The Virtual Railfan camera at Santa Fe Jct in Kansas City caught a derailment as it happens.
Saw that earlier in the VR FB feed. The cars just kept rolling, and rolling, and rolling…
Stringlining maybe?
And man, how that centerbeam car came apart!
The suspended centerbeam flat has been removed from the bridge. Now they’ve just got to clear out two more centerbeams and about three (empty) tank cars and fix the track (if necessary) and they can run trains on it again.
The bridge will need a good going over, though…
As close as those centerbeams were to one another, I’d say the slack was in and they were “ejected” from the train. Some of the comments theorize a DP behind pushing, and from watching the action I tend to agree.
DP’s will remain at their last received command for 90 minutes if communication is lost. If there were DPs back there, it is possible that a comm loss might’ve prevented the DPs from throttling down and providing a little too much tractive effort. Or not, just speculating. Something we all do.
Comments also say how much worse it could’ve been because of the tank cars involved. I think the public, including railfans, has it ingrained that all tank cars burn or go boom when derailed, that all of them are carrying something hazardous. I didn’t see any placards, but the second and third cars appear to have a Quality Liquid Feeds logo on them. I see them all the time, they have a facility on the CN, ex-IC, at Dunlap Iowa.
Jeff
The reverse of stringlining - however the same kind of cars are involved - light, long with a high center of gravity - Centerbeam flats.
The Buff forces from the rear of the movement pushed the ‘weakest links’ the centerbeams off to the outside of the curve.
Why there was that much Buff Force in the movement is a whole nother question.
Did you notice how the center beam hit the oveerhead RR bridge column at :40 - :44?
And the snowplow guy in the Bobcat just keeps on plowing…
And it was hung up there for quite some time. I happened to be watching that cam when they brought it down. There was a coal train on the bridge when the incident occurred. It was removed and nothing else ran on the bridge for a while. Haven’t checked yet today.
The way the tank cars acted leads me to believe they were empty.
There was also a loud “boom” about 10-15 seconds before the centerbeams took the turn. Maybe that was slack action.
Didn’t sound like any slack action I ever heard in 51 years as a railroader.
The two tank cars nearest the derailment staid upright except for the trucks off the track which is good, easy fix. Noticed that the first center beam rolled on its side and that started the derailment.
And that is why this outsider hangs out here 
Do you think it was related?
Regarding that loud bang, I have never heard anything like that in a passing train. Drawbars and draft gear can bang and pop, but that bang in the video was way louder than any of the typical sounds.
I believe the train was under extreme buff force and that is what started the derailment by pushing the first auto rack toward the outer rail of the curve to the point where its wheel flanges contacting the rail resisted the buff push occurring at the level of the center sills and couplers.
The flanges held the rail and that elevated buff force started to tip the car. As the car tipped, the tipping flanges disengaged from the side of the rail, and rode over the railhead. Then once the wheels were over the rail, the car was pushed further and just turned over rather than sliding its wheels sideways on the ground.
All of that buff/compression force was through the center sills and couplers, so that line is several feet above the rails and ground where the wheel flanges were resisting the sideways sliding. So the buff force just persisted to tip the car over.
I speculate that the loud bang heard in the beginning of the video was caused by the same high buff force that some seconds later caused the derailment. It would be interesting to know what actually physi
I understand it was a UP train. Who owns the railroad the derailment was on and controls the signals? Also was the overpass constructed to relieve congestions in Kansas City MO?
Ed Burns
Retired Class 1
The early ‘noise’ to my ear sounds like some form of explosion. I don’t know if there is any kind of a construction project that is taking place within earshot of Santa Fe Jct. or not, but construction and explosions go together in many instances.
I agree with Balt. The noise was from another source.
The older bridge has been there awhile.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Highline_Bridge_(Kansas_City,_Kansas)
The Argentine Flyover that can be seen behind the Highline bridge opened in 2004
https://second.wiki/wiki/argentine_connection_bridge
All the tracks are controlled by the Kansas City Terminal Railway.
Watched the videos again. There was the bobcat operator clearing snow in the parking lot below the camera. That may have been the source of the noise.
Just saw a picture of damage to one of the vertical beams. Not huge, but I’m not a bridge guy. It’s being repaired.