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Big Derailment on the UPRR.

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Posted by CShaveRR on Wednesday, May 4, 2005 2:48 PM
Latest word is that a shoo-fly will be built around the derailment site while the bridge is replaced. Here's what the UP is saying:

A Union Pacific freight train going from North Platte, Neb., to Chicago, Ill., [This was the "Express Lane", Train QNPSKP--Carl] experienced a 31-car derailment Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. just west of Galt, Ill. There were no injuries. Galt is about 125 miles west of Chicago, near the Illinois/Iowa border.

A two track 140-foot bridge over Elkhorn Creek, just west of Galt, was heavily damaged and will have to be replaced. A temporary crossing over the creek is being constructed using five pipes, with an average diameter of 100 inches, 36,000 tons of ballast and 1,800 feet of track. This will enable trains to operate around the damaged bridge. The temporary creek crossing is expected to be completed late Thursday.

An average of 60 trains a day operate over this corridor between Chicago and Iowa, which handles rail traffic to the West Coast. Union Pacific is working with all railroads to establish detours and currently has identified more than 40 detour opportunities using other railroads.

Of the 31 cars derailed, eight contained lumber or plywood; seven, canned tomatoes; five, potatoes; three, soda ash; four, empties; two, loads of salt; one, fertilizer; and one, manganese. Cause of the derailment is under investigation.



IAIS should be able to be accessed directly at Omaha. As for the train spbed saw on the cam, I suspect that it was being pulled back for rerouting; don't know what arrangements have been made yet.

Carl

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Posted by Anonymous on Wednesday, May 4, 2005 2:48 PM
Just found out a couple of Wisconsin coal empties are detouring via Twin Cities to the Spine Line. Also MDMPR, Des Moines to Proviso will take same route. Some west coast trains have detoured on BNSF to K.C. It should be interesting railfanning until the bridge is replaced. Spbed that train you saw on the webcam can detour down the Peoria Sub at Nelson.
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Posted by Anonymous on Wednesday, May 4, 2005 2:59 PM
My dad bills railcars for ADM, he sent me this update on the situation:
The Union Pacific had a derailment in Galt Illinois derailing 30 cars and wiping out a bridge. Service will be
> interuped for several days while this bridge is repaired. This on their main line between Chicago and North Platte, Ne.
> Both Main lines are out of service and approximately 200 trains are affected. They are trying to reroute over
> the BNSF but they will only allow them to run 2 trains every 8 hours. Trains are being rerouted over St. Louis
> and Kansas City which will delay shipments for several days.

He has gotten lots of information on this. As I find out more, I will keep posting.
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Posted by Anonymous on Wednesday, May 4, 2005 3:12 PM
Wow.
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Posted by Anonymous on Wednesday, May 4, 2005 3:12 PM
Here is some other information:
Dear Customer:

At approximately 5:30 p.m. CDT on Tuesday, May 3, 2005, the QNPSKP 2 train
derailed 30 cars near Galt, IL, blocking both mainlines and severely
damaging a bridge. Galt, IL, is located approximately 100 miles west of
Chicago near Nelson, IL. This derailment will affect all eastbound and
westbound Union Pacific traffic currently moving into and out of the
Chicago area.

As a result, Union Pacific will close the gates at our Intermodal ramps
Global I and Global II for all local westbound traffic beginning at 8:00
a.m. CDT on Wednesday, May 4, 2005. We will continue to accept all rubber
and steel-wheel intermodal interchange at the Global I and Global II ramps.

We are in the process of building temporary trackage around the derailment
site until the bridge can be restored to service. Additionally, we are
working with other railroads to develop re-route plans around the impacted
area. We anticipate a minimum of 48-72 hour delays to all eastbound and
westbound traffic into and out of Chicago as a result of this incident.

Hope this helps.
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Posted by Anonymous on Wednesday, May 4, 2005 3:26 PM
Gentlemen, How are you able to get this wonderful info?
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Posted by Anonymous on Wednesday, May 4, 2005 4:02 PM
My dad bills railcars, and is given railroad operation updates. He emailed me some of the information that was given to him.
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Posted by Anonymous on Wednesday, May 4, 2005 7:47 PM
UP bulletin says that they will have 2 temporary tracks around the derailment (shoo-flys) working by late Thurs or very early Friday while they replace the bridge.
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Posted by Anonymous on Wednesday, May 4, 2005 8:48 PM
whoa...how do i find out if any are detouring over the IAIS and when??

i've been by this area many a time, very nice place although i don't take many pictures. it's a shame that bridge will be gone...
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Posted by Anonymous on Thursday, May 5, 2005 6:14 AM
Just got up and watched local news and they had a good story and video on the cleanup. Went to their website KWQC.com but they hadn't updated yet. Should be able to watch vid clips in a while.
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Posted by spbed on Thursday, May 5, 2005 6:20 AM
Thanks for the super info. [:o)][:p]

Originally posted by UPRR-MDC

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Posted by spbed on Thursday, May 5, 2005 6:22 AM
Yes the newswire says the same. Maybe we will see movement on the cam this PM [:o)]

Originally posted by dblstack

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Posted by CopCarSS on Thursday, May 5, 2005 8:07 AM
So is there pictures of this thing anywhere? I poked around the sites of the news agencies in Northern, IL, and can't find any that have a picture. Very few even had a write-up on line. This really kind of surprises me. 31 cars, and a demolished bridge is not a small accident.

Chris
Denver, CO

-Chris
West Chicago, IL
Christopher May Fine Art Photography

"In wisdom gathered over time I have found that every experience is a form of exploration." ~Ansel Adams

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Posted by Anonymous on Thursday, May 5, 2005 8:19 AM
CCSS, both local news channels had video this AM, but can't find it on their websites. You might have better luck. KWQC.com and WQAD.com. Now headlines about DRail in Chicago, it's a bad week for UP. Watch out! Higher licensing fees!!! [(-D]
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Posted by spbed on Thursday, May 5, 2005 9:47 AM
Me too I am tried of googling in fact & came up with a big fat zero. I guess Helicopters are not used in western IL [:o)][8D][:D]

Originally posted by CopCarSS
[

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Posted by spbed on Thursday, May 5, 2005 10:49 AM
Well the temporary bridge must be in place as a EB is passing the cam NOW!

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Posted by CShaveRR on Thursday, May 5, 2005 10:53 AM
There are a few pictures over on Trainorders.com. Also, an update that suggests that the shoofly will be open by 6:30 tonight.

From that update, the wrecked cars should be cleared from track by now, with fill being placed around pipes on the shoofly.

Piling for the new bridge will be driven beginning tonight (it sounds more like a trestle), and they're figuring that one track will be reopened Sunday, with the second by next Wednesday.

Carl

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Posted by Chris30 on Thursday, May 5, 2005 11:13 AM
Trains that are seen on the Rochelle cam are probably using the SI Line at Nelson. Also, it is worth mentioning that the connection between the UP Geneva Sub & BNSF C&I line at the Rochelle diamonds was taken out some years ago. I'm sure the UP wishes they had that routing now - west to Rochelle, detour northwest to Savana on the BNSF, then back south on ICE to Clinton. Of course, the BNSF is probably glad that the connection was removed because the C&I line can't handle that much more traffic.

CC
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Posted by Anonymous on Thursday, May 5, 2005 12:12 PM
Originally posted by spbed

Me too I am tried of googling in fact & came up with a big fat zero. I guess Helicopters are not used in western IL [:o)][8D][:D]
[
spbed, they save all the helicopters for fall so they can catch the pot growers. We seem to have at least one or two each year. They grow it in the middle of the corn fields and as soon as the corn turns they can spot the green square patch in the middle of the field. Ft. Madison eh? I live 15 minutes east of QC. in Erie
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Posted by Anonymous on Thursday, May 5, 2005 12:28 PM
More Info:
> Subject: Union Pacific derailment Galt, Illinois
>
> The Union Pacific advises that they will complete a run around single main line track with a speed of 25 mph sometime this evening. They will then start staging
> trains to run so many hours eastbound and then reverse it and run so many hours westbound. They are still detouring and rerouting all the trains possible
> to eliminate the congestion. The repairs and construction of the new bridge will not be completed until mid week of May 9th.
>
> Service will continue to be delayed for the near future with no estimate of when it will return to normal.
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Posted by spbed on Thursday, May 5, 2005 2:18 PM
Well if you look at the cam the track next to the tree accesses the UPRR tracks that you cannot see on the cam. [:o)][:D]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Chris30

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Posted by Anonymous on Thursday, May 5, 2005 4:02 PM
Sounds like a few trains are detouring on IAIS between CB and Peoria. And on ICE between Chicago and Clinton. i dont know for sure, its just what i read on another forum.
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Posted by Anonymous on Thursday, May 5, 2005 6:09 PM
No word on the cause of the de-railment yet?
BNSFrailfan.
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Posted by Chris30 on Friday, May 6, 2005 9:02 AM
QUOTE: quote from Spbed:
Well if you look at the cam the track next to the tree accesses the UPRR tracks that you cannot see on the cam.


The track that you see on the Rochelle web cam serves the Del Monte Plant. I'm not sure if it could be considered a true connection track. BN/BNSF detours in years past always used the connection track that was taken out of service. EB BN/BNSF trains that detoured over the CNW/UP had to pull through Rochelle and that back through the connection track to home rails. I'm sure if the Del Monte lead could have been used as a connection they would have used it first. Does anybody know, or seen, the Del Monte lead used as a emergency connection track between the UP & BNSF??

Also, with the derailment at Galt & a lot of trains detouring, I wonder if the UP is taking advantage of the situation to do other maintenance related projects on the Geneva Sub? My guess is that they have every available person helping at Galt.

CC
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Posted by CShaveRR on Friday, May 6, 2005 10:56 AM
Chris, in recent years (before it was removed), that connection track would have been a real adventure to operate trains over.

As for working on other maintenance projects, I'm sure Galt took/is taking first priority. Trains began running over the shoofly last evening, so any window of opportunity is gone.

(Interesting question, though--anyone know whether wrokers were removed from, say, the triple-tracking project east of Elburn to help at Galt? Or will they be when the track is ready to be restored over the new bidge? Another question--will the new bridge(s) be built to the wider track centers that UP is implementing elsewhere?)

Carl

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Posted by spbed on Friday, May 6, 2005 1:02 PM
I saw the UPRR come off the Geneva sub & when working the plants pushed cars out onto that track I guess to make room. A train just passed on track so it can be used if needed since it supported the locos & cars from Del Monte today. I know the track serves the Del Monte plant behind the trees

Originally posted by Chris30

quote from Spbed:

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Posted by spbed on Friday, May 6, 2005 1:04 PM
Tha cam has shown some UPRR traffic. Where it is coming from or going to who knows? [:p][:D]

Originally posted by CShaveRR
[

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Posted by Anonymous on Friday, May 6, 2005 2:17 PM
Just got back from trip to lhs, and stopped at Galt. 4 large and 1 huge crane working the sight. Pieces of new bridge are already on semis on the road alongside. Talked in great length with UP sup. leaving the scene. He was very hospitable (wow) and he said the following; (in a nutshell)
1. There are still 15 cars in the ravine
2. They had 11 EB trains stacked back to Clinton this AM
3. EB andWB is boyh moving thru the shoo-fly
4. No,you can't get close enough for decent pics
5. Now BN is pissed cause they've screwed up their schedules
6. The cost witheverything was probably going to have a 1 with a bunch of zeroes

My thoughts: The scene was utter chaos, there was still 75 white trucks parked a mile alongside the road, every grain hauler for 50 miles was lined up with their trucks. And with all the diversions and controlling the EB and WB there is some controlling manager doing his best Lloyd Bridges impression "I guess I picked a bad week to quit (fill in the blank-smoking/drinking/drugs) [(-D]
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Posted by spbed on Friday, May 6, 2005 3:02 PM
Thanks for the very detailed report. [:p][8D][:)]


Originally posted by RIRR80

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Posted by Trailryder on Friday, May 6, 2005 4:18 PM
I was there last night when the frist train went through at 6:52 pm it was a coal train eastbound with UP Engines 6021&7513 leading after that trains ran every 15-20 min. for the next hour & half all EB. I left around 9:30. All trains I saw were eastbound. they only had one bypass track open. they had not yet started building a 2nd bypass track. I have over 100 pictures of the derailment area from the last 2 days. I also have a hand full of the bridge in question from 2 weeks ago.
I am new to this site is there a way to post pictures? please explain.
I will be back in about hour to check replys.

Later Bill
If You Don't know where your going, Any Road will Take you There.

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