or any other enforcement was there. Witness on the north side of the train said that the driver (my words) flew out of the cab of the truck (her words) went between the cars and landed in the field by her car. Massive cuts and bruises on the guy in which he was lucky. He said that he saw the train but couldnt stop in time due to "brake failure" (he was loaded with scrap metal for the foundry).

I heard the aftermath of the Weyauwega derailment on the scanner as it happened.

Paul

[Railway Man]

On my first trip of my career -- I was riding left-front seat -- the train derailed at 49 mph five cars behind the locomotives.  I watched all hell break loose in the rear-view mirror as cars flew sideways and smacked into standing cars on a house track.  Cause was dragging equipment that picked a switch; there was so much snow on the track that nothing was visible from the caboose.

RWM 

[CShaveRR]

Oh, yeah...

I've seen cars go over on their sides on three occasions that I remember, and saw one wreck where I counted 14 cars on the ground as I looked it over for that very reason--completely missed one buried by the others. And one time the overturning car was what finally brought a train to a stop after it had been sideswiping another train from one end of the lead to the other--we had 3/4 mile of derailed and/or damaged cars on two tracks after that one.

What's even neater in my case was the wreck I prevented--an empty center-beam flat car was about to tip on a curve in our yard--I set up the retarder, stretched the slack, and it settled right back on the track!

But as I've said many times on these threads in the past, derailments (or near-derailments!) are no fun.  You know what's going to happen (usually) and you just wish it would stop and settle.

[tree68]

Our platform in Utica is right next to the CSX #1 main, (and obviously pretty close to the #2 main).  CSX runs most trains through there pretty much at speed.  I've considered the scenario, and my reaction pretty much involves getting as far away as I can. 

The heavy snow this past weekend brought forth the possibility of problems at crossings (ice filled flangeways) - a potential problem as well.  Never far from my mind.

But I haven't seen a derailment happen yet, and I hope I don't, since there is always the possibility that I may somehow be directly involved...

[solzrules]

Our platform in Utica is right next to the CSX #1 main, (and obviously pretty close to the #2 main).  CSX runs most trains through there pretty much at speed.  I've considered the scenario, and my reaction pretty much involves getting as far away as I can. 

The heavy snow this past weekend brought forth the possibility of problems at crossings (ice filled flangeways) - a potential problem as well.  Never far from my mind.

But I haven't seen a derailment happen yet, and I hope I don't, since there is always the possibility that I may somehow be directly involved...

I've been curious about those iced flangeways......Around here snowmobilers figure the railroad is a ready-made snowmobile trail and they tear down the ROW all the time.  On closer inspection, I've found that the packed snow tends to freeze to ice.  I also seem to remember an article in trains a while back discussing a derailment caused by the same thing.  Is this pretty common? 

[arbfbe]

See Fred Hydes' book, "The Milwaukee Road" from Hundman publications.  Check out the wreck at Kyle, ID.  That's the first one I saw in progress.

[mudchicken]

Watched an autorack spread the wheelstops and take out 12-15 brand new Ford cars (no big loss, just sped up the scrap process) during a shove. Combination radio failure and failure by swith engine hogger to stop train after no response from conductor and brakeman on foot.

[WSOR 3801]

It seems like the lesser used tracks are used by snowmobiles more often. I see a bunch of it. Someday I might hit some trespassing essobee that is in the gauge, where he doesn't belong. Lately it looks like they MOW guys are taking the regulator out, and moving some of the snow around. Trying to keep it out of the flangeways.

My conductor says he saw a guy on a snowmobile try to go across an angled crossing. The skis got hooked in the rails and he went flying off.

[spokyone]

trespassing essobee

[MStLfan]

I have been on a passenger train that derailed / collided with an other one. It happened about 2 years ago in Rotterdam Central Station. I was in the rear emu of 2 two emu / 6 car train that was on an intercity service to Utrecht. It left Rotterdam a couple minutes late. 3 minutes later a local goes after the intercity on the same track but from a different platform track. Guess someone was not paying attention as the front of the local hit the front emu midships at about 40 kph on a switch. My emu leaned left and we didn't need help to get out as we could step on to the ballast.

I never noticed the local whose rear end was next to me when it happened as I was absorbed into my newspaper. Big bang, complete silence and then everybody talking at once trying to find out what happened. Luckily I was travelling backwards and that helped me not to get coffee spilled onto my clothes.

It took a couple of days to repair the track because of the switch and catenary that were demolished.

greetings,

Marc Immeker

[JoeKoh]

hearing the squeals and the loud KABOOM of a derailment was close enough for me.was neat to see the B&O 200 ton crane come down and help clean it up.

stay safe

joe

[spokyone]

I bet this guy was scared.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7SRWugR6oFE&feature=related

 

[CSXDixieLine]

Dang, I will stand well clear after watching that one! This one is not a derailment, but very similar video of a railfan catching a fireball shoot out the side of UP locomotive right after it passes him. Watch the folks waiting at the crossing scatter!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DAKbkU9l-xE

Thankfully no injuries on this one.

[chatanuga]

Haven't seen a train derail, but on my one page (http://chatanuga.org/RailPage.html) with pictures from Norfolk Southern's Sandusky line through Bucyrus, Ohio, I've got a few pics of the big wreck that happened in December 2000 that sent two covered hoppers off a bridge and onto the street below.  Was a really eerie thing to see.

Kevin

http://chatanuga.org/WLMR.html

http://chatanuga.org/RailPage.html

[zardoz]

First one I saw happened right in front of me as I waited at a crossing on my first day of having my driver's license.  Luckily I had stopped far enough back to watch the train pass by, as the entire crossing was covered in derailed cars. About 20 cars derailed.  Seemed to happen in slow motion.  It was a southbound CNW train at the frontage road west of hwy 20 in Racine (WI).  I found out later that the engineer had put his train in emergency due to the absolute signal at Waxdale (an automatic interlocking) dropping red in front of him.  The train derailed around a curve under hwy 20; to this day one can see the marks in the bridge supports from where the boxcar wrapped around the concrete post.  Fortunately there were no hazmat in the derailed section.  It turns out that a trainmaster has intentionally dropped the signal (after the engineer had passed a clear indication on the previous signal) as part of an efficiency test.  The Trainmaster was fired.

My next one happened right in front of the M19A diesel shop, at the pedestrian crossing for employees.  As I was walking to the crossing, a stack train broke in two, and the rear end hit the head end.  Surprisingly, only one well car derailed, even though it happened at about 30mph.

The last one was a coal train that derailed right in front of the Waukegan depot.  I didn't see the beginning of the derailment, but the noise caused me to look and see the end of the derailment happen.

 

[vsmith]

This guy was at the right place, right time.... and right distance

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYRj3QGEe28&feature=related

 

[CShaveRR]

Solz, most of the ice-related derailments (been there a couple of times, too!) are caused by snow from street plows in the flangeways at the edge of the crossing.  (As a homeowner, I know that if you don't get out right away and clear that slushy stuff right away, it will stay there for a while.)  Snowmobilers are more at risk themselves than they are of causing derailment conditions for trains.

The ultimate irony:  a girl in my high school class wrote in my yearbook to "Watch out for trains...they make a messy death."  She was the first person from my graduating class to die--killed while snowmobiling with her husband on a supposedly-unused railroad track.

[Anonymous]

I've always dreaded seeing a derailment in person, sounds pretty nasty to me.....

Carl; that's definetly ironic!

[steve14]

Have picked up way too many and seen a few small ones. The most embarassing one was during the floods of 1993 in Missouri. Our crews had just finished repairing the tracks at Chillicothe for the second time in a week and we were about to let the first train through on the first line to open between Chicago and KC (former Milwaukee over the Grand River). We had rebuilt about a mile of track by hauling truck after truck of stone and dumping and lifting the track. We couldn't get a lot of very good compaction that way so guess what? The train found a low spot and one wheel came off. We got it back on in short order, but I did not enjoy the prospect of letting the Superintendent know what had happened.

[kenneo]

As a conductor, all but the power on the ground BETWEEN the rails except for cars 3,4,5, which went into a cliff.  Took almost a week to get equipment in there, re-rail the train, and pick up the mess.  Broken body bolster.  Engine stopped so fast I came close to losing my teeth on the cab front.

While working as the Trim Clerk for the hump, saw a trim cut line itself into the side of an arriving train, drive straight into the side of that train.  34 cars.  Blocked the trim end of the hump, the departure yard leads and the arrival yard leads.  Several cars drug for about 3/4 mile.  LOTS of track damage.  Much talking to typewriters.

Halloween night a good number of years ago, part of my job was to assist in accident investigations.  Helper kept pushing when road engine stopped, causing two auto racks to jacknife into the face of a pig.  No time to grab the air.  Train master in depot doing efficiency tests (sound asleep).  250 feet of track contained 50 plus cars and two SD-40's.  One car stopped about 10 short of the TM.  Knowing the background made reading the report interesting.

[spbed]

Yes I actually saw a WB BNSF train derail in the Cajon pass coming around a curve at Cleghorn road

 

 

I was wondering with all the railfans and railroad workers that are on this forum. I'm sure over the years and hundreds of thousands if not millions of trains combined, how many of us actually seen a train derail. Not the couple of cars splitting a switch derailment but like hitting a broken rail, burned off journal, broken axle kind of pile-up. With all the video cameras out there now, I'm surprised that there isn't any really derailments out there.

For me, the closest I've been was i think it was 1996 in Waupaca. A semi-driver went thru a crossing only protected by crossbucks (at the time) just East of Waupaca Foundry and a northbound (westbound in SOO, WC days) empty hopper (ore) train nailed him at speed. Derailed all 3 locomotives and about 25 cars. I was about 1/2 mile away at Faulks Bros loading my tire truck to head over to their Peet plant to fix a loader tire (using the same crossing as Wendt Road wasn't there at the time (next crossing down now)). I heard this very unusual metal crunching and squeeling sound and my first look was to the silos on the property that I thought that was collasping. I just thought maybe something happened at Waupaca Foundry and didn't think much of it anymore until I turned on the road and there was the derailment. I got there maybe 3 minutes after the noise and not an officer or any other enforcement was there. Witness on the north side of the train said that the driver (my words) flew out of the cab of the truck (her words) went between the cars and landed in the field by her car. Massive cuts and bruises on the guy in which he was lucky. He said that he saw the train but couldnt stop in time due to "brake failure" (he was loaded with scrap metal for the foundry).

I heard the aftermath of the Weyauwega derailment on the scanner as it happened.

Paul

[wisandsouthernkid]

i had prevented a train from derailing by my house because i had gotten dropped off the bus walked across the tracks and had looked down because i had tripped in a hole about 6 inches long on the rail joint tried to find all of the pieces and i did and then i called wisconsin and southern and fixed it

[rixflix]

Yep'

we were surveying along Reading's Lebanon Vallley branch at Wyomissing PA (behind the fire company). I had my Wilde T2 theodolite aimed eastward when RDG sent an eastward coal train past us. There was a very blazing hotbox on a hopper about 15 cars from the  caboose. The cabin crew on the rear deck couldn't see what was going on ahead, so I ( the party didn't know from railroads) yelled "HOTBOX" and the two guys yelled back "WE KNOW". Well the T2 was aimed up the straightaway to the Bernville Road overpass and looking through it I saw a truck side frame fall clean off . Big sparks, wheelsets shooting out, loaded hoppers twisting,  bituminous going down the embankment. It was a mess. Through the lens it all happened in a sort of pschedelic slow motion.

OH WOW MAN !!!

rixflix

aka captain video

[Modelcar]

....Surprise....Merry Christmas, Captn Video.