Train Cars Derail, Fall into Potomac River in Harpers Ferry

[Hawghead]

Well thankfully no one was hurt.  Any news on the cause of the derailment?  From what I see it looks like it would have been a broken rail, bad track gauge or the engineer was stretch braking and managed to string line it.

Scott

[nkalanaga]

Hawghead:  An obviously uninformed poster on another site claimed a "wheel fell off", then said it had to be sabotage, because "the wheels are welded on".  ?????

Maletrain:  For trackside safety, the BN, many years ago, had a good "rule of thumb".  As far as I know, it was never written in a rule book.  "Stand 20 feet from the near end of the ties, plus one foot for every mph of train speed."  Not possible on a bridge, so I wouldn't suggest train watching from the bridge walkways (joking, as it's hard to watch a train from that close!).

[dem34]

Hawghead:  An obviously uninformed poster on another site claimed a "wheel fell off", then said it had to be sabotage, because "the wheels are welded on".  ?????

Maletrain:  For trackside safety, the BN, many years ago, had a good "rule of thumb".  As far as I know, it was never written in a rule book.  "Stand 20 feet from the near end of the ties, plus one foot for every mph of train speed."  Not possible on a bridge, so I wouldn't suggest train watching from the bridge walkways (joking, as it's hard to watch a train from that close!).

You underestimate the foamers. Always get a little... scared when I'm seeing railfans just shuffling around with cameras 3ft from a moving locomotive. And then I see that the ties are all rotted out and half the spikes are missing. Just seems like an accident waiting to happen when you don't follow that rule.

[Hawghead]

Hawghead:  An obviously uninformed poster on another site claimed a "wheel fell off", then said it had to be sabotage, because "the wheels are welded on".  ?????

Maletrain:  For trackside safety, the BN, many years ago, had a good "rule of thumb".  As far as I know, it was never written in a rule book.  "Stand 20 feet from the near end of the ties, plus one foot for every mph of train speed."  Not possible on a bridge, so I wouldn't suggest train watching from the bridge walkways (joking, as it's hard to watch a train from that close!).

Well a wheel could have broken, but more likely the wheel flange, it happens.  20 feet + 1 foot/mph would mean doing a roll-by of a 70 mph train from 90 feet away, not very practical in most places we stop and wait for traffic.

Scott

[John]

I used to railfan at St Dennis -- but haven't been there in years .. great group of guys, but my risk tolerance has gone down considerably ..

[John]

Found this online

https://soundcloud.com/user-870115189/b802-derailment-harpers-ferry?fbclid=IwAR0YW3a1FPfW8iz2uzEMjsc2Wk2p_2vigBT6qKBo9kvGKhlXnm7AObsCmAc

[nkalanaga]

Scott:  If your job includes inspecting the train, no, you would just about have to be closer.  The "rule" was for those who didn't have to be close to it, which is just about everyone not a railroad employee, and most that are.  But there are certainly exceptions.

A broken wheel, or flange, was my first thought, based solely on guesswork, and a few media pictures.   I'll leave it for the experts to determine, but I doubt that it was sabotage, as most terrorists would prefer a more prominent location, with greater opportunity for mayhem.

[Chris333]

Here is a good video of the area:

[John]

[iandrewmartin]

Being a walking trail - kind of creepy walking there after they fix it I would think.