Derailment and Fire on UP bridge in Tempe, AZ

[reinhardtjh]

Around 6AM local time a derailment and fire on Tempe Town Lake bridge.  The report says the conductor is unharmed.  No word of the engineer or fireman.

https://www.abc15.com/news/region-southeast-valley/tempe/train-fire-prompts-huge-emergency-response-in-tempe

[Peavine]

I was on my morning run when this happened, saw a bunch of smoke just before six a.m.  what a shame, a very cool old bridge. I have lots of pictures of trains that i’ve taken standing in the park below this bridge. It it a little over a hundred years old.

[eja]

Great timing .....


Just last week a thread on turning a truss bridge upside down pointed out the advantage of doing so:  a derailment doesn't take out the bridge as well.

Ironic

[C855B]

Is there enough traffic on that line to justify repair? 20-30 years ago (under SP) there was serious talk of abandonment.

[wcfn100]

Is there enough traffic on that line to justify repair? 20-30 years ago (under SP) there was serious talk of abandonment.

Probabably.  That track is the connection for everything south and east of Phoenix.  Those tank cars probably came from a facility on the original UP main down in Chandler.

Jason

[C855B]

Hmm. To tell you the truth, the last time I had eyes on that line was when semaphores were still controlling the eastern portions just west of the NM border. Is the entire branch still extant from Wellton to Bowie (??? on both), or did SP or UP stub-end it? I'm recalling something about a big washout west of Phoenix a while back.

[wcfn100]

Hmm. To tell you the truth, the last time I had eyes on that line was when semaphores were still controlling the eastern portions just west of the NM border. Is the entire branch still extant from Wellton to Bowie (??? on both), or did SP or UP stub-end it? I'm recalling something about a big washout west of Phoenix a while back.

Are you talking along the 10 east of Tucson?  That's a totally different area.

Jason

[C855B]

Ah, got it. Makes sense, I had it in my head that's where the (former) loop off the main reconnected. Answered my own question, BTW - just looked at the current UP map and they did indeed cut the western portion of the line after it washed out.

[davefoxx]

The way those ties are burning on the bridge makes me wonder if something was ruptured and leaked along the ties.  Must been one hell of an accident to see.  I hope there's no injuries.

DFF

[wazzou]

The way those ties are burning on the bridge makes me wonder if something was ruptured and leaked along the ties.  Must been one hell of an accident to see.  I hope there's no injuries.

DFF

Certainly possible but Creosote is pretty flammable and it is about 115 degrees right now so it would burn pretty easily once a fire of any origin started.

[davefoxx]

115 degrees?!  Yowza!

[Jbub]

115 degrees?!  Yowza!

There are summer nights where the LOW temperature is in the 100's in Phoenix. I seriously don't get how anyone is able to live there, let alone close to 5 million in the metro area.

[johnb]

There are summer nights where the LOW temperature is in the 100's in Phoenix. I seriously don't get how anyone is able to live there, let alone close to 5 million in the metro area.

the low last night was 82°

[Jbub]

the low last night was 82°

Still yuck! Wasn't there a week last year of where the low didn't get below 95. Winters are awesome there hence the doubling of the population in October but summers are straight up brutal.

[Chris333]

I'll take a 2 month summer before a 6 month winter anytime.