Glad I wasn't along for the ride

Ultradog MN · Jan 10, 2012

This BNSF engine has been siting in a rail yard near my house for a couple of weeks now. I finally remembered to bring my camera today to get some photos of it. The sun was wrong to get real good pictures but I did the best I could.
From the road which is higher up you can see that the roof is all mashed down. Looking at the wreck up close I'd say it layed over on it's left side, skidded for a ways then rolled all the way over onto it's right side.
I don't know what happened or if anyone was hurt.
Maybe they should change the logo on this engine to BNSnaFu.

A few more pictures here

Sean Feeney · Jan 10, 2012

Www.rrpicturearchives.net/Locopicture.aspx?id=20612&Page=2

Derailment on a washout i believe says crew did survive

RayP(MI) · Jan 10, 2012

Little more than the local car body shop want"s to do, huh?

James Babcock · Jan 10, 2012

That should buff right out....

flying belgian · Jan 10, 2012

Women driver??

Matt_In · Jan 10, 2012

You should see the engines sitting here in Valparaiso, Ind. from that big wreck on Friday. I have only seen photos and have talked to people who have seen them. But they are burnt and destroyed. The engineers jumped at 30mph. before their train rear-ended a stopped train.

tomtirediron · Jan 10, 2012

Scarey! Was on Northstar Commuter train the evening before at Twins game. We were last commuter over it before heavy night rains took out the abutments in Fridley. The BNSF has several hundred of those units, it will part out nicely.

tomtirediron · Jan 10, 2012

Pics look like yard in NE Minneapolis near St. Anthony Parkway.

showcrop · Jan 10, 2012

One got derailed by snowmobiles here in NH last year. It went nearly upside down because it rolled right off in an area where the bed is raised, but it didn't look badly damaged.

S.Crum · Jan 10, 2012

Actually the tin work didn't hold up half bad for a 217 ton roll over.

Ultradog MN · Jan 10, 2012

Thanks Sean, Whoever took those photos has a real good camera. A lot of them were taken from the bridge that you can see in the background of my picture.

davediehl@hotmail.com · Jan 10, 2012

This was one of two units on a loaded grain train when it derailed back on July 16, 2011 after a bridge washed out in Fridley, MN.

GordoSD · Jan 10, 2012

Little hammer and dolly work and it's good to go.

Anonymous-0 · Jan 10, 2012

If one is driving on the rails and the rear end of a train looms up, it really doesn"t matter if my dog was driving, the result is the same. Stopping distance could be something like 1 mile.
Give the Ladies a break.You could say my ex brick relation was driving. [P is silent as in swimming] He could have achieved that result without trying.

Ultradog MN · Jan 10, 2012

Yes, The bridge in the background is St. Anthony Parkway. I take that route fairly often and always eyeball the trains below.
Last summer that whole area was chock full of engines - maybe 75 of them all hooked together. Just idle.
This fall there was about a dozen brand new ones there. They were all shrink wrapped in white plastic like you see on winterized boats.
I take my tractor on joy rides there fairly often - just idle along for a mile or two along the tracks then take a shortcut through a cut in the fence and across a ditch to hit the city streets for home. I hear they're pretty strict about 4 wheelers and dirt bikes in there but they see my old Ford and just smile and wave.

omahagreg · Jan 10, 2012

Warren Buffet will just get another one! LOL

mark us · Jan 10, 2012

That's got to be a heck of a feeling to be in one of those big babys and be going down and over like that. I wonder if they were wearing their seat belts? I wonder what do they do?

eastexan · Jan 10, 2012

(quoted from post at 20:57:49 01/10/12) If one is driving on the rails and the rear end of a train looms up, it really doesn"t matter if my dog was driving, the result is the same.

Exactly!
It's a mighty helpless feeling for the train crew in a situation like that.

All you can do is quickly throw the automatic brake valve into emergency.
And from then on there's nothing more you can do except make the choice to ride it out, or take a chance and jump off.
Of course, in that case the safest action is to jump off and take your chances.

eastexan · Jan 10, 2012

There are no seat belts on locomotives.

tomtirediron · Jan 10, 2012

Went through BNSF Conductor-Trainmen School in Kansas City, Kansas in 1996.
Worked 3 years in yard where Ultradog photographed this. At that time in school instructors with alot of experience wouldn't or couldn't advise to jump or stay on. Jumping always sounds good until you remember there's 16000 tons of coal or 9000 grain thats going to all come forward. Just too many variables to know, Except in high speed head-on with another train- I'd be over the railing in a heartbeat!

Heath72 · Jan 10, 2012

The engineer that I trained under was killed in 1999 when he hit a giant loaded slurry tank being pulled by a John Deere 4 wheel drive tractor near Buckeye, IA. He hit the tank wagon dead center doing 50 MPH. The lead locomotive shot up in the air when they hit. When it landed on the ground, the rest of the train piled in on top of him. The second unit on the train looked very much like this one, but the only thing left of the leader was a few small pieces of the cab. Other than that, everything above frame was cleaned off. The conductor miraculously survived.

MSD · Jan 10, 2012

I suppose if you could calculate which way it was going to roll, you could jump out the other side and hope it all goes the other way. Probably comes down to if it is your time or not.

greygoat · Jan 11, 2012

Considering that a new locomotive costs about
$2,200,000 that's about a 1 million repair job.
If the frame is Ok, they will probably rebuild
it.
I agree that it"s in the storage yard, South of
St Anthony Parkway, in Minneapolis, and South of
the BNSF Northtown Diesel Shop, Where I spent 10
years of my life as a locomotive mechanic.

Glad I wasn't along for the ride

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