It appears that the center beam cars were too light. As the train was breaking around the tight curve, the weight of the train behind them pushed the cars up off of the track. The momentum of the train did the rest when it caught on the bridge. I'm amazed at how well the bridge took the impact. Great video.
Seems like the train was pretty much loaded except for the centerlines. Even after the BP ruptured, the tanks only stopped after the leading centerbeam were pushed out of the way, and the sacrificial centerbeam met its end.
I worked a lot of derailments and watching the side-winders and cranes handle the derailed and damaged cars is a sight to see . Especially handling locomotives in any place and condition they might be in . Extremely dangerous job for the men on the ground . Contents of cars is also a major factor . Great video .
Empty flats in a curve with a lot of trailing tonnage behind them, and the rear end slack running putting force on the empties or DPU putting force into the empty’s definitely could be the issue. If there was a run-in of slack at the moment these cars are in the curve and then being extremely lite, they have no where to go but outward. Sometimes over speed in curves cause cause cars to go outward. If the engines had the slack stretched and the empties couldn’t handle the trailing tonnage you would see a more streamlined derailment where the cars are pulled Thru the inside of the curve. Take your belt bunch it up and pull it. It straightens out. When it’s straight and you put force on each end it niches outward. I would bet the train was either in dynamics and Bunched just prior, or their was a run-in slack or dpu pushed cars into the flats causing the outward derailment of these life cars
@@jamesgunter900 so placement of the empty cars is key? I'd position them in between loads for stability, especially on a route that has curved tracks. Maybe easier said than done. Thank you for your reply.
Thank you for capturing this whole sequence of events. Somewhat reminiscent of the derailment at 'Horseshoe Curve' a while back which derailment and clean up you so thoroughly documented. That one also involved empty center beam cars. Excellent work!
These guys are amazing. Gotta be ready at a moments notice, day or night. Such precision work, by the crew. Before long you wouldn't even know a derailment happened there.
I am saying nothing to demean the work done in this derailment, they did an excellent job in a dangerous situation. But now imagine this: the same exact derailment and same conditions (or worse) but instead of the sidewinders and the extremely mobile crane all you have is a couple of 100 or 150 ton steam cranes that must be on intact rails to even get to the site and then be limited to a very small area of movement. My father in law operated a 100 ton steam crane for the New York Central / Penn Central / Conrail / Metro North after World War 2 from Harmon Yards in Croton, NY until the late 70's. The stories he told! His crane is now at the National New York Central Railroad Museum in Elkhart, IN. The smaller one.
Yes, and the equipment was just pushed to the side of the rails until much later when it was cleaned up by other crews. We still see old wrecks along some ROW in the Western mountains.
In addition to the physical limitations of the Big Hook you also have a railroad crew trained to operate it. It takes time (thats $$$) to properly operate the equipment. Instead you just pick up the phone and in a few hours the equipment show up, do their thing & submit a bill. Its a no wonder that Big Hooks are rusting away or scrapped.
Thank you for posting this. I'm always struck by the fact that people will still try to out run the train on foot, in a car, truck or bus. This is a slow moving train, and what stood out to me was the shear amount of damage that this caused... At least 6 to 10 cars at minimum, suffering significant damage and one almost completely torn up... The bridge structure above it, peeling back the car like we would open a can. So... If this 5 kmh moving train can do that... Thanks again, this was quite a lesson.
Crane is a Mantis, US company now owned by Tadano. Used for various heavy lifting on rough terrain, but ads specifically mention rerailing. This appears to be a 100 tonner. Video makes it obvious that it's the right machine for the job.
This is a spectacular lesson in physics and kinetic energy! Glad those guys at about the 8 minute mark didn't get hit when that beam moved; They ran out of there quickly. 😬
The three centrebeam cars should not have been in that position on the consist. They were too light to deal with the momentum of the heavier cars behind them and buckled at the couplers.
At least they should have separated them and put two or more other cars between each of them. That way they could not be lifted so easily off the track.
Im sure the train handling by the hoghead had something to do with the jacknife effect seen. Many manifest mixed trains have loads placed behind empties. If tge engineer notches down on throttle as front end is climbing a lil rise the rear end of train will run in on front portion and create this situation. Hogger shouldve popped off a minimum set and let it propogate to the rear and release it to minimize buff forces within train.
That's nice. Today's railroads running trains twice the length and twice the weight of several years ago, it's bound to happen. Empty flats with so much trailing tonnage is a "set-up" for disaster. If trip optimizer isn't running, then the engineer I'm sure will be charged. That's what I worry about every time I get a mixed freight. The first thing I look for are where the empty flats are positioned, and hope I don't have a bad day.
Yes I do understand that there many needed workers there. But if you look at the video there were two people who had to run back when one car was being moved. My comment was from a safety point. MY hats off to the people who sort out such a mess. Cheers and best wishes to all.
All the slack coming out of the train as they applied the brakes... And I think that caused the derailment too, those center beam cars were just so light (compared to the rest) that you can see one kind of jump up a little and lean towards the outside of the corner as the rest of the train pushes it from behind. I don't think it's a coincidence that that exact car was the first one to jump the tracks aside from possibly that grain hopper that it looked like it pushed a bit on the back end.
3:07 - In slow motion you can see that the column was originally straight, with no dent. As the centerbeam frame folds up, you can see the column bending. It sprang back, but ended up with a permanent kink in the flange. At the end of the video, we see a work crew measuring the amount of flange deflection.
So we all know that these rail cars are extremely heavy objects that normally aren't bothered by much of anything acting on them...to seem them bouncing around as if they were made of plastic is a surreal thing to bear witness to.
Between Santa Fe Junction and Horseshoe Curve there's constant activity of the derailment kind! A year ago Santa Fe Junction had a derailment on the overhead line leading to the bridge that was fortunate not to go over or happen under the high tension power lines that would have made using cranes a lot riskier. And, once again, the empty center-beam cars figure into it. They need to learn how to build a consist that includes empty center-beam or car carriers AT THE BACK of the consist.
@@John-ru5ud There is no “go on like nothing happened”, absolutely not, crew members and yardmasters are held accountable for the proper placements of all special handlings and they are dispatched with the proper documents prior to departure, 40 yr veteran/class 1…
@@mshum538 -- I can understand the bean counters pushing to use a smaller number of larger trains and how that can exacerbate the problem, but the cost for cleaning up messes like this aren't cheap. How many guys are working big money on OT? Each one of those big cranes rents for like $10K/day. Then there's the cost of scrapping cars that are too damaged and the replacement of wheel set. I can't imagine a clean-up costing much less than $1M and meanwhile, that busy line and perhaps others beside it are out of commission and not making money. The only upside is that the workers earned (EARNED) a nice payday!
@@monder1060 I've seen many times NS pull into our yard with 15 -20 Empty TTX flat cars behind the locomotives and a lot (at least 30).manifest cars behind them. Always wondered how that train never derailed.
Living in the UK, and writing this 24 hours after the event, I doubt whether in the UK they would have started to clear up let alone be finished. Absolutely marvellous!
Within minutes, Depiffel Johnson would have don a hi viz suit and appeared on site with BBC's Kotzberg twittering live boasts how he is cleaning up all by himself.
This reminds me of that old story in Trains magazine where an empty tank car popped out of the consist, the two sections rolled together, and the brakeman thought it was just a bad hose.
I wonder if UP will compensate VRF for giving them such a detailed video account of how the derailment occurred? It does make the investigation a whole lot easier when there is live stream video of its occurrence.
Accidents happen. Luckily it wasn't anything life threatening. No evacuations. Glad everyone is ok. Clean it up, and get back to moving freight. God bless these people, and let's keep America moving!
In a car crash it's literally those INERTIA Forces that rip you apart externally and internally. I SALUTE THE RAILWAY BRIDGE BUILDERS! This structure must have taken one helluva battering over it's life.
I love how the guy spreading the salt just keeps working like nothing happened. It doesn't matter that he had no idea what was in those tanker cars that just came off the tracks. Who cares if that they might explode or release poison gas. There's salt spreading to do.
I liked how in the shorter video you just start seeing some snow being blown around and then see him spinning his tractor around while plowing the same parking lot. I wonder if he just could not hear what was happening and was too focused on getting his job done, or his life is such that he would not care if those were going to be his last days alive.
1. What was the initial "BOOM!" before things got off track? 2. I'm also wondering when the air system also was activated. 3. What was the initial cause? It would seem to me that the front of the train was a controlling factor.
1. When train was breaking, the kinetic energy and slack of all the cars was moving to the front pushing the centerbeams of the track. 2. Train lost its pressure when cars separated - disconecting its air hoses. 3. Because centerbeam cars are light and should be put at the end of the train everytime. At the Horseshoe curve its "string factor" (locomotives pulling) but here it was the exact opposite (cars pushing).
Looked less like a "stringline" and more like "pushing rope," whatever the railroaders term for the latter might be. Is that stretch of track on a downhill grade? It looked like the weight of the consist past the centerbeams helped them hop off on the outside of the corner.
I love how the bridge just unzips that centerbeam. LIke, if you've ever wondered how strong a bridge is, this is one answer. Did they have to empty that tank or was it already empty when they moved it? It looks empty...
There was some armchair quarterback comments about the crews standing around in the early stages from those that did not understand the importance of safety, assessment, and planning. But once the plan was executed, it was done professionally and efficiently.
That last centerline absorbed all the energy from the tank cars. Well, with a little help from the bridge stantion - which _did_ get jostled a couple times but returned to position every time.
I realize today's Companies that specifically deal w/derailment cleanup are much more efficient for the task. But it was always a treat watching past era derricks doing their thing.
need a 3rd camera on the East side of Holmes there to capture traffic going through BN junction too. Lots of heritage units and old ATSF, BN, etc over there.
Thanks for the excellent video that only VTF could do! Amazingly rapid response.. Obviously, because of the traffic here, there is probably quite a bit of equipment and many crew stationed nearby. Emergency brakes didnt seem to do a lot in this situation...? maybe a very heavy consist??
Coincidentally, there was a derailment nearby my workplace earlier today here in Baton Rouge. Two grain hopper cars somehow missed the switch from what I saw.
I think an axle may have broken at some point in this derailment as I noticed a truck missing an axle at during the derailment sequence. That may have been the first "boom"
I was watching the train when it came around the curve, then I heard the boom and I knew something was about to happen but didn't expect it to be a derailment though!
Could have been a break in the airline somewhere towards the front of the train and that first boom was the slack running in as the brakes are coming on from the point of the break on back. Looks like that long center beam was in the curve and being pushed off the track by the rear of the train where the brakes hadn't come on yet. The brakes don't all come on instantaneously when there's a break.
Are those LP tankers behind the empty center beam flat cars? They're lucky that it didn't affect the Chlorine tankers at the front of the train...RIP, Arkansas & Oklahoma center beam flat...
No, the three derailed tanks had no placards, so no hazmat. The one placard I saw closer to the front, but not derailed, was not chlorine. I don't remember the UN number but I think it was some gasoline distillate.
A great job well done to those people who helped with the clean-up especially in the freezing cold conditions! Just a quick question: when a derailment occurs are the cars that derailed scrapped immediately and the rest of the train sent for inspection? Thanks
i would of thought the worst cars, the ones that were crushed or had significant damage as to not be repaired would be scrapped soon after this, the rest would have been inspected for any damage, if no damage, put in a siding.
THE YARDMSTERS ARE NOT GETTING IT! It's called the string line effect, look it up. Loads on the headend. Empties on the rear. If PSR is causing this then get ready for a lot of drmnts.
Can't quite put my finger on this one. But could it be that those empty center beams were placed too far mid-train as opposed to being placed closer to the tail end?? I also wonder how much damage was done to that bent column that was slammed head-on by that 2nd red center beam (1:55 & 3:02)? Looks like that support column gave a little bit. Oops....I saw in the latter part of the vid what looked to be a significant dent in that column. Had it been hit by a heavier freight car, it might have been taken out completely.
This is exactly what happened on the Kansas side of the High Line. A train on the lower level derailed knocking one of the steel girders down/out of alignment. Anyway, a transfer run was approaching the spot and noticed a definite sag in the track and was able to put their train into emergency to stop in time.
Great work on the cleanup. But the CA earthquake side of me had a mild panic when the centerbeam hit the bridge. I see single beam and I think “not good enough to support a bridge”. Hopefully the steel holds over time.
The Highline was part of the Union Station building project. The station opened in 1914 or there bouts so the bridge is well over 100 years old. A hundred years...I can't imagine the tonnage involved but even today with the heavier trains it is not uncommon to two trains on the structure at the same time,
It looked like the remaining tank cars were sliding into the derailed cars as if there was no braking. The tank cars also appear to be empty. Was there a turn out at that point just before the overhead track structure?
There is a right hand curve, and the derailed cars fell to the outside of the curve. As soon as the brake line was severed (around 1:48) the brakes would have gone into emergency, but that still takes time to effect. The momentum of all the cars on the rest of the train kept bringing more and more cars to the derailment site. Two cars "accordion folded" which is a common occurrence in derailments like this; would have been more if the train had been going faster.
It appears that the center beam cars were too light. As the train was breaking around the tight curve, the weight of the train behind them pushed the cars up off of the track. The momentum of the train did the rest when it caught on the bridge. I'm amazed at how well the bridge took the impact. Great video.
I think for the bridge, also thanks to the softness of center beam. If it was a box, tanker or hopper, the aftermath would be different.
Seems like the train was pretty much loaded except for the centerlines. Even after the BP ruptured, the tanks only stopped after the leading centerbeam were pushed out of the way, and the sacrificial centerbeam met its end.
What every model railroader learns and knows
Precision Scheduled deRailment. Can't build trains properly.
@@sl600rt ouch ouch ouch.
Most painful laugh of the week 🏆
Always impressed and amazed at how efficient and quick these derailments are cleaned up. Great work everyone!
We've gotten REALLY good at it through centuries of experience and practice 😁
@@jdgindustries2734 you guys are awsome with it
@@VortexVR2010 just for clarification, I work for a class 1 rr as an engineer. JDG Industries is just my side hustle brand name.
There wasn’t much mess since it was only centerbeams and they crumpled and stopped the tanks cleanly.
And the guy walking with the salt spreader like "that's no big deal. You've seen one derailment, you've seen them all. 😆 🤣 😂
Naw, he's got a hopper full of goodwill from the largest owner of deadly milatary weapons in the world.
I worked a lot of derailments and watching the side-winders and cranes handle the derailed and damaged cars is a sight to see . Especially handling locomotives in any place and condition they might be in . Extremely dangerous job for the men on the ground . Contents of cars is also a major factor . Great video .
Great comment D Vint! Well composed...thank you for stating such!
What caused the derailment? And could it have been prevented?
@@arizonarebel5706 Not Determined yet. Weather is a possibility but so are the Empty Center Beam Cars making them Vulnerable on a Curve.
Empty flats in a curve with a lot of trailing tonnage behind them, and the rear end slack running putting force on the empties or DPU putting force into the empty’s definitely could be the issue. If there was a run-in of slack at the moment these cars are in the curve and then being extremely lite, they have no where to go but outward.
Sometimes over speed in curves cause cause cars to go outward.
If the engines had the slack stretched and the empties couldn’t handle the trailing tonnage you would see a more streamlined derailment where the cars are pulled Thru the inside of the curve. Take your belt bunch it up and pull it. It straightens out. When it’s straight and you put force on each end it niches outward.
I would bet the train was either in dynamics and Bunched just prior, or their was a run-in slack or dpu pushed cars into the flats causing the outward derailment of these life cars
@@jamesgunter900 so placement of the empty cars is key? I'd position them in between loads for stability, especially on a route that has curved tracks. Maybe easier said than done. Thank you for your reply.
That cleanup crew doesn’t mess around,with the right equipment for the job,well done.
Freakin' army!
Thank you for capturing this whole sequence of events. Somewhat reminiscent of the derailment at 'Horseshoe Curve' a while back which derailment and clean up you so thoroughly documented. That one also involved empty center beam cars. Excellent work!
Gotta be impressed with the precision handling of the derailed cars and the plan of attack.
THIS is the vid that should be on UA-cam's TRENDING page.
Congratulations on trending with the other video! Bravo *Virtual Railfan*
Thanks for showing all the camera views. Looking forward to the follow-up.
Phenomenal effort with a single phone call to get all of this equipment at the Santa Fe Junction! Kudos to the workers.
Wow, how naive.
These guys are amazing. Gotta be ready at a moments notice, day or night. Such precision work, by the crew. Before long you wouldn't even know a derailment happened there.
Remember it's only +3 degrees with -20 wind chill. Extraordinary job.
And that's 3 degrees *Fahrenheit* = -16 (minus sixteen) Celsius/Centigrade for the rest of the world!!
Muh climate change lol
i live here it was 12 degrees outside not minus 3
@@Enjoyer.762 IKR lol!
Wow that is a lucky catch! I'm sure the train crews or whoever will appreciate this video so they can see what happened.
I'm impressed with the strength of the bridge support beams. Train cars are built from some pretty tough steel.
Great video!
I am saying nothing to demean the work done in this derailment, they did an excellent job in a dangerous situation. But now imagine this: the same exact derailment and same conditions (or worse) but instead of the sidewinders and the extremely mobile crane all you have is a couple of 100 or 150 ton steam cranes that must be on intact rails to even get to the site and then be limited to a very small area of movement. My father in law operated a 100 ton steam crane for the New York Central / Penn Central / Conrail / Metro North after World War 2 from Harmon Yards in Croton, NY until the late 70's. The stories he told! His crane is now at the National New York Central Railroad Museum in Elkhart, IN. The smaller one.
Yes, and the equipment was just pushed to the side of the rails until much later when it was cleaned up by other crews. We still see old wrecks along some ROW in the Western mountains.
In addition to the physical limitations of the Big Hook you also have a railroad crew trained to operate it. It takes time (thats $$$) to properly operate the equipment. Instead you just pick up the phone and in a few hours the equipment show up, do their thing & submit a bill. Its a no wonder that Big Hooks are rusting away or scrapped.
Yup. Kids nowadays don't know how good they have it.
@Husker Hank Outsource everything. The Globalist American Empire way.
Thank you for posting this. I'm always struck by the fact that people will still try to out run the train on foot, in a car, truck or bus. This is a slow moving train, and what stood out to me was the shear amount of damage that this caused... At least 6 to 10 cars at minimum, suffering significant damage and one almost completely torn up... The bridge structure above it, peeling back the car like we would open a can. So... If this 5 kmh moving train can do that... Thanks again, this was quite a lesson.
Thanks for the complete story. It’s not often that it is all captured on camera.
Crane is a Mantis, US company now owned by Tadano. Used for various heavy lifting on rough terrain, but ads specifically mention rerailing. This appears to be a 100 tonner. Video makes it obvious that it's the right machine for the job.
This is a spectacular lesson in physics and kinetic energy! Glad those guys at about the 8 minute mark didn't get hit when that beam moved; They ran out of there quickly. 😬
I am glad no one was hurt during the derailment
Or cleanup. Did you see that goofball in the mix at 8:07. If you need to run away because equipment shifts you are too close.
The three centrebeam cars should not have been in that position on the consist. They were too light to deal with the momentum of the heavier cars behind them and buckled at the couplers.
Thats part of it, its the right of way ROW is antiquated for the longer trains with the higher tractive effort…..extreme cold didn’t help….
At least they should have separated them and put two or more other cars between each of them. That way they could not be lifted so easily off the track.
Im sure the train handling by the hoghead had something to do with the jacknife effect seen. Many manifest mixed trains have loads placed behind empties. If tge engineer notches down on throttle as front end is climbing a lil rise the rear end of train will run in on front portion and create this situation. Hogger shouldve popped off a minimum set and let it propogate to the rear and release it to minimize buff forces within train.
That's nice.
Today's railroads running trains twice the length and twice the weight of several years ago, it's bound to happen. Empty flats with so much trailing tonnage is a "set-up" for disaster. If trip optimizer isn't running, then the engineer I'm sure will be charged.
That's what I worry about every time I get a mixed freight. The first thing I look for are where the empty flats are positioned, and hope I don't have a bad day.
Yes I do understand that there many needed workers there. But if you look at the video there were two people who had to run back when one car was being moved. My comment was from a safety point. MY hats off to the people who sort out such a mess. Cheers and best wishes to all.
Wonder what caused the loud boom at 1:27 that happened 15 seconds before the hopper and first centerbeam car derailed at 1:42?
Sounded like slack
Yep, I'm gonna bet slack too.
That's a slack boom.
All the slack coming out of the train as they applied the brakes... And I think that caused the derailment too, those center beam cars were just so light (compared to the rest) that you can see one kind of jump up a little and lean towards the outside of the corner as the rest of the train pushes it from behind. I don't think it's a coincidence that that exact car was the first one to jump the tracks aside from possibly that grain hopper that it looked like it pushed a bit on the back end.
@@kenstein Spot on.
3:07 - In slow motion you can see that the column was originally straight, with no dent. As the centerbeam frame folds up, you can see the column bending. It sprang back, but ended up with a permanent kink in the flange. At the end of the video, we see a work crew measuring the amount of flange deflection.
So we all know that these rail cars are extremely heavy objects that normally aren't bothered by much of anything acting on them...to seem them bouncing around as if they were made of plastic is a surreal thing to bear witness to.
Between Santa Fe Junction and Horseshoe Curve there's constant activity of the derailment kind! A year ago Santa Fe Junction had a derailment on the overhead line leading to the bridge that was fortunate not to go over or happen under the high tension power lines that would have made using cranes a lot riskier. And, once again, the empty center-beam cars figure into it. They need to learn how to build a consist that includes empty center-beam or car carriers AT THE BACK of the consist.
But, putting the empties at the back of the train would disrupt the precision scheduled railroading...
Bigger trains~~~ Bigger problems, these RR operators know it…..we like shorter trains and more of them but the bean counters don’t want to hear it….
Of course the guys who assembled the consist will go on as if nothing happened. The train crew, on the other hand, gets an unpaid vacation.
@@John-ru5ud There is no “go on like nothing happened”, absolutely not, crew members and yardmasters are held accountable for the proper placements of all special handlings and they are dispatched with the proper documents prior to departure, 40 yr veteran/class 1…
@@mshum538 -- I can understand the bean counters pushing to use a smaller number of larger trains and how that can exacerbate the problem, but the cost for cleaning up messes like this aren't cheap. How many guys are working big money on OT? Each one of those big cranes rents for like $10K/day. Then there's the cost of scrapping cars that are too damaged and the replacement of wheel set. I can't imagine a clean-up costing much less than $1M and meanwhile, that busy line and perhaps others beside it are out of commission and not making money. The only upside is that the workers earned (EARNED) a nice payday!
Empty center beams are so light. They make a nice crunchy sound when they derail.
Can I guess that these are pretty low on many railroads' "favorites" list of rolling stock?
@@barrettwbenton I think there's nothing wrong with having them as long as you know where on a train they should be when they're empty
@@monder1060 I've seen many times NS pull into our yard with 15 -20 Empty TTX flat cars behind the locomotives and a lot (at least 30).manifest cars behind them. Always wondered how that train never derailed.
That yellow centerbeam really went for a ride! Great coverage!!!
Living in the UK, and writing this 24 hours after the event, I doubt whether in the UK they would have started to clear up let alone be finished. Absolutely marvellous!
Because the government has no incentive as the tax base pays for the Millions being lost every hour a track or line is unusable.
@@SethMethCS especially in such a high traffic area like SFJ
@@moroteseoinage ?🤔 whatever, be fettered by morales.
Within minutes, Depiffel Johnson would have don a hi viz suit and appeared on site with BBC's Kotzberg twittering live boasts how he is cleaning up all by himself.
@JCH implicitly :)
This reminds me of that old story in Trains magazine where an empty tank car popped out of the consist, the two sections rolled together, and the brakeman thought it was just a bad hose.
I wonder if UP will compensate VRF for giving them such a detailed video account of how the derailment occurred? It does make the investigation a whole lot easier when there is live stream video of its occurrence.
Grrrreat video.
Perfect catch.
Love this channel.
👍
Guy loses his hard hat at 13:57!!
That's an amazing operation, thanks VR for sharing with the world!!
Accidents happen. Luckily it wasn't anything life threatening. No evacuations. Glad everyone is ok. Clean it up, and get back to moving freight. God bless these people, and let's keep America moving!
The US is falling apart.
Does this site have a lot of derailments? Wasn't there a train that derailed on the upper bridge/elevated rail area not to long ago?
There was
Incredible footage!
Awesome job with the camera & video. 👍👍
Super impressed with the quality of the clear up team. 🤓
In a car crash it's literally those INERTIA Forces that rip you apart externally and internally. I SALUTE THE RAILWAY BRIDGE BUILDERS! This structure must have taken one helluva battering over it's life.
If I remember correctly, the bridge where the pile up happened, wasnt that the same bridge where another UP train derailed just over a year ago?
Yup. Was thinking the same thing last night..
Yes, the turnout is almost directly above that spot.
Yes didn't some autoracks derail there in 2020 or 2021??
Watching from Sacramento, California. Like what I see. Thank you.
I love how the guy spreading the salt just keeps working like nothing happened. It doesn't matter that he had no idea what was in those tanker cars that just came off the tracks. Who cares if that they might explode or release poison gas. There's salt spreading to do.
Calm down there sparky. Maybe if you were there you could have saved the daya
@@crewleaderprods I think that guy was thinking "WAY above my paygrade! I'll just keep going like nothing happened."....>
I liked how in the shorter video you just start seeing some snow being blown around and then see him spinning his tractor around while plowing the same parking lot. I wonder if he just could not hear what was happening and was too focused on getting his job done, or his life is such that he would not care if those were going to be his last days alive.
I suspect that the tank cars were carrying good grade oil nothing hazardous since I saw no haz-mat plaques on them.
He had ear buds in with Black Sabbath on…
I love how the guy doing snow removal just keeps working like nothing happened lol.
It looks like the rear of the covered hopper in front of the center beam lifted up a bit but fell right back on the rails.
I noticed that too. It just landed back on the tracks and kept going along with the front part of the train. Absolutely amazing!!
Probably didn’t lift completely off the truck.
Great Coverage VRF. 👍
No spill ! Very lucky. And those guys sure know what thay're doing. Amazing job they do.
Fantastic video. Those cranes handle the cars as if they are model RR cars lofted by hands.....The first sound reminded me of an explosion.
1. What was the initial "BOOM!" before things got off track?
2. I'm also wondering when the air system also was activated.
3. What was the initial cause? It would seem to me that the front of the train was a controlling factor.
1. When train was breaking, the kinetic energy and slack of all the cars was moving to the front pushing the centerbeams of the track.
2. Train lost its pressure when cars separated - disconecting its air hoses.
3. Because centerbeam cars are light and should be put at the end of the train everytime.
At the Horseshoe curve its "string factor" (locomotives pulling) but here it was the exact opposite (cars pushing).
Awesome clean up job to the crews working and a bonus to see the Chief pushing on thru
Looked less like a "stringline" and more like "pushing rope," whatever the railroaders term for the latter might be. Is that stretch of track on a downhill grade? It looked like the weight of the consist past the centerbeams helped them hop off on the outside of the corner.
I love how the bridge just unzips that centerbeam. LIke, if you've ever wondered how strong a bridge is, this is one answer. Did they have to empty that tank or was it already empty when they moved it? It looks empty...
Wow! The noise is incredible
Was that the SW Chief running through at around 11:55?
Yes
Fascinating video! Thanks for sharing.
I am sure this video will be used in training videos for years to come.
There was some armchair quarterback comments about the crews standing around in the early stages from those that did not understand the importance of safety, assessment, and planning. But once the plan was executed, it was done professionally and efficiently.
I wonder how many passengers on the Amtrak noticed what was going on?
Our train was on time the next day. Great clean up job boys!
Crazy how that centerbeam just crumpled like tinfoil. Really puts into perspective how dangerous and heavy these things are
Or how the engineers of that bridge designed it.
@@benjismith593 I was about to say: "over-engineering" FTW.
That last centerline absorbed all the energy from the tank cars. Well, with a little help from the bridge stantion - which _did_ get jostled a couple times but returned to position every time.
I realize today's Companies that specifically deal w/derailment cleanup are much more efficient for the task. But it was always a treat watching past era derricks doing their thing.
need a 3rd camera on the East side of Holmes there to capture traffic going through BN junction too. Lots of heritage units and old ATSF, BN, etc over there.
Thanks for the excellent video that only VTF could do! Amazingly rapid response.. Obviously, because of the traffic here, there is probably quite a bit of equipment and many crew stationed nearby.
Emergency brakes didnt seem to do a lot in this situation...? maybe a very heavy consist??
Talk about a camera being in
the right place at the right time!!
The power of inertia. Newtons first law of motion
What was the loud boom sound at the beginning of the derailment? It occurs about 15 seconds before the first car leaves the track.
what i understand from one of the comments i read in this thread a slack boom because they are applying the brakes and the slack comes out of it
Coincidentally, there was a derailment nearby my workplace earlier today here in Baton Rouge. Two grain hopper cars somehow missed the switch from what I saw.
Center Beams are the BEST!!! A round of applause for “Most Creative Derailment in an Accident Scene……”
Why empty center beam flat cars in the middle of a train?
Those center beam cars are new to me. What are they used to transport 🚂
Building materials like lumber, plywood, and drywall
The shelf couplers kept the tank cars upright.
Love how they get really close then jump away at last second.
Balls of Rail steel!
I love how the guy passing the derailment before cleanup just doesn't care and keeps doing his thing.
So did the engineer take the curve to fast causing the derailment?
That first boom still has me confused... what exactly was that sound?
That's what I want to know too
I don't know, but it was not usual slack action.
I think an axle may have broken at some point in this derailment as I noticed a truck missing an axle at during the derailment sequence. That may have been the first "boom"
I was watching the train when it came around the curve, then I heard the boom and I knew something was about to happen but didn't expect it to be a derailment though!
Could have been a break in the airline somewhere towards the front of the train and that first boom was the slack running in as the brakes are coming on from the point of the break on back. Looks like that long center beam was in the curve and being pushed off the track by the rear of the train where the brakes hadn't come on yet. The brakes don't all come on instantaneously when there's a break.
Beautiful. Happy Friday Everyone.
Came close to taking out the bridge? Looks like it barely missed the support legs.
Are those LP tankers behind the empty center beam flat cars? They're lucky that it didn't affect the Chlorine tankers at the front of the train...RIP, Arkansas & Oklahoma center beam flat...
No, the first I don't know but the next 2 are liquid feed cars. All 3 tank cars were empty.
No, the three derailed tanks had no placards, so no hazmat. The one placard I saw closer to the front, but not derailed, was not chlorine. I don't remember the UN number but I think it was some gasoline distillate.
Gnarly! I'm glad that bridge didn't collapse!
Apparently the bridge above, the one it hit, was the same bridge from the sept 2020 derailment there
so what was the big "boom" just before the derailment?
Slack. All the cars' couplers slamming together because the train slowed down.
A great job well done to those people who helped with the clean-up especially in the freezing cold conditions! Just a quick question: when a derailment occurs are the cars that derailed scrapped immediately and the rest of the train sent for inspection? Thanks
i would of thought the worst cars, the ones that were crushed or had significant damage as to not be repaired would be scrapped soon after this, the rest would have been inspected for any damage, if no damage, put in a siding.
THE YARDMSTERS ARE NOT GETTING IT!
It's called the string line effect, look it up.
Loads on the headend. Empties on the rear.
If PSR is causing this then get ready for a lot of drmnts.
Can't quite put my finger on this one. But could it be that those empty center beams were placed too far mid-train as opposed to being placed closer to the tail end?? I also wonder how much damage was done to that bent column that was slammed head-on by that 2nd red center beam (1:55 & 3:02)? Looks like that support column gave a little bit. Oops....I saw in the latter part of the vid what looked to be a significant dent in that column. Had it been hit by a heavier freight car, it might have been taken out completely.
This is exactly what happened on the Kansas side of the High Line. A train on the lower level derailed knocking one of the steel girders down/out of alignment. Anyway, a transfer run was approaching the spot and noticed a definite sag in the track and was able to put their train into emergency to stop in time.
I believe you are 'on track' with your post. Never put unloaded center beams in the front or middle of a train! Physics doesn't lie.
But what was the loud explosion that was heard way before the derailment occurred? Did the rail break because of the cold weather?
Great job guys!!
The workers did a really nice job!
As far as a derailment those cars were the Link. And I am a mazed at the quick response to the call to arms well done.....
I hope you got something for your footage that they used for the news
Did a derailment occur here last summer on the upper track?
Yep. And there was another small one after that at the other end of the bridge across the river
Great video VR Thanks.🚂🚂
Excellent video
Great work on the cleanup. But the CA earthquake side of me had a mild panic when the centerbeam hit the bridge. I see single beam and I think “not good enough to support a bridge”. Hopefully the steel holds over time.
Boy, that’s a tough old bridge, it didn’t seem to shudder at all.
The Highline was part of the Union Station building project. The station opened in 1914 or there bouts so the bridge is well over 100 years old. A hundred years...I can't imagine the tonnage involved but even today with the heavier trains it is not uncommon to two trains on the structure at the same time,
0:40 i was on the bottom cam and witnessed this live. someone in the chat said derailment on top cam so i looked and i was shocked fr.
So what caused that first loud boom before the lumber rack derailed?
How many trains pass though on average on a weekday,what part of kc Missouri is it close to?
It looked like the remaining tank cars were sliding into the derailed cars as if there was no braking. The tank cars also appear to be empty. Was there a turn out at that point just before the overhead track structure?
There is a right hand curve, and the derailed cars fell to the outside of the curve. As soon as the brake line was severed (around 1:48) the brakes would have gone into emergency, but that still takes time to effect. The momentum of all the cars on the rest of the train kept bringing more and more cars to the derailment site. Two cars "accordion folded" which is a common occurrence in derailments like this; would have been more if the train had been going faster.
I'm quite curious what the chats reaction was lol
doesn’t seem like this place has a lot of derailments, I remember a UP derailment on the elevated track back in the summertime