SIAP…
But WHAT THE F***?!?
How is this POSSIBLY a coincidence? Being done on purpose, maybe? Anyone else considering this?
OT - Trains :)
- Thread starter Tetonia
- Start date
SIAP…
But WHAT THE F***?!?
How is this POSSIBLY a coincidence? Being done on purpose, maybe? Anyone else considering this?
PSR. Cut thousands from the workforce who inspect, maintain and repair the tracks and equipment and it’s a recipe for disaster. This is driven to get to the lowest operating ratio and benefits the shareholders. Unfortunately it puts the public at risk.
I knew a guy in college who would supposedly lay iron on train rails when he was a kid to try to derail trains. Supposedly he was successful at least once. With all of the snow and temperature swings we’ve had I’m a little surprised we haven’t had more. The ground in our area is a mess with patches of thawed mush surrounded by piles of ice
The railroad will slow down the trains where the ground is saturated or when temperatures drop below zero. As for laying a iron on the tracks to derail a train is a little hard to believe, but I do know kids would do that about 50 yards down the line from a crossing with cross arms the rod would create a circuit to cause the cross arms to come down. Usually happened around Halloween
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anon_umk0ifu6vj6zi
Guest
Worked for a railroad 12 years.
Derailments happen a lot actually. Was part of a train derailment clean up with a pile of coal so big it made a track hoe look like a toy at the top.
Steel on the track would cause a track indication and stop signals in both directions, if on signaled track, long before a train arrives which would stop the train. With Positive Train Control implemented on roughly half of the nation's class 1 rail system it would stop the train automatically.
A large cottonwood tree stump would be a better choice to derail a train, not that I recommend it. Nuclear waste, military loads, massive quantities of all kinds of hazardous materials are moving around 60mph. So if you get caught you won't see the light of day for long long long time.
Salt in the crossings cause a short circuit in the island circuit which causes the gates to come down if you ever come across that at a crossing and no train is present.
Derailments happen a lot actually. Was part of a train derailment clean up with a pile of coal so big it made a track hoe look like a toy at the top.
Steel on the track would cause a track indication and stop signals in both directions, if on signaled track, long before a train arrives which would stop the train. With Positive Train Control implemented on roughly half of the nation's class 1 rail system it would stop the train automatically.
A large cottonwood tree stump would be a better choice to derail a train, not that I recommend it. Nuclear waste, military loads, massive quantities of all kinds of hazardous materials are moving around 60mph. So if you get caught you won't see the light of day for long long long time.
Salt in the crossings cause a short circuit in the island circuit which causes the gates to come down if you ever come across that at a crossing and no train is present.
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anon_umk0ifu6vj6zi
Guest
I wouldn't worry too much. It's a coal train.
Other.....kinds of trains... Like 80 tanker cars filled with anhydrous ammonia, worry about those ones when they hit the ground.
Interesting side note/rumor: I was told that if that load was insured that coal has to be buried. Insurance companies cover all losses and losses can't be distributed even if all it is is shoveling the coal back into new cars.
So, like if a train is hauling lots of Bugatti's and the train derails and the load is considered a loss....those cars are going in a hole somewhere, no refurbishment, no scraping parts, it's gone and no one gets it...so I was told.
Any insurance adjusters can chime in if they know different, I wouldn't mind knowing.
No idea on this but not sure why the insurance company wouldn’t now own the coal and could sell it if they opted to clean it up and reload cars? For instance in a sale barn with cattle, if your animal gets banged up in the yard before it sells, sale barn insurance pays you market price then they sell the critter for the insurance company, usually at a very low price. Once saw a 700 pound steer with a broken nose sold for a dollar. Someone made there farm dog very happy that day!
We used to lay pennies on the track. Pretty sure we never derailed any trains though.
It's just the timing of it all. The nasty, life altering accident in Ohio has interest in derailments peaking right now. But I've heard it said many times that people don't realize the potential danger that passes threw their communities on some of those trains.
Sounds like a psychopath who should never see the light of day.
Anyone who tries to derail a train should be thought of no better than someone setting a crowded night club on fire.
Little known fact that right outside Lincoln there was a purposely set derailment that murdered 11 people. There is a bike trail in the Southwest part of town that has a marker and relays some information.
Yep. My dad is a UP guy and it happens more than you think and they have a ton of near misses as well.
You mean this whole thing isn't scripted?
I is one.....and there is a disconnect here somewhere. Unless it is a food service item...that is something I've never heard of. I have handled spilled loads from large tractor trailers...we always sell whatever the load was to a salvage buyer. Zero reason to throw it away...though I never handled a load of coal.
In theory they’ll slow the trains down. I’m not sure it always happens when it should
Yep. They can make a slurry but I don’t know how far they can move it that way or if it’s economically feasible
Haha. Yeah he’s still around and from a fairly prominent eastern Nebraska ag family……. He was just an ornery little kid. If it makes you feel any better I decked him once in college. Geez. That was 45 years ago now
Years ago you were correct. High school classmate did cleanup after train accidents. He ran equipment to basically bury stuff. Don't know if that is true today.
A friend of mine told me they now have a way to ship ethanol through pipe lines nowReally???
If he's 'ornery' maybe Charles Manson can be described as lil' rascal.Haha. Yeah he’s still around and from a fairly prominent eastern Nebraska ag family……. He was just an ornery little kid. If it makes you feel any better I decked him once in college. Geez. That was 45 years ago now
Thanks for taking care of him.
True but not sure they've gotten approval.
I know there was talk about corrosiveness and how it would react to static electricity. But I'm sure that was all debunked concerns
It’s going to be tough getting approval with Hanoi Jane kleeb apposing all pipe lines
Thanks guys! It sounded wasteful at the time to me. This was like 18 years ago I was told they just bury claimed insured loads.
Jane is elected to what?
Surely Ricketts could get this moving in the right direction.
My guess is, if it was buried, it was just more cost effective to handle it that way. If the load was destroyed with little to no value after the accident....I can see that happening. It's also possible the load was only partially covered, and again not cost effective for the person(s) on the hook for the remaining balance to move the salvaged item(s), especially if it happens out in the sticks. Betting those reasons, outside of the food service issue, are the reasons it happens. Once an ins company pays the loss on those items, it becomes theirs (unless it was only partially insured) and ins companies are not in the biz of burying cash. I could also see something like coal being "dirty" if it hits the ground maybe, and difficult to pick up and keep it clean so it become useless. Totally guessing on the coal thing, never handled one of those losses.
The two derailment cleanups I participated in were coal trains and derailed in empty corn fields.
Other derailments I've witnessed first hand were where the engines were upright, but had run off the side of the rails due to ice buildup in crossovers within a rail yard area. So one set of wheels on the ground fieldside of the tracks and one set on the ties between the rails if that makes sense.
here is a quote from Jimmy Carter I found interesting - has nothing (or perhaps everything) to do with this, but didn't want to start a new thread:
And UP is one of the worst offenders. Ironically they call it progressive/precision railroading I believe. Working in the industry I can tell you that just in our area we usually have 3-4 derailments a year.
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Train derailments happen all the time for a variety of reasons. Usually you don’t hear about them. The reason you hear about them now are the two NS derailments with hazmat on them. Now every derailment gets major news coverage.
UP is not NS. UP has a sophisticated response network. NS is in the stone ages for disaster management. UP has response teams all over its territory. Centralized communications to coord with state/local officials and fed agencies. They train thousands of local first responders every year.