The bing map shows the tracks w/o the train.
There are no guard rails on the tracks on the bridge over the interstate.
https://www.bing.com/maps?osid=0303e536-13b0-4b72-ba19-d8f308f03a22&cp=38.388601~-104.619608&lvl=19.989048&style=h&pi=0&v=2&sV=2&form=S00027
diningcar One thing we have not considered: did the truck someway strike the bridge causing it to shift. Seems unlikely but a possibility.
One thing we have not considered: did the truck someway strike the bridge causing it to shift. Seems unlikely but a possibility.
I would opine that since it's an Interstate, an apparently standard box trailer would not have had an issue with the bridge. I don't see any "low clearance" markings on the bridge, and my uncalibrated eyeball says the truck would have cleared with no problem. I suspect it's a "wrong place, wrong time" thing.
As noted before, the possibility of the bridge collapsing under the train exists, but the stronger possibility is that the derailed cars caused the bridge to fail. Why the cars derailed remains to be seen following the investigation.
Larry Resident Microferroequinologist (at least at my house) Everyone goes home; Safety begins with you My Opinion. Standard Disclaimers Apply. No Expiration Date Come ride the rails with me! There's one thing about humility - the moment you think you've got it, you've lost it...
Very clear to me that the bridge structure fell over on the truck. That bridge is supported on high, slab abutments on either end, with the shoes far above the visible roof height of the van. The cab would not have been higher.
In any case, it's the far corner of the bridge deck that dropped first, and it's come to rest on the trailer nose and, possibly, part of the tractor. Much more of the combination would have gone through had the truck somehow lifted up and disengaged that far corner.
Note no collision damage to the near bridge lower member at all, and no striking deformation I can see in the underpanels that would indicate sufficient contact to lift and displace the bridge.
Thinking they may have already been a wheelset on the ground.
I know, I know ... wait for the NTSB ...
rdamonI see a switch on the NE side.
Which 'could' have affected a train going bottom to top. Top to bottom movement would have been trailing through the switch.
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
I see a switch on the NE side.
Overmod Happened very quick, I think. The fatality is likely to be that tractor-trailer's driver, from the cab being either under part of the bridge or the coal falling over it.
Happened very quick, I think. The fatality is likely to be that tractor-trailer's driver, from the cab being either under part of the bridge or the coal falling over it.
That was who the news reports said it was.
tree68 Did the train take the bridge out, or did the bridge fail first?
Did the train take the bridge out, or did the bridge fail first?
That was a question I had as well looking at the pictures. The span over the SB lanes appears to be intact, while the NB lanes is the disaster. The fatality is reported to be the truck driver who was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
The main detour is reported to be US-50 west to COLO-115 at Penrose for all NB traffic and heavy SB traffic and another SB detour for passenger cars. Gonna be fun for a few days.
Recent photos indicate the lead locomotives had cleared the overpass when the derailment occurred; if so, they must be in the Pueblo yard about ten miles south.
https://www.koaa.com/news/covering-colorado/interstate-25-closed-in-both-directions-north-of-purcell-blvd-due-to-crash-involving-train
It was a southbound loaded BNSF coal train with one fatality.
Does anyone have more info or pictures? I think this was a northward empty coal train, but I'm not sure.
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