What happened at Momence last month? I went thru there early this morning and late this afternoon (no light for pictures) and there were cars on the ground and three locomotives on their sides, an NS, CN, and Guilford unit.
A customer of mine indicated he got a call from Chemtrec on Thanksgiving regarding the derailment.
Anyone know what happened?
ed
Collision at the crossing, a UP train hit a NS train. Lots of speculation on why, waiting on NTSB report. UP train was led by a UP B40-8 followed by the CN SD40u. The NS train was powered by a BNSF Dash9, FURX SD40-2, NREX SD40-2, ST GP40, and a NS Dash9, in that order. The BNSF Dash9 and the Furbie had little or no damage, the NREX SD40-2 was hit broadside and can be considered destroyed, as can the ST GP40, the UP B40-8, and the CN SD40u.
The NS Dash 9 had significant damage but most likely will be repaired.
At least it killed a UP Dash-8, one less that I have to pain myself to look at.
It was the fault of the UP crew. The initial reports I’d heard on the cause are pretty much correct–I still can’t believe that experienced crewmen could have been so negligent.
cshave:
What happened? Obviously they blew thru a signal. If it was a southbound UP train, it would have been able to see the signal at least 2 miles out as it is tangent track for quite a ways. NB, it is a different story, but there is CTC in affect.
Anyway you look at it, there is a lot of stuff on the ground and it was a sad site. I think this was the first such major incident I have seen.
ed
Gotta tell you, I hate it when someone gets on here and says something like that, even if it is done sarcastically, here we have five crewmembers, three on the UP and two on the NS, who went through an accident that one of them caused and created major stress and havoc in their lives, not to mention nearly losing their lives, and somebody gets on here and says, “Well, at least. . .” I just had to say something because it irks my very soul.
I can’t go into the details yet; don’t know whether the published report I saw is the official result, but it does agree with what was going around the day after the incident.
The presence or absence of CTC has no bearing on this incident. CTC is, after all, just a set of rules. There were signals, though, and the signal system was functioning properly. I can say that much, because I got that directly from the man who inspected them.
If the story is true (and I have no reason to believe that it wasn’t), key crew members were not where they should have been–consequently the train was where it shouldn’t have been. Now we’ll wait for the rest of the story.
The UP train was southbound.
cshave:
YOu are correct about the CTC, my lack of railroading experience shines thru. I mentally thought signals (interlocking actually with the crossing) and wrote CTC.
So, the crew would have had probably an advance approach signal, then an approach and finally a stop signal.
So, the crew members were not where they should have been…that will make a very interesting report when it comes out. I cant think of too many places a crew could have been, but then again, that lack of railroading experience probably keeps me from understanding the possibilities.
ed