Train Cars Derail, Fall into Potomac River in Harpers Ferry

[nthusiast]

nbcwashington.com | 9-21-19

A freight train crossing the Potomac River near Harpers Ferry derailed early Saturday morning, causing two cars to tip over a footbridge and plummet into the water.

Seven cars derailed on the bridge, wiping out a section of a footbridge that's part of the famous Appalachian Trail, a major tourist draw for the town of Harpers Ferry. It appears no one was on the bridge at the time and no injuries were reported.

The train was headed east over Winchester and Potomac Railroad Bridge between Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, and Maryland about 2:30 a.m., train operator CSX says.

The empty grain cars derailed into the water and on the West Virginia shoreline, but the locomotive stayed ont the tracks, CSX says.

More, plus pics and video: https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/train-derails-into-potomac-river-near-harpers-ferry/2190541/?

[Maletrain]

[Rich_S]

Does anyone know if the train was operating with a DPU?

[Mark5]

CSX 

More pix here:

https://wtop.com/local/2019/12/cargo-tumbles-into-potomac-as-freight-rail-bridge-fails-near-harpers-ferry-west-va/

[John]

Does anyone know if the train was operating with a DPU?

I don't think so .. those are usually fairly short

[mu26aeh]

I don't think so .. those are usually fairly short

Train was 105 empties, and no DPU

[John]

Thats short

[mu26aeh]

Thats short

Have to remember, my line averages less than 35 cars usually, so 105 is like 3 days worth for me

[Mark5]

Thats short

Agreed. 

[basementcalling]

Looks like those cars had the giant Scaletrains couplers on them, so they stayed linked together.

[nkalanaga]

The news report I saw. on WSAZ-3 in Huntington, WV, said "all empties, no hazardous materials, no environmental damage".  Nice to hear a news report that doesn't make a derailment sound like a major catastrophe.

They also had a "company spokesperson" who said that the bridge "partially collapsed".  I don't see any sign of that, except for the pedestrian walkway.

[Maletrain]

This does make me rethink personal safety while watching trains.  My wife and I have stood exactly where that grain car is lying on the ground.

And, isn't that walkway on the railroad bridge the walkway used by people who are traveling the Appalachian Train?  I walked across one of those bridges on a walkway intended for public use, but am forgetting if it was on that bridge or the mainline bridge.  I am thinking that it was the branchline bridge.

[Bob]

Yes, the walkway is on the 1894 bridge which use to be double-track until the new mainline bridge was built in, if I recall, 1931.  The walkway is part of the Appalachian Trail and  is used be many people who visit Harpers Ferry.  The cars tumbled over the walkway, destroying part of it.  The is a closed walkway on the 1931 mainline bridge - it has never been open to the public.

[John]

[Maletrain]

WTOP News https://wtop.com/local/2019/12/cargo-tumbles-into-potomac-as-freight-rail-bridge-fails-near-harpers-ferry-west-va/ has some updated information and pictures, including this drone shot that pretty much says it all:

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