UP runaway derailment in California
UP runaway derailment in California
About 10 minutes ago, David Epling posted this to the California Railfans Facebook group: “Breaking: UP just lost an loaded ore train between Kelsey and Basin. Train was a runaway and derailed at 80mph. No word on the crew yet.”
Someone else clarified location: “He meant to say Kelso and probably got autocorrected. This is on the Cima Sub between Barstow and Las Vegas.”
Someone else clarified location: “He meant to say Kelso and probably got autocorrected. This is on the Cima Sub between Barstow and Las Vegas.”
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Re: UP runaway derailment in California
This would be "late breaking news".
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Re: UP runaway derailment in California
Yes, I see they a derailment happened there in 1997, and I have found no corroborating news reports yet for this afternoon’s supposed derailment. But people are chiming in on Dave’s post, adding they are hearing California Highway Patrol scanner traffic indicating approximately 100 cars derailed and a fire starting under one of the locomotives. So ????
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Re: UP runaway derailment in California
first news article i could find:TSS wrote: ↑Mon Mar 27, 2023 2:21 pmAbout 10 minutes ago, David Epling posted this to the California Railfans Facebook group: “Breaking: UP just lost an loaded ore train between Kelsey and Basin. Train was a runaway and derailed at 80mph. No word on the crew yet.”
Someone else clarified location: “He meant to say Kelso and probably got autocorrected. This is on the Cima Sub between Barstow and Las Vegas.”
https://news.yahoo.com/train-no-passeng ... p_catchall
also has links to tweets.
Re: UP runaway derailment in California
Confirmation this is actually happening today and not an accidental rebroadcast of past incidents at Kelso:
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Re: UP runaway derailment in California
This was just leaked from a UP employee, apparently this train was doing ~120 mph when it derailed. Who's ready for an unstoppable remake?
Re: UP runaway derailment in California
I heard on Facepuke is was going 150mph.... ROTF..LMAO
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Re: UP runaway derailment in California
That screenshot is from a dd 12 miles away. the train continued to accelerate up to speeds in the range of 140-150 mph.David Collins wrote: ↑Mon Mar 27, 2023 6:00 pmThis was just leaked from a UP employee, apparently this train was doing ~120 mph when it derailed. Who's ready for an unstoppable remake?
Supposedly, the crew was trying to put the train back together after it broke apart. The head end (2 engines, 55 cars) got out of control and the crew bailed when they realized they couldn't stop the train.
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Re: UP runaway derailment in California
That is insane! What kind of grade were these guys going down? Saluda?LansingRailFan wrote: ↑Tue Mar 28, 2023 11:06 am...the train continued to accelerate up to speeds in the range of 140-150 mph.
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Re: UP runaway derailment in California
I read somewhere it's about 2%David Collins wrote: ↑Tue Mar 28, 2023 12:45 pmThat is insane! What kind of grade were these guys going down? Saluda?LansingRailFan wrote: ↑Tue Mar 28, 2023 11:06 am...the train continued to accelerate up to speeds in the range of 140-150 mph.
Re: UP runaway derailment in California
When I first read that I said "no way". However a little fact checking never hurts. Making some assumptions:LansingRailFan wrote: ↑Tue Mar 28, 2023 11:06 amthe train continued to accelerate up to speeds in the range of 140-150 mph.
1) Ignoring friction a 238,000lb car on a 2% grade would exert a parallel force of 4,788lbs.
2) Assuming a rolling resistance of .002, the force due to friction would be 476lbs. Once moving, gravity would exert a net force of 4,312 lbs. I ignored force due to curves, track imperfections etc.
3) A 55 car cut would have a parallel force of 237,160lbs. Call it 57 cars with the two locomotives, 245,784lbs.
4) For wind resistance I found a presentation on coal trains. The cars in the wreck appeared to be ordinary open hoppers and hauling iron ore I said they would be effectively empty for wind resistance. Expanding the chart below and halving the 100 car value for a 55 car cut, wind resistance would be 130MPH = 193,252lbs. 140MPH = 224,126lbs. 150MPH = 257,288lbs.
I've ignored force due to curvature and any residual braking effect. I used the high side of charted rolling resistance. The numbers can be quibbled but the math shows the runaway cut in theory could attain a higher speed than I would have guessed.
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Re: UP runaway derailment in California
Thanks. I’ve seen internal UP screenshots of gps tracking of the locomotives that showed a speed of 147 mph.PatAzo wrote: ↑Tue Mar 28, 2023 6:00 pmWhen I first read that I said "no way". However a little fact checking never hurts. Making some assumptions:LansingRailFan wrote: ↑Tue Mar 28, 2023 11:06 amthe train continued to accelerate up to speeds in the range of 140-150 mph.
1) Ignoring friction a 238,000lb car on a 2% grade would exert a parallel force of 4,788lbs.
2) Assuming a rolling resistance of .002, the force due to friction would be 476lbs. Once moving, gravity would exert a net force of 4,312 lbs. I ignored force due to curves, track imperfections etc.
3) A 55 car cut would have a parallel force of 237,160lbs. Call it 57 cars with the two locomotives, 245,784lbs.
4) For wind resistance I found a presentation on coal trains. The cars in the wreck appeared to be ordinary open hoppers and hauling iron ore I said they would be effectively empty for wind resistance. Expanding the chart below and halving the 100 car value for a 55 car cut, wind resistance would be 130MPH = 193,252lbs. 140MPH = 224,126lbs. 150MPH = 257,288lbs.
I've ignored force due to curvature and any residual braking effect. I used the high side of charted rolling resistance. The numbers can be quibbled but the math shows the runaway cut in theory could attain a higher speed than I would have guessed.
There’s a train station a mile or so from the derailment and they have CC camera facing the tracks. Can’t wait for that footage to leak out.