Baltimore Area Train Derailment

[samfp1943]

A short time ago there was reported a Breaking News Story of a Train Derailment in the White Marsh areaof the City/County line near Rosedale

Link to Baltimore Sun article @ http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/breaking/bal-train-derails-in-white-marsh-20130528,0,6849185.story

FTA: By Justin Fenton, The Baltimore Sun

3:09 p.m. EDT, May 28, 2013

"...Update: A video that appears to show the explosion has been posted here. Warning: explicit language.

Authorities in Baltimore County were responding to a report of a train derailment in the White Marsh area that caused a loud explosion and sent a plume of white smoke into the sky that could be seen clearly from downtown Baltimore.

Baltimore County police posted to Twitter that a cargo train had derailed in the 7500 block of Lake Drive, near an industrial park. Initial reports were that no one was hurt, but hazardous material teams were responding to the scene..."

[tdmidget]

One less "cargo " train out there.

[BaltACD]

One more truck driver caused the incident.

[Norm48327]

Perhaps they should mandate positive truck control?

[Randy Stahl]

I looked at the pics and whatnot, I did not see the locomotives ?? Is it fuel burning from a ruptured locomotive fuel tank? Sodium Chlorate does not readily burn....

 

 

Randy

[Firelock76]

Looks like another trucker trying to beat the train.  When are some people gonna learn?

Oh, "explicit language"  on that posted video's putting it mildly.  Herb Morrison covering the crash of the "Hindenburg"  it isn't.

[csxns]

Hope that trucker pays for everything.

[zugmann]

csxns

Hope that trucker pays for everything.

Oh yeah, just garner his wages for the next 3000 years.

[rfpjohn]

I'm especially impressed that the youtube correspondents thought to bring their baby with them for the on-the-spot report. He is evidently being immersed in a Baltimore language course.

[Anonymous]

So, what was the exploding cargo on the cargo train?  Is it that hard to learn what it was?

[samfp1943]

As Paul Harvey would say:  "...The rest of the story is..."

Linked to additional information (from The New York Post: @ http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/train-collides-big-rig-derails-explosion-flames-baltimore-article-1.1356679

"Train collides with garbage truck and derails, with explosion, flames near Baltimore, Maryland.""News footage shows a massive zig-zag of cars in Rosedale."

By Bill Hutchinson / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Story with a number of photographs.

And this from TRAINSNEWSWIRE   Story by Alexander V. Mithchell IV  of this date: [snip} 

FTA:"....The collision between the train and a rollaway refuse container truck occurred at a private crossing leading to an industrial equipment site on the south side of the tracks. About a dozen cars have derailed at the front of the train. One car of sodium chlorate is among those derailed.

Early reports indicate the train involved is Q409 operating between Selkirk, N.Y., and Waycross, Ga., with CSX Nos. 5310 and 8583 for power.

CSX spokesperson Kristin Seay tells Trains News Wire the locomotive crew was not seriously injured in the incident, but that the truck driver was..."

[The first articles published in the immediate aftermath of the incindent (about 1400 this afternoon were short on details and long on speculation.IMHO]   

[Firelock76]

There seems to be a few covered hoppers in the area of the fire.  Ammonium nitrate perhaps?

[Deggesty]

Randy Stahl

I looked at the pics and whatnot, I did not see the locomotives ?? Is it fuel burning from a ruptured locomotive fuel tank? Sodium Chlorate does not readily burn....

 

 

Randy

Right; sodiaum chlorate provides oxygen, just as potassium chlorate expedites the burning of the charcoal and sulfur in gunpowder.

[SPCDANW2021]

Oh my gosh i just found out about this that is NUTS, I mean A TRUCK DOSENT SEE A TRAIN OK REALLY. Great i bet some Skippy go lucky railfan waiting for that train and a TRUCK hits it and BOOM bye bye train. gosh sometimes people really bug me. BTW this is just my opinion.

[ChuckCobleigh]

Some nice snips from the NY Daily News online article, for the journalist bashers out there:

First, one of the cleanest leads I have seen in quite a while:

"A freight train derailed near Baltimore Tuesday after colliding with a garbage truck at a railroad crossing, triggering an explosion, flames and black smoke felt and seen miles away."

Some good news:

"Two people aboard the CSX train escaped injury, officials said."

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/train-collides-big-rig-derails-explosion-flames-baltimore-article-1.1356679#ixzz2UelutTTx

(Nice that when you do a copy and paste from the NYDN site, you automatically get a link to the article.)

[ccltrains]

The truck owner probably only carries 1-2 million in insurance.  Good luck.  You cannot get blood out of a turnip.  A friend who is a highway patrol officer says that virtually every truck inspected at a weigh station has atleast one equipment violation.  Is it any wonder that we have so many truck wrecks?  Have you ever seen an 18 wheeler going the speed limit on a freeway?  Good luck finding one obeying the speed law.

[BroadwayLion]

ccltrains

Have you ever seen an 18 wheeler going the speed limit on a freeway?  Good luck finding one obeying the speed law.

18 wheelers, we have 28 wheelers out here!

I have NEVER seen one speeding out here, many travel well under the 75mph speed limit.

I have long since concluded that there is no speeding out here because there is nobody in front of you to pass.

ROAR

[Anonymous]

Obviously it should be no mystery as to what the train was carrying. 

The derailment caused a big explosion, so it ought to be rather obvious what material exploded.  There was plenty of buzz about the possibility of hazardous materials.  Is there no curiosity in the news media about what it was that exploded?  Somebody here speculated that it was ammonium nitrate.  I have understood that A.N. will not explode when exposed to fire in quantities as small as railcars.

[narig01]

Couple of comments.
Could the explosion been the fuel in one of the locomotive fuel tanks? Diesel will make a big whallup but it burns slower then other combustibles. (hence a big fire ball but not a lot of blown out windows).
Most of the larger truck companies govern their trucks. (That's why they don't speed in ND). 2 million dollars in liability insurance makes truck companies big targets for lawyers. It usually guaranties that there is money to pay damages regardless of who caused the accident.
Regretably this did send one person to the hospital. The person behind the wheel of the truck. From what I heard the train crew fortunately was able to walk away from this.

Rgds IGN

[Anonymous]

narig01

Couple of comments.
Could the explosion been the fuel in one of the locomotive fuel tanks? Diesel will make a big whallup but it burns slower then other combustibles. (hence a big fire ball but not a lot of blown out windows).

But there was indeed a lot of blown out windows.  From the sketchy news and the aerial images, it seems that the entire face of the adjacent building was heavily damaged, including the destruction of all windows.  And that appears to be maybe 100 feet back from the tracks. 

It is hard to tell from those spectator videos, but one appears to have knocked people off their feet, and they were many hundreds of feet away.  So it was a powerful explosion.  I would say it was dozens of times more powerful than the Boston bombing explosion, for example.  

[Firelock76]

Deggesty

Randy Stahl

I looked at the pics and whatnot, I did not see the locomotives ?? Is it fuel burning from a ruptured locomotive fuel tank? Sodium Chlorate does not readily burn....

 

 

Randy

Right; sodiaum chlorate provides oxygen, just as potassium chlorate expedites the burning of the charcoal and sulfur in gunpowder.

Actually it's potassium nitrate with charcoal and sulfur that makes old-fashioned "black"  gunpowder.  Modern smokeless is a bit more complicated.   I believe chlorates are used in the primers that set the charge off, what variations of chlorates I don't know.

[BaltACD]

NTSB gave a short history report on the truck driver and the incident in general on local TV-

1. Cited for talking on cell phone while operating his truck
2. Cited for having a unsecured container on his truck
3. Cited for log book violations
4. Cited for multiple speeding violations

On board video indicated truck did not stop for crossing.  Train was sounding horn and ringing bell in conformace with rules and was traveling 49 MPH with track speed being 50 MPH.

Investigation continues.

[csxns]

BaltACD

2. Cited for having a unsecured container on his truck
3. Cited for log book violations

Hope they get him good.

[Deggesty]

Firelock76

Deggesty

Randy Stahl

I looked at the pics and whatnot, I did not see the locomotives ?? Is it fuel burning from a ruptured locomotive fuel tank? Sodium Chlorate does not readily burn....

 

 

Randy

Right; sodiaum chlorate provides oxygen, just as potassium chlorate expedites the burning of the charcoal and sulfur in gunpowder.

Actually it's potassium nitrate with charcoal and sulfur that makes old-fashioned "black"  gunpowder.  Modern smokeless is a bit more complicated.   I believe chlorates are used in the primers that set the charge off, what variations of chlorates I don't know.

Yes, you are right. I was thinking back to times when I made a sort of gunpowder--and I used potassium chlorate because I did not have potassium nitrate. Either potassium salt will provide oxygen, but for the purpose, the nitrate salt is better. And, when you provide lots of oxygen to something that is being oxidized, look out!

[Chris30]

In regards to the video... The guy has a baby in the back seat and a bad feeeling that whatever is burning (the train) is going to explode. So what does he do? That's right, he keeps driving right at it! Smart.

CC

[Norm48327]

1. Cited for talking on cell phone while operating his truck
2. Cited for having a unsecured container on his truck
3. Cited for log book violations
4. Cited for multiple speeding violations

And the state let him keep his CDL?

[ccltrains]

Broadway Lion-  In Texas the speed limit on most roads is 70 to 75.  Forget about the 85 MPH in far west Texas.  In the rural area where we live there are minimal police patrols.  Trucks will pass you up like you are sgtanding still.  Occasionly you will see one pulled over by the Troopers.  This usually is for not having a tarp on their load.  If truckers only would obey the rules like the train crews do we possibly would have fewer truck accidents.

[Norm48327]

Here's a link to a security video of the collision. I don't know how to activate it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKyuaGbAYFY

[ChuckCobleigh]

Norm48327

Here's a link to a security video of the collision. I don't know how to activate it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKyuaGbAYFY

Activated.   Forty seconds to stop train, about five minutes until explosion knocks camera off its aim.

[Norm48327]

Thanks Chuck. Some day I'll learn to do that.