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Union Pacific collision provides spectacle for highway travelers
How woefully uneducated about railroads, and who knows what other transport, that UHP Lt. is.
WDH, you did notice that containers down below was within a quote from that Lt.
I share the bewilderment about weeks to complete and derailment terms used by the railroad spokesman.
Consider though, that no matter the cause, from broken wheel to cornfield-meet, a wheel not on a rail when it should be, has derailed.
Rosy Entringer, not DPM would be the first to edit that. Fastest and best blue-pencil…
I heard, on KSL, this evening, something about two weeks to clean up. (KSL and the Deseret News are both owned by the same institution, if that means anything). I also understood that if it takes too long to clear the track(s), a detour will be necessary–which would be northwest almost to Pocatello and then south to Ogden.
I too, an confused by the article. It appears that there were two grain trains( Inert material), one of which rear ended the other. If indeed, these trains were both hauling grain, it becomes a simple matter of bringing in trucks and a backhoe or better yet a wheel loader, picking the grain from the ground, and hauling it to a nearby elevator for temporary storage. Each grain car holds approximately four truckloads This should be a three day job, not several weeks. The paper must have put a reporter fresh out of school on this story.
“Impound” containers?? Derailment will take “weeks” to complete?? Didn’t the derailment occur within a few seconds? What are they going to do with the “impounded” containers, test them for drugs? Ah well–according to the media trains still “chug.”
Teamsters, asleep-at-the-switch again. Stuff, like this, should NOT happen. What containers were involved? “…the derailment (I’d call it a collision) will take a couple of weeks to complete…”??? I thought it was done. Pret’ bad editing, methinks. Wot say, DPM? It’s not even a holiday…
Would PTC had worked in this situation?
Would PTC had worked in this situation?
Grain train containers? What containers? Or are the elevators doing something I was not aware of? Leave it to the dinosaur deadbeat media to get everything wrong.
Solution: Place caboose on rear of train. In bad weather such as this require man riding the rear to walk back “x” distance to light a fusee to warn any on coming movements.
Worked great for almost 125 years.
Thank you Vic Saunders for the first hand report and the photo link.
I was at the site and sent the pix to trains. One train was stopped at the bottom of Weber Canyon. The second train either missed an approach signal, or slid on wet rails due to the storm and the collision occurred at arund 10-15 mph. Word from an EMT at the scene was the engineer of the second train has six months to go before retirement, and has chosen to expedite that process . . . like end of the day today! I imagine since trains run directionally on the two lines in Weber Canyon, UP will be running trains back and forth on the upper eastbound line until the crash is clearned up. I heard cranes are enroute from Green River.
I was at the site and sent the pix to trains. One train was stopped at the bottom of Weber Canyon. The second train either missed an approach signal, or slid on wet rails due to the storm and the collision occurred at arund 10-15 mph. Word from an EMT at the scene was the engineer of the second train has six months to go before retirement, and has chosen to expedite that process . . . like end of the day today! I imagine since trains run directionally on the two lines in Weber Canyon, UP will be running trains back and forth on the upper eastbound line until the crash is clearned up. I heard cranes are enroute from Green River.
I was at the site and sent the pix to trains. One train was stopped at the bottom of Weber Canyon. The second train either missed an approach signal, or slid on wet rails due to the storm and the collision occurred at arund 10-15 mph. Word from an EMT at the scene was the engineer of the second train has six months to go before retirement, and has chosen to expedite that process . . . like end of the day today! I imagine since trains run directionally on the two lines in Weber Canyon, UP will be running trains back and forth on the upper eastbound line until the crash is clearned up. I heard cranes are enroute from Green River.
I was at the site and sent the pix to trains. One train was stopped at the bottom of Weber Canyon. The second train either missed an approach signal, or slid on wet rails due to the storm and the collision occurred at arund 10-15 mph. Word from an EMT at the scene was the engineer of the second train has six months to go before retirement, and has chosen to expedite that process . . . like end of the day today! I imagine since trains run directionally on the two lines in Weber Canyon, UP will be running trains back and forth on the upper eastbound line until the crash is clearned up. I heard cranes are enroute from Green River.
Sorry about the multiple messages folks. I thought my WiFi was acting up again. 1000 apologies.
I was at the site and sent the pix to trains. One train was stopped at the bottom of Weber Canyon. The second train either missed an approach signal, or slid on wet rails due to the storm and the collision occurred at arund 10-15 mph. Word from an EMT at the scene was the engineer of the second train has six months to go before retirement, and has chosen to expedite that process . . . like end of the day today! I imagine since trains run directionally on the two lines in Weber Canyon, UP will be running trains back and forth on the upper eastbound line until the crash is clearned up. I heard cranes are enroute from Green River.
Here’s an update. UP came in last night with bulldozers and cranes and basically pushed everything off the tracks that wasn’t moveable by train. They’re making track repairs today and should have the WB tracks in Weber Canyon completely open later today. They will haul the damaged AC4400CW No. 7233 and the hopper cars away when weather and other conditions permit. For a great slide show of the crash, visit the story on the Salt Lake City “Deseret News” website at http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865593744/Train-derailed-in-Weber-Canyon.html.
In fairness to everybody, the canyon was foggy and in the midst of a snowstorm when this all occurred early AM Wednesday. While the state Trooper did talk a little like a robot and without much knowledge about railroad terminology (Rail car or hopper car vs “container”) his specialty is the Highway, not the parallel trrain tracks. Also when they say two weeks, they are talking about everything…restoration of the hill which supports the track and was damaged by the engines and railcars sliding down it, clean-up of the fuel spill which was adjacent to the Weber River, clean-up of the grain which will have to be vacuumed out of the upright cars due to the lack of places for clean-up equipment to be placed, in addition to re-railing or hauling off railcars and locmotives. In fact the location is what will make this more difficult than most derails which seem to occur on fairly flat country, as this site is 60 to 75 feet above the adjacent interstate highway which is just another proof of Murphy’s Law!
Cabooses? Please. Plenty of cabooses got squashed in rear end collisions back in the “good ol’ days”, rear brakemen not withstanding. Not to mention the cost of maintaining and staffing cabooses on every train, and the results of slack action on their occupants.