A pair of Chessie System cabooses derailed on the CSX line in Holland, Michigan because of the snow and ice.
See photos in the link.
http://www.hollandsentinel.com/news/x1037515075/Two-train-cars-slip-tracks-in-Holland?rssfeed=true
Andrew
There is a night photo of the caboose derailment.
http://www.woodtv.com/dpp/news/local/ottawa_county/freight-train-derails-in-holland
The rails are easier to see.
Andrew
Here are 5 great photos of the Cabooses at night taken with a flash.
http://photos.mlive.com/grandrapidspress/2013/02/train_derails_in_holland_thurs.html
Andrew
The other photos are “better” (more interesting), but this webpage has some great comments - including some from railroaders, it appears. Among the better ones:
“A least there are two cabooses left in the area.” [sic]
“TWO CABS on the ground? There goes the last of our supply…”
“We have the one Joe derailed a couple of years ago in Holland in the S Yard…or was that the one the gooners took all summer to scrap? Anyway…maybe Flint has some???”
“No shoving platform, 2 hours pay for riding the side of a car more than 1 mile!”
- Paul North.
It must have been a slow news day in western Michigan.
I can picture what probably happened–shoving over the road and derailing on the icy ridge left by the plows (they’ve had some snow up there…trust me!). It happens a lot. Or at least it did when I was in the area. But it didn’t make news–we’d just pull the cars back.
My question is how did they manage to derail three cars in a situation like that? I would think that a crewman would have seen the wobbly car quickly enough to stop the move before two shoving platforms and a tank car went off. I was going to make a remark about not riding the shoving platform so they’d know that they were on the ground, but I realized that they were probably flagging the crossing.
Still, to have the local daily paper and at least one of the local-area TV stations taking this story and running with it either smacks of sensationalism or a slow news day. I suppose most people don’t realize that derailments aren’t too frequent and often harmless. The FRA was spot-on this time (who contacted them?).
Was up in Yermo, CA (near Barstow) many years ago, and the tail-end caboose derailed entering the UP yard. Talking with eyewitnesses, they said the whole town shook badly. So, the Holland CSX incident must have done likewise.
The cabooses look like they need Restoration. It must have been at least 30 years since those two cabooses were last painted.
Would CSXT employees paint them back in their Chessie System scheme or is there a new style of CSX paint scheme for cabooses?
It restoration and painting not worth the investment?
Are there new Local freight shoving platforms being built for the CSX that will replace the cabooses?
Andrew
I’m guessing this derailment made the news because it happened at a road crossing. Michigan has had a lot of freeze/thaw lately, so an ice filled crossing flange-way sounds about right. I wonder why they were using 2 cabooses?
They were probably “dead heading” the 2nd cabin car (caboose, sorry I’m a Pennsy fan) and only the rear one had a crew. It looks like they were shoving backwards when the derailment happened - those cabooses are WAY over. Glad to hear that no one was hurt.