GLC Grain Train Derailment 3/13/2016

[firemedic54]

We drove by there last night around 8pm before signing off for the day. RJ Corman has a bunch of trucks there ready to go. Very little activity as it was still raining pretty good so my guess is they'll wait until daylight before starting any work.

[chapmaja]

Thankfully this isn't a mainline like the Water Level that sees close to a hundred trains per day. They can afford to take their time with the cleanup. Even if they lose a day or two of movements south of the wreck site, it won't hamper the economy of the region.

I find it interesting that the back portion of cars all rolled to the side the way they did. I guess it's just from the way the train moved and came to a stop based on the rail that actually broke.

[hoborich]

The Detroit News reported the train derailed at 40 mph. Not sure how accurate that is, but in the pics one of the cars is quite high in the air, and run up on the car ahead of it. Also quite a few cars derailed. That stretch of track was never good for 40 mph.

http://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/m ... /81744056/

[firemedic54]

The engineer told me he was doing 33mph accelerating to track speed when the accident occurred.

[Steve B]

Back in the day the Ann Arbor's system speed limit for freights was 45 MPH. This lasted until the track began to deteriorate (late '60s?) In the 1939 ETT (for sale at Durand Union Station) the only speed restrictions between Ann Arbor and Owosso were at Howell and the Durand diamonds.

Interestingly the '39 ETT shows a speed limit of 35 on tangent, 30 curves for *loaded* hoppers.

[hoborich]

Back in the 70s, I used to watch them going through the Oak Grove/Cohoctah area, and they were usually just creeping along, maybe 20 mph at best.

[AARR]

I don't know what the speed limit is but it's my understanding from a presentation Chris Bagwell gave at the annual AARRT&HA meeting a few years ago that the keep their trains around 30mph for fuel economy even though the track is rated higher (40mph perhaps?).

[NYCMan]

Fuel economy? In a diesel locomotive? Just idling, they don't burn fuel, they burn MONEY.

Per FRA, speed limits based upon track class are as follows for freight:
Class 1 = 10 MPH; Class 2 = 25 MPH; Class 3 = 40 MPH; Class 4 = 60 MPH.

Fuel consumption rates vary per locomotive, even within its own class. Many factors affect fuel consumption including mechanical conditions and operator operations.

The biggest cause of a derailment is speed in excess of exigent track conditions.

[BerkshireKid]

Speed limit in that area minus any temporary slow orders is 40mph... And they run every bit of it

[NYCMan]

Jointed rail normally is 39 feet long. Thus, if the rail were 3 feet long, sounds like a patch job of some sort had been done and was a "weak link" waiting for an accident to happen.

[BerkshireKid]

Jointed rail can be 39' ft long.... It can also be 33' or 30'or whatever size the railroad ordered. I've seen it all out there.
It was stated a 3' piece of rail was broken... It never said a 3' section of rail that was a patch job as you imply. Rail goes thru stresses and can just break... Even brand new welded rail.

[Steve B]

In recent years GLC has also been installing 78-foot jointed rail in some spots. I've noticed it between MP 200 & 201 (replacing 90-lb rail from 1949) and along US-127 near Ithaca.

[firemedic54]

Just saw RJ Corman trucks heading towards 96 on M-59. Guessing their work is done. Will try to get over there and take a look.