Not every day goes smoothly here on the railroad. Sometimes bad things happen. From time to time things happen and it puts trains on the ground. Luckily in these two instances, no one was hurt.
A SCFE inbound train from the Bryant yard "Picked" a switch, putting one of the two locomotives on the ground along with two cane cars.
Look at the forces involved... Bent that rail like a pretzel.
Definitely ungood.
Oops!
Here's another one...
About the same thing happened, but towards the rear of a train as it was pulling into a storage track in the yard.
Hey Carl, do you think we can fix it?
Sure! We'll gust tackweld and duct tape it back together and it'll be right as rain in a few hours!
All jokes aside, my job, while it's rewarding, is very dangerous. I don't even want to think about what would have happened if someone was standing near either of these two derailments.
Copyright 2009 Thomas J Wolfenden
5 comments:
Wow - cool pictures. It's kind of eerie to see all this sitting silent after what must have been a violet occurrence.
Say your prayers and give thanks!
Phlegmmy: (May I call you Phlegmmy?) Both of these derailments happended moments before I arrived at work. I always carry my camera in my grip and was able to pull over and take these shots before I even was on the clock. Last year I saw one of the cane loaders shove two cars right over a derail just about 30 feet from me... The was a puckering experience. While I love my job, it is a very dangerous and unforgiving profession. One dosesn't get just a little hurt. When things turn bad here you lose body parts if not your life. It pays to stay 100% alert at all times!
Leazwell: I do everyday when I come home with all my parts right where I left them at the beginning of my shift.
Wicked kool pics! And yeah I cannt imagine the nose this mess caused!
Thanks for being johnny on the spot with your camera. I always find your pictures informative and way interesting - especially those taken candidly on the rails somewhere. Lots of boy-excitement that day, eh?
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