A BNSF coal train derailed at Earlville, IL, just east of Mendota on the BNSF’s mainline between Chicago and Galesburg, blocking both mains. The California Zephyr and Southwest Chief detoured today down the Chillicothe Subdivision from Galesburg to Joliet. From Joliet to Chicago, the train used the ex-GM&O line that is normally used by the Texas Eagle and the Lincoln Service, Two interesting things, Amtrak combined the southbound Texas Eagle with the westbound California Zephyr from Chicago to Joliet, where the two trains spit up and went down their different routes. Amtrak also combined the eastbound Chief and Zephyr from Galesburg to Chicago. I am not sure where the coal trains detoured, but it is possible that Amtrak could detour down the Chilli Sub again tommorow. The Carl Sandburg and Illinois Zephyr are using buses until the mainline reopens.
That one’s going to be a cold one to clean up.
I hope the classic old depot at Earlville was not damaged in this derailment. There are a number of interesting trackside structures in that town, well worth a brief detour when going to Galesburg for railfanning.
Dave Nelson
The train did derail right by the depot, but from what I have heard the depot and the old signal bridges were not damaged in any way. BNSF expects the line to be open sometime this afternoon so the Chief and Zephyr probably will be back on the normal route today. The eastbound Illinois Zephyr and the westbound Carl Sandburg were cancelled again this morning, but the counterparts of those trains should run as normal. I did catch the combined Chief and Zephyr going through Coal City on the Santa Fe side yesterday. It was pretty cool to see the Chief back its old route for a day.
Here is a article on yesterday’s derailment. http://www.galesburg.com/news/x1621244097/No-injuries-in-BNSF-train-derailment-in-Earlville-Ill
I think they are up and running again…haven’t heard many horns through Kewanee yet, but scanner sounds like they’re back in business. MOW/Section/Welders had a hayday getting stuff done without traffic.
I’ve lurked here for quite a while, but since this is near me I thought I’d sign up and post this link that has a few pictures:
When I stopped by Eola yard today (at about 4:00 p.m.) I saw Amtrak 5 sitting at the mainline signal with Amtrak 3 right behind him and both were waiting for Amtrak 6 to make its way eastbound around a coal load train…the “Mainline” dispatcher was telling the Amtrak crews that the area of the derailment was still pretty screwed up and thus the delays.
Do you think traffic was so backed up to the East that it affected the Metra p.m. rush? - a.s.
I don’t think so, or at least not to a great extent…while I was there (for about twenty minutes) one westbound dinky and two eastbound dinkies came through Eola so I don’t think Metra was significantly impacted.
First, welcome ! Hope you enjoy it as much as the rest of us do.
Next - you’re off to a good start with interesting posts. The bottom photo in the referenced webpage is the darndest thing I’ve ever seen:
http://mywebtimes.mycapture.com/mycapture/enlarge_remote.asp?remoteimageid=1016916
I’ll bet a pretty good lunch that this is the proximate cause of the derailment - a broken rail that somehow got twisted up and speared that hopper, overturning it and of course destroying the track structure for the rest of the train to derail on. The detail is poor, but I can’t think of what else that long thin object could be, and why that car derailed but none of the others in the distance - hence, this was the leading end of the train, and that’s the 1st car to derail. I’ll also bet that the newspaper photographer had no idea of the significance of what he/she was taking pictures of, unless perhaps training, instinct, and/or experience told him/her that the interesting things are usually where the status quo ante or “normalcy” changes . . .
What’s really weird is that this hearkens back to the early days of railroading, when the “rails” were nothing more than long, narrow bars or straps of iron - maybe a couple inches wide and less than an inch thick - that were nailed o
You could be right, Paul. I’ve never been to Earlville, but I’m assuming that the upright cars in the background are toward the head end of the train?
Still, that looks like an awful lot of cars to be piled up by just that length of rail. My suspicion is that one of the cars shown in the photo you referenced was the cause of the wreck, tearing up a bit of track behind it, and eventually bringing the rail up and through the second derailed car. The train was moving right along on this track (if it was moving normally), but these derailed cars are not a part of the “accordion” shown in the other photos.
I’m also a little surprised by the smallness of the coal pile from this car–perhaps an indication that it lost more of its load further back.
I hope that someone will tell us for sure, whenever something is found out.
The cars in the photo suggest that this was a train bound for a Consumers Energy plant in Michigan.
Thanks for posting the shots, Rockfan!
And welcome!
Duplicate post–can’t delete.
Triplicate post.
Link activated.
Perhaps they could burn some of the coal on the ground to keep warm.
As far as I know, things are back to normal in Earlville, but wow, that derailment looks a lot worse than what I thought it would be!
Hey thanks for the welcome! I was actually on the “old” Trains forum years ago with the same name, I just never got around to signing up again. I’ve been to Earlville more than a few times, and if I remember right, from those buildings in the background that last picture is looking east.
-Ron