http://wcco.com/local/train.derailment.brownsville.2.782464.html
was this in previously flood area? if so maybe soft ground. anyone know?
Is this the ICE again??? What terrible luck lately.
Jeff
Apparently it happened on a rain-soaked causeway near the Mississippi River, just north of Iowa.
I’m guessing this is the spot-
http://wikimapia.org/#lat=43.5980774&lon=-91.2757874&z=15&l=0&m=a&v=1
I would guess somewhere just alittle north of Reno, as the article said that four tankers were in the river.
Another incident on “My Mainline” - yikes.
If this happened where I think it happened; on that little stretch just south of Reno where the mainline kind of goes as an island across some backwater - that’s a tough area to get to.
From the photos I’ve seen Dale hit the spot pretty much right, it’s in an area known as Reno Bottoms just south of Reno. From where the “pointer” is on that map if you go southwest just a short ways there’s a fairly sharp bend, and just south of that bend is a large bridge. It sounds like the bridge might have given way according a Winona Newspaper, though I’ve heard several reports, some that say it happened on the “causeway” and others on the bridge. This is the bridge in question in better times:
http://wsor3807.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=523073
It seems like the ICE folks just can’t win lately with all the derailments.
Noah
I know that area fairly well as I hail from Brownsville just up the river and have family living just west of there. This derailment is just south of the spillway and the bridge I believe they refer to is the one crossing the Crooked Creek. This area has been hit pretty hard with rain both this summer/spring and last fall. If I remember correctly there was a derailment many many moons ago in this same area or so I was told as a kid, supposedly they left a car in the marsh as it was easier to leave it then try to retrieve it.
Side note, this took place just south of where the Milwaukee had a line heading through Freeburg, Caledonia, Spring Grove and west finally connecting back over to the Root River line up near Preston if I remember right. When driving by there you can still see the old railbed and down by the spillway are old standpipes still gushing water from an artesian well.
http://www.wxow.com/Global/story.asp?S=8751643&nav=menu1366_2 (video)
According to my 1965 Official Guide, that MILW branch ran from Caledonia up through Preston, and connected to the MILW’s La Crosse - Rapid City line at a town called Isinours.
That’s correct, though the line from Caledonia to Reno was gone very early on, perhaps the ’30s? I recall as a kid I was in the boy scouts, and we once camped at a site on top of a hill overlooking Isinours. Very cool place.
Andy Cummings
Associate Editor
TRAINS Magazine
Waukesha, Wis.
If I am correct the line became disconnected during the 40’s due to a significant flood that almost wiped out Freeburg and damaged the line severly from Reno to just outside of Caledonia. I seem to recall hearing that the line from Preston to Caledonia stayed in service up until the mid 70’s. I may have to go up to Caledonia during their county fair and stop by the county historical musuem to check up on that fact.
Sidenote, took a half day of vacation from work today to go fishing and swimming with the kids at BlackHawk park near DeSoto Wis and then swung over to Lansing and came up the Mn side past Reno, took a few photos of the scene and hope to get them online tomorrow when I have a little more ambition.
Ok, here are the shots from the car as we went through the workzone, they were busy moving equipment and the Sheriff had deputies directing traffic so we couldn’t stop.
Some nice shots there, Rocky, despite the obstacles you faced when in the area. That marsh area between the bridge and the town of Reno is a tough area to try and work in. I wonder how long it’ll be before the mainline will be back in service?
Boy, that’s quite the mess! Nice job getting pictures though.
A post to the ICE Yahoo group mentioned the rumor is it could be two weeks before the line is back in service. Having seen those photos, I think I could understand that.
Noah