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Big Derailment on the UPRR.

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Posted by Chris30 on Sunday, May 8, 2005 11:57 AM
So, the answer on my bridge question is... We've already put one bridge in the creek this week, lets not make it two![;)]
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Posted by Anonymous on Saturday, May 7, 2005 9:37 PM
Has one of the new Double Tracks been open yet?
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Posted by Trailryder on Saturday, May 7, 2005 7:42 PM
Interesting, I think I have a closer and clearer picture of the bridge before the wreck. I will look it up and post it with the others.

Later
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Posted by mudchicken on Saturday, May 7, 2005 2:02 PM
QUOTE: Originally posted by Chris30

Great pictures! One dumb question. I noticed that they built the shoo-fly right next to the road bridge. The road was not a main highway, just a rural dirt/gravel road. Why didn't the UP think of using the road bridge as a shoo-fly? If it is a weight issue, could the road bridge have been supported by some extra ballast?

CC


Chris: that bridge, like just about any other highway bridge would not handle 2/3rd's of the weight that a main track railroad bridge designed for Cooper's E-80 loading has to be. (the picture shows that rural road bridge is pretty lightweight itself)

T-Ryder: What concerns me is a missing inside steel guardrail in the photo taken a dozen days earlier and I can't tell if there is an ISG on the track that the train on the photo is on. Anyone have a recent photo showing the tracks & bridge with a better view of what was between the rails of both main tracks and the lengths of the ISG's on the bridge approaches. Was there a surfacing gang around that bridge within a couple of weeks of the accident? (Or is somebody about to become an ex-railroader for failing to put an ISG back into place after maintenance work?) The car may have derailed in the crossovers ahead of the bridge and the ISG could have saved a bigger mess - They might not need the thermal infrared crack cameras & materials engineers to solve this.
Mudchicken Nothing is worth taking the risk of losing a life over. Come home tonight in the same condition that you left home this morning in. Safety begins with ME.... cinscocom-west
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Posted by Trailryder on Saturday, May 7, 2005 12:49 PM
good question but the legs of the road bridge look too small to carry any weight plus the workers are using the road bridge alot to get back and forth. blocking off there only creek crossing would have made the job ever more challenging the next road bridge for road traffic is 1 1/2 miles south on Route 30.

as for how I got in to get the pics, you just need to be a little sneaky , look harmless, and not attract too much attention, be polite, and ready to get out of the way . myself combined with 2 other railfans had enough guts to work our way right into the action, the workers noticed us but never seamed to mind.

I am in the process of updateing the captions for the existing photos and I have about 14 more to upload but they will not get in till tomarrow.

Enjoy the Pictures
Later Bill

P.S. if you happen to visit the Derailment site check out the old GTW steam engines just south of Galt on Route 2 behind a grain elevator
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Posted by spbed on Saturday, May 7, 2005 12:36 PM
They were just terrific pix. Also made me understand what a "shoo" fly is. Thank you very much. [:o)][:)][:p]


Originally posted by Trailryder

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Posted by Chris30 on Saturday, May 7, 2005 11:40 AM
Great pictures! One dumb question. I noticed that they built the shoo-fly right next to the road bridge. The road was not a main highway, just a rural dirt/gravel road. Why didn't the UP think of using the road bridge as a shoo-fly? If it is a weight issue, could the road bridge have been supported by some extra ballast?

CC
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Posted by Anonymous on Saturday, May 7, 2005 12:11 AM
thanks for sending along great pictures with good captions
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Posted by Anonymous on Friday, May 6, 2005 11:42 PM
PS GREAT PIC!!
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Posted by Anonymous on Friday, May 6, 2005 11:40 PM
Bill, How did you get in there? From the east? I tried from the west Rt30 entrance and it was blocked and I was denied. Or do you have a white hat. The UP guy I talked with said they still didn't have a cause and the infared guys weren't there yet. Hey said it wouldn't do them much good cause there was still 15 cars in gully and they couldn't get to bootom cars to check the wheels. That was around noon. You live in sterling area?
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Posted by Chris30 on Friday, May 6, 2005 9:39 PM
The bridge was built in the 1890's. Didn't know that it was that old. Does anybody know what caused this derailment? It wasn't the bridge, was it?

CC
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Posted by Anonymous on Friday, May 6, 2005 9:08 PM
Thank you so much for sharing your photo's. Thank you.
BNSFrailfan.
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Posted by Trailryder on Friday, May 6, 2005 7:21 PM
O.K. Lets see if this works.
I will try just one picture and go from there.

Link - http://www.pbase.com/trailryder/image/43038572



The Galt RR Bridge knocked off it's foundations, this is a 140'long, 2 track Railroad bridge that was built in the 1890's. It happly carried Rail traffic untill Tuesday May 4, 2005 when it was destroyed by a eastbound mixed freight train.


I hope this works.

Bill

I see it says direct Linking Denied, but you should still be able to use the link.
only 1 pic now but I will be adding more pic's ASAP.


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Posted by CopCarSS on Friday, May 6, 2005 5:32 PM
QUOTE: Originally posted by Trailryder

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


Bill, while you can't post pictures directly here, you can post them on other free sites, and link them here. www.pbase.com is where I keep my pictures. I do pay for an account, but they offer some free space ( I can't remember how much).

To post a picture from pbase, simply enclose the link with .jpg added to it. Before the link, add img in brackets, and /img in brackets after the link.

As an example, here's a shot from the Colorado Rail Museum. The link is:

http://www.pbase.com/copcarss/image/41772573

I just add .jpg to the end of it, and enclose it with (img) (/img), substituting brackets for parentheses (If I did the brackets, it would try to display a picture, and you wouldn't see it). The end result is:



If you have any questions, post a reply, or feel free to e-mail me (e-mail is in my profile). Thanks in advance for the pix!

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 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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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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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

Living nearby to MP 186 of the UPRR  Austin TX Sub

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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 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 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 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 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 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
[

Living nearby to MP 186 of the UPRR  Austin TX Sub

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