Wohooo! Overtime....

[TRNDRVR]

Dan, you're not coming thru CO. its bad, we will be staying here thru tomorrow. There are cars piled on top of cars.

Yeah. I found out they re-routed #5 through Wyoming.

Have you seen or know what happened to #6? It appears to be out there somewhere. #6 arrived and departed Glenwood, but doesn't show into Granby.

Should make for a few late trains!!!

 

[Greg]

Yeah. I found out they re-routed #5 through Wyoming.

Have you seen or know what happened to #6? It appears to be out there somewhere. #6 arrived and departed Glenwood, but doesn't show into Granby.

Should make for a few late trains!!!

I would imagine #6 got tied up in Glenwood and they bussed them out from there. This derailment happened last about 8:30 PM. We should have the track in service about Noon tomorrow if all goes well.

It wasn't a coal train, rather a BN freight train with mixed cars. A couple of them were hauling pipe and there is pipe piled up about 25' deep in one spot.

I'm now in the dining car, getting fed. We will be staying in a hotel from 6pm to 2am, then coming back out to relieve the other guys.

 

[Corban_White]

So where are the pics??

 

[Greg]

So where are the pics??

I'm posting from my Blackberry and took the pics with my digi camera. The phone pics aren't that great so you will have to wait till I get home and upload them. I will be lucky to get home tomorrow before 6 pm.

I have about 45 hrs overtime on this pay period so far and will probably collect 25 more before this is over. Better go exempt so Uncle Sam doesn't get it all.

 

[Greg]

Made it home finally, after 40 hrs away. Working on the pics now and a bunch of videos. There's a lot, so you've been warned!

The track was put back in service at about 4 PM today, when the derailment happened at 8:30 PM on Wednesday night. Pretty good considering how big of a mess it was.

 

[Greg]

I'm just glad to hear you are back to work.

Yeah, going back to work has been good for me, it's worked out well. I recently got a job as a foreman, which has been good for me. There are many times I've hated my job, but I really enjoy what I do. I've had some great opportunities, learned much and the pay isn't bad. It beats sitting in an office, that's for sure.

Be safe man...

Always! Thanks.

33 cars. Wow.

It ended up being about 15-16 cars... I'm telling you, the early reports of derailments are always exaggerated.

Whoa... pics!

They're coming!

I saw a major derailment in '07 just outside of Helper. They were cutting the cars into giant pieces with torches. Since then I've wondered what the protocol is for cleaning that up. Do all cars get scrapped? Looked like they were making a pile of the wheel assemblies too.. Do those find their way to the spare parts rack?

Yep, I heard about that one & later saw the damage. Usually everything is scraped and written off. The biggest concern is to get the tracks open again, you can't make money if the tracks aren't usable. I'd hate to see UP's insurance deductible....

 

[Greg]

OK, here we go... we had to hy-rail into the derailment site by setting on at Glenwood Springs and heading East about 20 miles.-

We pulled into Dotsero and saw this-

Here's the derailment/work train. This thing sits in the Grand Junction yard, ready to go at a moments notice. It's loaded with panels of track, ballast cars, fuel cars, bulldozers, a huge crane, etc, etc.

These are Side Booms, basically a bulldozer w/o a blade and a massive boom on the side for lifting. They have a massive winch in the rear for dragging scrap out of the way.

Laying panels at 3 AM... we installed 30-something, 40' panels just to restore the track. The switch was wiped out, so the siding became the main line and the original main line is currently dead-ended and out of service.

 

[Greg]

More carnage-

This was the un-official cause of the derailment. Apparently a conductor didn't release the handbrake on one of the cars, dragging the axle until it derailed.-

Getting the track back together-

Here's a link to the photo album if you're interested-

http://greg-catherine.smugmug.com/Other/Railroading/4990893_Zn2oV#P-1-24

 

[RockMonkey]

Holeeeeeee crap! That looks bad!

 

[Jedisdead]

I cant believe the track broke like that,don't the wheels just ride on top of the track.

 

[Greg]

Some videos from the cleanup-


[YOUTUBE]5cnqa0_3BXc[/YOUTUBE]


[YOUTUBE]sMQqDgNjzCM[/YOUTUBE]


[YOUTUBE]raOy6IHQD8o[/YOUTUBE]


[YOUTUBE]e6vnKPPcNxc[/YOUTUBE]


[YOUTUBE]Aqb6twAw7CE[/YOUTUBE]

 

[Greg]

I cant believe the track broke like that,don't the wheels just ride on top of the track.

They do until the wheels come off the track and all of a sudden 600 tons of freight start binding up off the track. Rails break, freight cars fold over and millions of dollars of damage is done in seconds.

 

[Herzog]

That looks like a war zone. Very impressive damage! Your job looks pretty fun to me.

 

[Greg]

That looks like a war zone. Very impressive damage! Your job looks pretty fun to me.

That's what I said, looked like parts of the war-torn Middle East! I like what I do most of the time, but it's dirty, loud, hot, cold, dangerous, demanding and at times, requires long hours. It's not a job for everyone, that's for sure, but it seems to fit my personality quite well.

 

[benjy]

Wow Thanks for sharing Greg

 

[SAMI]

Too cool.. I don't doubt that you earn every penny while out there dealing with that mess.. Time is money. End of story.

So if the cause ends up being an avoidable mistake by the conductor, what happens to him/her?

I'll dig up some photos of Helper's great derailment of '07..

 

[Greg]

Wow Thanks for sharing Greg

Sure!

Too cool.. I doubt doubt that you earn every penny while out there dealing with that mess.. Time is money. End of story.

So if the cause ends up being an avoidable mistake by the conductor, what happens to him/her?

I'll dig up some photos of Helper's great derailment of '07..

Conductor will probably get fired, but that's what job insurance is for... I have job insurance myself....

 

[SAMI]

Here's a few from the Helper mishap in '07...

 

[TRNDRVR]

That's what I said, looked like parts of the war-torn Middle East! I like what I do most of the time, but it's dirty, loud, hot, cold, dangerous, demanding and at times, requires long hours. It's not a job for everyone, that's for sure, but it seems to fit my personality quite well.

Railroading 101.

You either do it, or you don't. There's no in between. I've been doing it so long I don't know anything else.

I literally drive to work only 2 days a week and basically only work 3 days a week, and get 5 days off a week. Yeah, you do the math! I guarantee that most on this board can't/won't work the 3 days that I do.

Put it this way, try pooping on my schedule!!! (seriously)

*edit* 0630 in the morning. Having a beer, couple of shots of vodka. Just about bedtime. (see what I mean?)

 

[Amy]

Wwwwwwwwwwwooooooowwwwwwwwwwwww!!!