| Posted by Chas on May 17, 2007 | |
Look's like they took a wrong turn somewhere along the way!!!
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Man what a mess. Glad to see the crew(s) escaped with only miminal injuries.
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Don't worry folks, UP 5261 is saying a famous quote: "I'll Be Back". For the crew, when and if they come back, it will be tough to return after taking this wild ride.
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| Posted by on May 17, 2007 | |
Oops. At least the crew was ok.
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Impressive picture ! It hits as much as that train hit the ground. - Not funny for the crew doing some unvoluntary rollercoaster, but they were lucky as the engine didn't turn over.
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| Posted by Jeff Swanson on May 17, 2007 | |
That appears to be power pole straddling axles 2 and 3. If that would have snapped and dropped lines down on the locomotive, it could have been a considerably different scenario. Again, thankfully nobody was seriously hurt. Thanks for the posting, Steve.
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And to think how surprised I was, one night, when a deer ran out in front of my car...
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| Posted by Dom on May 17, 2007 | |
How on earth will they clean this up? Chop up the locos right there?
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Crew very fortunate here I think. The guy bottom right looks to be getting a ticket for parking the loco by a fire hydrant or something!
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Actually, the crew may not be returning to work. This train ran a red signal, sideswiped a northbound train entering siding, and was forced down the embankment.
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Theres an unusual sight. Shame it was such a new locomotive!
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There is no siding at that point. The northbound may have been crossing over from Main 1 to Main 2. At the time I write this I'd not heard any cause had been determined. Running a Red may be it, but an officer indicated it derailed, and clipped the NB before going "off road".
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That had to have been a heck of a ride!
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wow, like a scene from a movie with the locomotive plunged into the ground like that (Silver Stream final train scene anyone?). I like the people aspect you've captured here too Steve. And how many of us know EXACTLY what it feels like to be in the shoes of the grandfather "dangerous trespasser" being questioned by the UP Special Agent.
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US locomotives are always strong ! I can't image the result if it were a Chinese or Japanese locomotive ... destoried ? burned ? or seperated into two or even hundred parts ...
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| Posted by ROVERT on May 17, 2007 | |
"Building America" from the ground up. Great shot, also wheres the tracks. Thanks
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| Posted by Phil E Crome on May 18, 2007 | |
I like the cones round the tree branch but none round the engine - did they run out of cones? Nice pic.
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| Posted by In the Know on May 18, 2007 | |
The train was not derailed prior to the collision, there is no siding here, how-ever there is a turn-out, the train in the photo was south-bound on #2 Trk, passed a stop indication and collided with the north bound train that was X-ing over from #2 to #1 track. They will not cut these loco's or cars up on site. They will drag two locomotives down the hill, upright them and then put on low-boy trailers to move to a point where they can be re-railed and moved for repair.
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| Posted by Don Bauman on May 18, 2007 | |
Word on the street has it that, Yes, the power pole did lose some of it's power lines causing a black out in one of the nearby towns and that the operators of the locomotive may have been asleep at the control console. This happen at about 03:30 the morning of the 16th. Lucky for this community the only real hazzard that was spilled may have been a bit of diesel fuel from the locomotives. There was NO fire.
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Where exactly did it hit the NB train? On the head end just as it was pulling over the switch?
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From aerial photos I've seen, it seems pretty clear this train hit the NB as the NB was crossing over from Main 1 to Main 2, near the end of the NB. The collision derailed a 5 pack and caused the train to separate. In the aerial photo, the NB has stopped out of the frame and the end of the train is not visible.
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Very impressive. I gave you a PC vote for your great effort on this photo.
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This one gets all of the words a person doesn't want to hear their surgeon say as they are lying on the operating table. Thank God for only minimal injuries. Good photo work. I'd like to see the rest of the pix.
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Dang, that thing's huge!
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Building America? Haha. Nice shot, Steve; I'm glad no one was hurt.
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The engineer on this train is my best friend (and the Best Man at my wedding); and I represented him at his disciplinary hearing. He was initially dismissed from the service of the Carrier, but was reinstated after a few months off. All three crew members walked away from this accident. An Apprentice Engineer was operating the locomotive. UP did not have any engineers on the Seattle extra board rested and available to protect a vacancy in the Seattle-Portland pool, and the two vacant turns ahead of this engineer's turn were "footed" to the bottom of the list in order to get to my friend. He got a call at 7 PM for a 9 PM job start; not expecting to go to work until the following morning. The collision occurred at 3:15 AM, sideswiping the northbound IBASE crossing from Main 1 to 2. The crew was wide awake (as evidenced by the Locomotive Event Recorder and the Track Imaging Recorder (TIR)), but missed the approach signal at Milepost 22. The TIR is the most disturbing bit of video I have ever seen...
The UP Special Agent in the foreground is Lieutenant Charlie Barnes; and the other (blue vest) is Senior Special Agent Verne Libby (retired).
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UP. 'Building America' I guess it just happens.
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Hang on folks, we are in for a BUMPY RIDE. Great shot.
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Down the hill and through the bushes , to the asphalt road we go.
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If only we put more of our trust in the private sector excellent public hiking trail opportunities will be created and developed by the innovative minds from GE for the benefit of all of us. Yeaaa, technology!
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"Remarks & Notes" is incorrect. The forward-facing camera video from the UP 5261 was shown to us in a rules exam class I attended at Proviso in 2018. The SB train (the UP 5261) did not derail and then collide with the NB train. This incident happened at night (I don't remember the time-stamp on the video), the fireman was running, the engineer and conductor were "presumably" asleep, according to the manager instructing our class. The train passed a signal displaying an Advance Approach (flashing yellow) indication at whatever speed they were doing (I believe they were in excess of 50 mph). The System Special Instructions (SSI) required the fireman to, "Immediately reduce speed to not exceeding 40 mph." The fireman took no action to slow the train down. Then they passed a signal displaying an Approach (steady yellow) indication, still proceeding well in excess of 40 mph. The SSI required the fireman to, "Immediately reduce speed to not exceeding 30 mph, prepared to stop at the next signal." The fireman took no action to slow the train down. They rounded a "blind" curve (trees on both sides of the tracks) and the next signal was displaying a Stop (red) indication. At that point in time, the fireman set the automatic (train) brakes and then quickly followed that action by making an emergency application of the brakes, but it was too late. The NB train was crossing over at a control point (CP) from the track the SB train (the UP 5261) was on to the adjacent track. The UP 5261 hit the NB train at the crossovers in the middle of the CP and, because they hit the opposing train at a glancing angle (fortunately for them), they derailed, crashed through the trees, and ended up on their side at Nisqually Road, as pictured above.
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