ALL:
KIRO-TV has pictures of (what looks like) Amtrak Cascades derailment in Steilacoom, Washington. Locomotive and cars are derailed and leaning. No injuries at this early time. We should learn more Monday.
Ed Burns
Were the derailed engine and cars in lead or trail position in the train?
The way the ballast is piled at the front of the loco, I’m guessing it was leading.
But, I’m guessing. I could be wrong.
I posted a thread about this a few hours ago. It was northbound 506 with 467 leading the Mt. Jefferson Talgo 8 set (baggage car first) with 470 trailing for some reason. It derailed at the MP14 drawbridge on the Seattle sub with 467 ending up on its side and the first few cars merely derailed, leading to speculation that there was an issue of some sort with the split point derails that protect the bridge.
As of about 8 pm PDT Amtrak is showing status on Cascades going by the derailment as delayed but with an ETA for Tacoma of #516 of 8:20 and and ETA for Lacey of 8:26 for #507. Delay values are 2:56 and 4:56 respectively for the trains.
Get out the Excedrin.
Rerailing of talgo and loco being pulled by a BNSF loco pair.
http://www.thenewstribune.com/news/local/article159429499.html
Is the Amtrak unit damaged in any way? Can it still be used?
I am sure it has some damage, but nothing that a few days in the shop can’t repair and put the locomotive back into service.
One photo taken from rear of train looking forward at an angle makes me think the engineer ran a red absolute signal, since the front of the unit is about half way between the signals and the bridge, which is a drawbridge. It was obviously a relatively low speed derailment since the equipment did not get far past the signal. Someone else mentioned a split point derail protecting the bridge. Assuming that to be true, it would bke just beyond the signal, so it looks like the derail did the job!
Fuel tank skirts seem to have taken the brunt of it. And to think Coaster and Metrolink think they’re useless and removed them. (Though they are a headache to maintain.)
Speculation — This was an aparent low speed derailment. Brakes not working properly, dropped signal and moved derail too soon, worker who jumped from bridge may have asked for track and time and not properly granted The worker on bridge seems to be an important clue, had bridge just been operated ?, False signal, split point did not clear ? ? ? Investigation will be interesting.