I was feeling unsure of the video. I was asking myself is this real, or a simulator? Then, I realized I wasn’t connected to my wi-fi. Then after connection, details and smoothness improved. Lol what are the odds that I’ve only found VRF yesterday. And as a child, plus one trip as adult, I’ve taken the southwest chief from Los Angeles to Ft. Madison to see family in Keokuk, Is. so, I browsed and found FRF. I should go to Vegas and bet the house. Or did I use up my luck finding this. 😂
I just made the same comment about the crew potentially “messing their drawers” when the locos started to tip towards the end, ESPECIALLY with this happening on a bridge, when I e-mailed the link to a railfan cousin of mine. Cleaning this mess up is going to be really tough with it happening on a bridge, hopefully VRF will be covering that the same way they did the Horseshoe Curve derailments NS had last year. Thankfully looks like no injuries at least.
Holy cow! I can't imagine what the engineer was thinking as the motor started tilting to the right. I'm very glad the train did not leave the bridge. My goodness!!
I just imagine "shitshitshitshitshit!" Was probably afraid it could tumble off the bridge, which would have been quite the wild ride. Maybe debating if he'd be better off to try to secure himself in the cab or jump overboard before the train took it's tumble.
@@michaelrasmussen426 The train stopped so quickly because the friction of the train against the bridge or whatever is far greater than braking. It probably would've stopped at about that point regardless of braking, assuming the brakes were not applied until the derailment occurred. If there were no brakes, the cars behind might've pushed it a bit further- but once a train is off its tracks it stops real quick!
@@aquilarossa5191 nah, it was secondary to having the golden spike repossessed. ;) Seriously though, yeah, totally looks to be track maintenance related - specifically, the lack thereof.
Virtual Railfan just paid for itself! Because of these cams, they will prove vital for UP in the investigation of this derailment. What a great system VR is! Hope more and more go up!
True - I hope the recognize how much this will help them, I get the sense usually railway companies regard railfans as a nuisance. In any industry it seems fans who video things are regarded as a nuisance until they manage to catch something important on video, then they are extremely valuable - though sometimes the companies still won't admit it.
Not as helpful as you think. UP will download inward and outward cameras, engine telemetry from all units and sync all the data for crew train handling. The video is a bonus but not necessary to determine cause. Signal. Track and Mechanical are also investigated.
No offense but I think Jim Bridge is right. It might be a "little something more", but the rail company isn't going to be thankful than we hope for. News networks might be willing to pay though...
@@nkt1 Not necessarily. The initial cause may be concealed by damage caused by subsequent axles going over the same point. Imagine when you poke a bust zipper, the hole spreads from the initial problem.
That's several hundreds thousand in lost time, repair and damage. Could be millions if they need to replace bridge sections. Never good to see this kind of thing, Hope everyone is alright both physically and psychologically. This is why trains sometimes go slow so anyone bitching about slow trains at rail crossing should watch this and imagine what would have happened if that train had been going even 10% faster. Hope those beautiful engines get fixed up and back in service ASAP.
@@michaelbardwell6398 but the profits! The profits come first, unfortunately. Have a friend who works for one of the southeastern rail companies and it's all profit over safety and paying the employees a good wage.
In this country,highways have priority,and railroads are second or third class citizens! Everyone is equal,but some are more equal than others,( a slight change from Orwell)! The public knows what makes the nation tick,but the aroma of money,keeps the political class happy! Empires fall from within,and the rot is particularly deep now!
@@roberthuron9160 Well, the highways are supposed to be paid for out of the taxes paid on every gallon of fuel sold. Do the railroads have a similar tax to pay for their upkeep? Not as far as I know. The railroads also tend to be privately owned which makes it the responsibility of the property owner to keep it working. Of course the corps don't want to spend on upkeep.
The problem is,that most of the highway taxes,DO NOT COVER THE COSTS! The Highway Trust Fund is only for building the roads,NOT MAINTAINING THEM(OOPS)! To pave(or repave),currently,costs about $10,000,per lane,per mile,and that cost comes out or GENERAL REVENUE,i.e,the non-users,and railroads,and transit passengers! Translated- Cross Subsidies,not accounted for,and buried in the books! See CAFIRS,( Consolidated Annual Financial Returns- the governments real books)!
I must agree. The only rail line with dirtier engines that UP is CSX. With CSX it’s not as noticeable because of their dark blue paint scheme, but they are filthy.
@@mrbluesky2050 Right. Until they verify damage to the trestle won't cause it to collapse onto the tracks below. Talk about bringing a whole yard to a standstill.
Glenn Cartwright Yards. BNSF Argentine in KCK, BNSF Murray in North KC and UP Armourdale in KCK. Plus trains parked up and down several subs. Namely BNSF Fort Scott, Mercelinne, possibly the Transcon out of Argentine to Chicago.
They are so lucky that nothing toppled over or accordioned through the railings. They would've fallen right off the trestle! I can't even begin to imagine the pucker factor for the crew as those locos started to lean over. It's gonna take some big cranes to re-rail this mess. The normal crawler cranes won't work that high off the ground. I also can't help but wonder how many cars broke loose inside those carriers and went crashing forward into each other.
One Leighberr LR 1100 has a lift capacity of 200,000 lbs at a hoist height of 225ft. It's not even a big crawler either. They have crawlers ranging from 10T to 600+ Ton hoist limits. Up to 600ft hoist height.
I thought the same! All it needed was the engines to slip and pull the whole set down and those guys most probably wouldn’t have made it out unscathed...
Also note the timestamp at the top. The train came to a halt at 7:50. The workers started by inspecting the far side of the train at 8:03, and didn't start on the close side till 8:17, giving things plenty of time to finish settling into a stable position.
Perfect example on why there are the inner rails on bridge crossings. Good grief that could of been catastrophic for engineer and conductor. Awesome catch VR.
This is a prime example for rail fans to not get too close to the tracks! could you imagine some place like La Plata and that happened at the Amtrak platform!? Run for your lives! Or be the first car at a grade crossing? Thank God no one was hurt? I hope!
I'm not sure if you're joking or not, but people are always at this camera getting pictures of the trains passing in that exact spot, it's quite the spot.
This should be an important reminder that if you are standing near the tracks with a bicycle, stroller, or anything, and you are in a car, stay back in case you hear that derailment sound...I was about 8 or 9 years old when I saw a train derail; there actually was two at the same time. The trains had a meet, but one set of railcars leaned on the other train. What a mess. This was a bit scary though. The bridge held up.
That track is destroyed though annd some damage to the beridge but yea if the train was heavier the carriages could have pushed it further and it may nave fallen off the bridge.
Looking at Google Earth, there's a track switching point right there. My guess, it's a junction failure, so the tracks weren't aligned which caused it to jump the rails.
Good investigation! We can see just before it derails something being kicked up in front of the locomotive, would suspect that maybe something got caught on the locomotive's plow, either a piece of damaged track or this caused damage to the track.
Good find. That's the most interesting track junction I've ever seen, very cool! I think your guess is pretty spot on, happened right inside the Kansas side of the border.
Wow! That could have been so much worse. I have a double line that runs 15 yards behind my house, derailments are the only fear I have from the train. So far in 7 years, so good.
All the derailments that happen all over the country, and we get a very small fraction of them on video. It's more of a testament to the proliferation of cameras than anything else.
@@macgyveratlarge2133 I guess. I have no fear / hate / love / opinion on cops, other than that they are human, and this idea we hold that they should be infallible is crazy. Humans will do bad things, and we need humans to do police jobs. We don't have Robocop yet. So, yes, cameras will catch humans doing bad things. Police, civilian, military, and other. "Us vs. Them," or should I say, "The Public vs. Police" can take a friggin' leap off the nearest cliff, though. Humans need to seriously learn - right now, today - that the actions of the few don't really give you any information about the actions of the whole. I learned this when I was seven years old (about 40 years ago.) It's depressing that the rest of the adult world cannot catch up. Really sad.
Yep. I have no idea how they're gonna rerail the locomotive and cars ON A BRIDGE! The locomotive tilted so much, it will be impossible to use the frogs.
@@sleeptyper Actually they just brought in a crane capable of lifting 500t and lifted it right up. Watching it on the livestream now, started around 03:00 CDT
A piece of something gets thrown up off the track immediately in front of the lead locomotive at 1:13 - that is the point where the trrain goes off the tracks. I wonder what the speed limit is for this stretch of tracks. It seems like this train is going around 20 MPH. What is the chance two people would be watching the exact location where a train derails?
The locomotive derailed about 100 feet before hitting that piece of something. You can hear the locomotives hit the ground at 1:02. Likely a hotbox detector or a signal switch that got smashed off due to the derailed locomotives.
Yeah, I was glad to see the person walking around in the lead engine - and hope there was nobody else hurt. I also think as soon as the engines started making sounds, that they hit the emergency. I think it's a very good example of why people should be extra careful around railroad tracks - look how far after the original problem that the train traveled with the cars and engines ripping up tracks and ties (and maybe had brakes activated). Accidents happen - and the good news is that this one didn't jump off of the bridge!
@@peterhaan9068 (LAUGH!) I wouldn't be at all surprised that he or she was pretty shook up. The way the engine was shaking and swaying and bouncing - I'd be surprised if they could stay in the seat or on their feet, unless they had seat belts. I'd like to see a condensed version of the rescue and cleanup. It would be very interesting to see how they would deal with them all being on a bridge.
I rarely experience derails, what really annoys me is forgetting to press the acknowledge button when passing the yellow signal and triggering the emergency brake
Lol actually it was the BNSF guys because they are the ones who have to make the repairs. It was on the KCT railway but is maintained by BNSF. UP is responsible for the costs.
This is amazing footage, just got around to watching the clean-up film. Did an investigation find the cause? It does look like the lead engine gets a sway on, like a rail broke or the ties broke allowing the rail to move out from under. Good job the air line didn't break so and the train slowed in an even way rather than momentum stacking the train in a Z-shape, spilling off the bridge.
Unfortunate for railroad that it happened on a bridge and it will cost even more to re-rail those locomotives but thankfully everyone walked away. Whoever took the video was lucky to be in the right place at the right time to catch it all. It would be interesting to know exactly what caused it.
This should be a good reminder when rail fanning to be aware of how close we stand to the tracks. I know its cool to get them close ups, but we never know what can happen at any giving moment! Be safe guys and girls! Glad no one was injured! A little bondo and some paint on them engines they will be back to work in no time!
I was expecting to see the guy with the tripod on his phone to call for help. I realise the train has communications, but just saying. Is he a spotter/enthusiust or just a surveyor or someone who happened to be there?
Wow... now thats not something ya see everyday... let alone catch in such good quality. I bet that was loud as heck! I am sure it was still loud even a mile away! Great find! Thank you!
My dad was a track inspector for BN/BNSF. And he had about a 100 mile section of track that he inspected/worked on every morning 5 days a week, sometimes every day when it gets cold, for years on end. I dunno if UP does the same thing, but I do know that theres other specialized guys that do inspections/work on other things like bridges, electrical, etc.
VRF's time and patience paid off. Good to see only equipment was damaged. There probably is a third rail (catch rail) on the bridge which kept anything from going over. The leading wheels appeared to derail 1st just pass the signal. If the span bridge ahead is a drawbridge then there is probably a power derail just pass that signal that the crew or bridge operator or dispatcher would control. Would need a timetable of that service unit to know. Thanks for sharing!
It’s a wonder the whole bridge didn’t collapse under the inertial and gravity loads placed on it during this event. Are there any videos of the cleanup of this mess?
There's a freight line that runs through my town and part of it goes right past my neighbors houses a few blocks away. Something like this is always a mild anxiety whenever I hear an improperly lubricated wheel squeal as a train rattles through town. Then again, that anxiety has deep roots that go back to my childhood when we lived in a house that was a half block from a railroad track that ran on top of a 20-some foot hill of ballast and every night for the first couple months we lived in that house I would lie in bed and worry that the train was going to derail, roll down the hill and wipe out every house on that block (it was actually a triangular half block with our house on the corner and two duplexes flanking it to either side like Canadian geese in formation.)
There’s no such thing as a lubricated train wheel. They have sealed bearings that never need lubrication and routinely outlast the wheel itself. That squeal is the steel wheel flange running on the steel rails.
This is legit some of the coolest train footage I have ever seen. Hopefully more cameras will mean we get more of these chance shots captured. Most happen where nobody but train crews see them. More cams means more railfans getting to actually SEE what happens when these titans go wrong. It's one thing to see a loco half-buried and imagine it, but its something else to SEE the weight and momentum grinding right through the earth and everything in its way.
The derailment starts at 0:14 on the first scene, then at 1:05 on the second scene, then at 1:55 on the third scene. You cab hear it, even though you can’t see it for a few seconds after the initial derailment. Before the derailment starts the train is running smooth and not making that grinding sound that starts as soon as something derails. I watched it several times and it looks like it starts with the rear truck on the lead engine.
@@nathanielpillar8012 the second deck is covered by the top deck that the derailment happened on. See those tracks at about the 0:20 mark that curve off from the right side of tbe screen? They lead to the lower deck of the bridge.
I liquidated the Union Pacific Railroad office building in St. Louis, MO (formerly the Mo-Pac Building). I have tons of UP train decals that they left behind.
That was real crazy I hope they found out why that train derailed I hope the people that were in the locomotive hopefully you're okay May the Lord's blessings be with them
i am not to hip on the ins and outs of railroading but from a novice perspective i would say the guys running that train were awesome in doing the job and not making this a much worse problem then it was. i think they deserve some recongnition. cant imagine how difficult this is going to be to clean up on a bridge.
