Westbound NS 23M put 4-6 Intermodal 5-packs on the ground blocking both Westbound tracks from Altoona, PA last night. Track 1 (Eastbound) was closed also until it could be inspected and clearances check. Track 1 reopened just before midnight.
Have you been able to get any additional information, i.e. was it east of East Altoona, which is really north of Altoona; was it before Bellwood or Tyrone? Any information on the cause?
Anyone know where Mileposts 244 and 245 are? It’s somewhere between Altoona and Gallitzin, and was visible from U.S. 22. Rumor says stringlining was the culprit; no pushers.
From the Yahoo! nsaltoonajohnstown · Norfolk Southern-Altoona to Johnstown Group:
Reportedly it happened about MP 244, which is about 2 miles above/ west of Horseshoe Curve, at the Allegrippus Curve, and 1 -2 miles below/ east of Gallitzin Summit and “The Slide”. MG interlocking was not damaged, and was actually being used to route/ detour WB’s over onto the normal EB Track 1. No information on the cause, other than 23M did not have any helpers. Link to a photo from earlier today of the clean-up, taken from WB Rt. 22:
http://www.trainchasin.com/class-1/NS/east_slope/wreck_244/wreck_244.html
- Paul North.
[quote user=“CShaveRR”]
Anyone know where Mileposts 244 and 245 are? It’s somewhere between Altoona and Gallitzin, and was visible from U.S. 22. Rumor says stringlining was the culprit; no pushers.
[/quote
I’m trying to remember what the Gallitzin tunnels are…Without looking back in photos, I’m thinking that location is 248.]
It happened between MP 244 and MP 245, west of MG. Believed to be caused by Stringlining. Westbound Intermodal running up the Number 1 track “The Slide” using the New Portage Tunnel. Very rare to see Westbounds climbing the 2.2% grade.
Here are the Lat./ Long. coords. (per ACME Mapper 2.0) of the wreck site, as near as I can figure it (based mainly on the ‘rip-rap’ stone drainage course) from the photo that I linked above:
N 40.47804 W 78.49442
Right you are, Quentin - see the bottom margin of this photo (not mine):
http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=357314
- Paul North.
Any updates as to what is going on? The last post was on Sunday.
Info is sketchy, but apparently all tracks were open again as of 7:20 AM Monday 14 Nov. As I understand it, they were all out of service for the clean-up/ pick-up operation from around midnight Sat. to at least around 9 AM Sunday. Some limited/ priority operations were allowed past at 10 MPH until around 7:30 PM, and then again some tracks taken out of service overnight for at least a few hours.
I would not be surprised if “Slow Orders” continue to be in effect until any replacement welded rails can be thermally adjusted, and/ or the rails that were impacted by the derailing train are inspected/ tested by the Sperry Car or similar to check for hidden cracks or fractures.
When I have a moment I want to look up the sharpness = ‘Degree of Curvature’ of that curve as contrasted with others in the area, to see if it is much sharper or not - that might have a bearing on the actual cause of this incident.
- Paul North.
I just found this topic. Another derailment had occurred in the yard of the Kaystone Generating Station at Shelocta about a month ago. As I understand it, it was inside a tunnel involving several hopper cars (I’d assume empty). My guess is a broken rail caused it. There are tunnels near the dumper at the plant, well toward the back end. I never heard anything further about this incident.