This past week the testing of some of the new additions added in July unfortunately resulted in a major derailment on the upper level tracks at Empire City. Fortunately there were only minor injuries reported and the damage was minimal.
Portion of reefer train left on track
REA track cleaner car still coupled to engine and first Flexi Van car in the consist.
Of course this is the newest Flexi Van car in the fleet.
The Flexi Vans lay string lined across the inner track
The first locomotive of the consist has derailed after smashing into the caboose which has left the tracks and and caused the rear two box cars to derail. The Virginian car was spotted at Prestage Gear when it was struck by the caboose and engine.
Several reefer cars on the right have left the tracks and a Railway Post Office car sits on it's side.
A newly painted Penn Central 50' reefer lays on it's side while sister unit and a
Lehigh Valley unit have left the rails
Another angle shows that the reefer is indeed the newly painted car.
A wreck crane was dispatched and and the tracks were open by the next day.
An investigation into the train derailment was conducted by the FRA and it was determined that the newly painted PC reefer 229007 jumped the tracks at a switch point, separated from and derailed a Great Northern reefer in front of it. The train continued on at which time the GN reefer's wheels caught on another switch point causing the GN car to topple over and separating the seven cars in front of it from the consist. At this point the 3 engines and three remaining cars continued on until striking the caboose and derailing it and several other cars. This collision caused the reefer train cars to strike the Mail and Express train which then derailed as a result.
The reefer train engineer and conductor were both found to be at fault. Both now face disciplinary action.
PCA 229007 was examined at the New York Central Train Layout shop and found to be underweight which is believed to have been the reason for it jumping the tracks. Placed towards the middle of 22 cars the stresses on the car became too much causing the front truck to ride high and ultimately derail.
.
Probably kids putting nickels on the tracks.
ReplyDeleteMe thinks upper management & OSHA should be called in to check and see if the employees had the correct training and safety standards in place. A major derailment like that cuts into profits, delays deliveries to vendors (like Neal's Hardware), and can make life uncomfortable in Empire City. Maybe call in local PD to investigate the possibility of vandalism.
ReplyDeleteYikes! What a mess! Things like that NEVER happen on the Kings Port Division! LOL! Oh...wait It hink I hear something crashing outside the yard office....be right back... :)
ReplyDeleteGentlemen, like Forrest Gump says "It happens" Thankfully incidents like this are few and far between.
ReplyDelete