I don’t think the fire department or the newspaper could have pointed the finger at CN any more than they did - with the headline saying “CN says it’s not our fault” and specifically saying that it was a CN train. Well, CN’s “Denying” because that sure looks like the plant switcher went on the ground and CN’s getting the opportunity to deny wrongdoing. (That’s equivalent to a journalistic conviction.)
It wasn’t a CN train, but the newspaper specifically said it was a CN train, but it wasn’t a CN train. How could that possibly happen? Don’t newspapers check facts before printing them?
That seemed to me to be a very strange article. In it, they make the mistake about which railroad was involved, then they acknowledge in the same article that they got the railroad wrong, then they continue on as though none of the above happened. And the title of the article seems very odd as well.
Or did I just get up on the weird side of the bed today?
my guess is its a shortline RR that serves the plant, this bit made me chuckle
Patrick Waldron, manager of public affairs for CN, said the derailment did not occur on company property nor did it involve CN personnel. Crews at the scene were sent to check the status of the track’s main line, Waldron said.
“It’s not our incident,” Waldron said. “We have track that goes through Dyersville and the plant, but this did not occur on CN property. It’s like you are calling me for another person’s car accident.”
Waldron said normal operations continue on CN’s main line track.
When I lived in Wausau, WI years back I recall the Wisconsin Public Service coal fired generating plant in Weston having its own little diesel-electric switcher for shuttling coal cars around the plant (Milwaukee Road, later WC, delivered the loads and took away the empties) and the trackage inside the plant was switched by their own switcher unit. I suspect the same thing was/is happening in this case.
How can we tell for sure that it wasn’t the CN’s fault? Couldn’t the plant switcher have swerved into the ditch to avoid an oncoming CN train driving down the wrong track?[(-D][(-D][(-D]
(close your eyes, Tree) - Actually, they quoted the Asst Fire Chief in saying it was CN. The paper didn’t make any assessments on their own, only followed up on what they were told. They obviously don’t do any “investigative” reporting any more. Only quotes and phone calls.
Been there, done that. I know people who would sooner have a root canal sans anesthetic than talk to the press. And people who shouldn’t be talking to the press, but are.
Then again, as you suggest, the press doesn’t have a clue, either.
My guess would be the switcher is owned by the energy company. It was probably picking up cars left by CN when it derailed going back to the plant on it’s own tracks. It could be the proximity to the CN mainline caused the confusion…or it could just be as most of us Minnesotans believe, that people from Iowa tain’t too bright.
OK, this is today’s attempt by the Dubuque newspaper to report on a derailment at an ethanol plant. I must warn you, if you are drinking a cup of coffee or something else you should put the coffee down and fully swallow whatever you’ve got in your mouth before reading this. Otherwise you may get the coffee (or other liquid) all over when you start laughing.
Highlights:
Ethanol was being loaded onto a locomotive
“Ladder cars” were in use
The newspaper falsely reports, for the second day, that a CN train derailed. They’ve been told by the CN that it wasn’t a CN train. They’ve been told by the ethanol company that it was their equipment. It doesn’t make any difference to the newspaper. They’ve got it in their heads that a CN train derailed and that’s what they’re going to report wether it’s true or not.
The part I found funny was the transmission oil leaking into the Mississippi river. Now I have been a engineer for 10 years now and have yet to find the clutch pedal.
There was a clip on the local TV news the day after it happened that specifically stated it was a runaway. Where that information came from was not given.
Were I CN, I would be saying “left hand and right hand, come out together and pick up my service of process for a defamation cause of action. We told you it wasn’t our train or our property, and you printed this false and damaging allegation anyway.”
Granted, the damages that CN would be able to collect from such a lawsuit would be questionable, but I think such a lawsuit would certainly send the message to newspapers to think twice before printing things despite representations to the contrary.
Or maybe, I just like to see lawsuits filed . . . hmm . . .
