To be fair to the railways, after posting news of a derailment on this forum would it not be fair to also have a posting of ALL the trains that did NOT derail. It seems people can’t wait to post a derailment fast enough, I guess it’s sort of news, but getting a little thin.
just because…and you heard it first! the illinois railnet derailed 4 covered hopper cars in La Salle, IL yesterday.
sorry, just had to. it really did happen but it’s no big deal…
The story is told about the original narrow gauge railroad over Monida pass between Idaho and Montana - that the passengers would start a betting pool at the base of the grade as to how far through the pass the train would get before it derailed. Not if it would derail - but when.
Considering ton-miles per derailment - railroads are exponentially more reliable now than at any other time in history. The internet has fueled the spread of news about derailments to the point that all of us know almost instantly when one of these rare events occur.
dd
For some reason it seems to be human nature to focus on the bad… At least human nature in this part of the world anyway. I always say they should call the evening news the ‘Evening Bad News’, as that’s all it ever is. Except for the one little silly story they usually throw in each night about some kids puppy that got saved or something. I guess that’s supposed to cheer you up after the litany of bank robberies, murders, and grizzly crashes. The sad thing is, for every bad story they tell, there’s another 30 nobody hears about. When I was a kid, I lived in a town of 2500 people. The local news paper would actually put a blotter in each issue telling briefly every single crime or incident that happen that week. Some of them were so inane, they were comical. If any major city did that, it would take about 100 pages, in classifieds size text.
Dave
-DPD Productions - Home of the TrainTenna RR Monitoring Antenna-
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I just report of a derailment I see or hear about around here. i dont say hey lets go to see the wreck. the crew needs to do the job and clean up.best to stay out of the way.
stay safe
Joe
BNSF had a derailment in Fullerton Friday.It was a local switching some tank cars. The engine was pushing the cars when it appearently picked a switch.This happened far from the main line so the railroad decided to leave it until monday to clean it up.Some trackage was torn up,and the engine is on the ground,but no major damage was done.