Thanks!
This photo shows the overturned cars east of the turnout switch by perhaps 100-200 feet. The next three are on the main but in the switch area. Perhaps some of the upright cars have been moved as they try to reopen the main track.
This is a weird one but the visual suggests to me that there was a train problem, not a track problem and the track has been distorted as a result of thr derailment.
A sun kink can produce a derailment pattern like that. They start with excess compression of the rails from thermal expansion. At that point, the issue is not visible. But when the train runs over that compression, it kneads the track and that kneading action tends to work out the compression.
As the compression works out, it causes the track to loop out of alignment, displace ties, etc. This is the formation of the actual kink that can be seen. As it forms, the train may still follow the looping form. But as it moves further out of alignment, the train can derail. So the overall effect of the sun kink is to worsen as the train passes over it to the final point of causing upset cars.
There is a good video of this online, if I can find it.
It was 84F. That doesn’t strike me as being high enough to cause a problem for properly installed track. It was a good bit warmer a couple of months ago, and the rail expansion would have been greater, then.
Ed
It looks to me like that part of the train began derailing before it got to the switch. So I’m guessing wheel or truck failure.
See, this is why we have NTSB accident investigation teams on the job. There will be, in due time, a detailed report of the investigation which will no doubt be interesting reading. (I have found many such reports over the years to be very educational.)
In the meantime, it’s like the old saying, “There’s been an explosion in the boarding house; roomers are flying everywhere.”
Good one! [:D]
Note that in the Daily Mail aerial picture, the three cars east of the switch are laying on their left sides, with the trucks facing away from the track. Given the side of the track they’re on, they should be on their right side, since the cars that tipped only tipped 90 degrees. That would lead me to believe the cars have been moved there, rather than that being where they ended up immediately after the accident.
I am proud of the Chester and surrounding communities to bring food and supplies to the passengers.
One side comment, in the 1980’s the BN abandoned a lot of trackage. One was the Havre to Great Falls, Montana was severed out of Havre and northeast of Great Falls. I bet the BNSF with they had that trackage back in. I saw too much of that foolishness.
Ed Burns
P. S. I was there on the BN at that time.
Looks that way. Here’s another photo, with what looks like all three with their underbody facing the track:
Not so great for preserving evidence.
Ed
One of two things can come out of our speculation - either “I told you so,” or, “well, I learned something.” Or maybe a “I can’t believe they don’t see it my way” or two…
Unless they find a smoking gun almost immediately, odds are many of the same questions are going through the investigator’s heads.
With the train direction being westward the three overturned cars are on their RIGHT sides, as they followed at the rear of the Builder. These three cars overturned and never reached the switch.
They WERE on their “right” sides. But someone flipped them over. Hence the different positions in the photos.
Those three cars certainly never made it to the switch. They look to be about 4 carlengths short. I have proposed that the derailment traveled down the train, from the first cars that derailed. And that it happened at the switch.
I’m a bit less enthusiastic about that, now. But it strikes me as odd that there is a derailment just a few hundred feet AHEAD of a track switch.
We’re still a long way from knowing “why”. Once known, the location (at the switch or near the switch) will also be known.
Ed
Passenger account of the wreck
(217) Amtrak train derailment: Passenger recounts moment train derailed in Montana - YouTube
A very knowledgeable passenger. And thoughtful. And likable.
Good interview!
Ed
The NTSB guy said that the derailment happened on a gentle righthand curve before the switch.
Being asked a lot of questions he shouldn’t have been asked, IMO.
Is it conceivable that the three cars rolled completely over falling onto their right side and rolling orver onto their left side? They look far enough from the ROW to have done so. Wow.
Not really. Early photos show them on their “right” side, later on their “left”. All three would have had to have been near-tippy to have continued the roll minutes or hours after they came to rest. In the early photos, you can see people being rescued–the cars were pretty stable. I can’t see why they’d then suddenly all roll over another 180 degrees.
Looks to me like BNSF rolled them farther over. Which is weird.
Ed