Western Railroad Discussion > MRL Derailment, Br 57, Trout Creek, MT

A coal train has derailed on bridge 57 at Trout Creek, MT at 0600 on Monday. No one was injured but the ties on top of the two deck spans on the east end were destroyed. There was some damage to the ties on the thru truss portion and a structural engineer is on site inspecting for damage there. Operations may not resume for several days or perhaps more than a week. MRL has always said that if the thru truss portion was lost it could take 18 monts to replace the structure.

Twenty seven cars are derailed and I believe this was a Boardman load for the UP from Buckskin Mine. I will edit this if it was a Centralia load.
Cars are reported derailed across the length of the bridge with a cluster of cars at the east end of the thru section and in contact with the steel members. Some cars are unaccounted for and expected to be in the river.

These photos were taken of eastbound trains 10/10/2004.

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Holy Crap!! Keep us up on this one Al, as I remember the water under the truss is particularly deep. Also, with such a potentially long delay in reopening the bridge, how would this impact the MRL and BNSF financially and operationally--I hope the Gas Local and the ML-LMs are cash cows should the MRL be closed off to handling bridge traffic.

Ted S-P

The waters here are over 200' deep or so. This bridge is west of the usual limits of the P'Dise local and gas train. The ML and LM will move a bit less traffic while the bridge is down but not too much less. The hunters on the railroad will be happy though, a little fresh tracking snow and some pretty good days off and the time off might just pay for itself. We all got a fresh load of vacation days starting Nov 1 so everyone should be able to work out a paycheck for the period but that will shorten the summer vacations a bit.

Needless to say, if you are coming up to railfan the MRL adjust the plans and move north to the BNSF main.

Alan,

Was just wondering if the CN 5654 is as prone to air problems
as they are up here on home rails?

Jeff

A BNSF service advisory:

"To: All Impacted Customers
11/13/2006

Derailment Update - Montana Rail Link at Tuscor, Montana

At approximately 6:55 a.m. CT Monday, November 13, 2006 train C BKMSPB1-13 derailed 25 cars blocking the single main track at Tuscor, Montana. This location is approximately 62 miles east of Sandpoint, ID.

Estimated time for restoration of service is five to seven days. Updates will be provided as information becomes available.

Customers may experience delays on traffic moving through this corridor."

Here is the news from the CBS affiliate in Missoula.

http://www.montanasnewsstation.com/Global/story.asp?S=5674778

Though the story was covered with photos by the NBC station there was nothing yet on their web site. Nothing at the news paper either. So in the morning try:

www.keci.com
www.missoulian.com

If I find something there in the morning I will post the links here. Looks like I will be getting about a week's vacation without pay. I will have to cash in some of those flex days and plan a shorter trip come fall.

There are sever snow warnings in western Montana tonight. High winds have plagued the state all day and now we could see 2"-4" snow after midnight in the valleys and 12"-24" above 5,000' in the area.

fbe Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Here is the news from the CBS affiliate in
> Missoula.
>
> http://www.montanasnewsstation.com/Global/story.as
> p?S=5674778
<snip>

There is a video link at the above site. The "video" actually contains some pretty decent still photos from the wreck site.
-Wes

The NBC station, KECI has some pretty good stills last night on the 2200 news but did not post them or the video report on their web today. There is also nothing on the Missoulian website yet today but keep checking there as they should have something to post later in the day as the news is less "fresh" if past practice holds. Then perhaps it is old news already....

So far NONE of the neww outlets seem to have sent a news team to the location. I suppose the 250+ mile round trip is too much for their budget since no one was maimed or killed and the most hazardous material involved was coal.

Thanks for the video link. They're really lucky as it appears the bridge is OK.



DRGW Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> fbe Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Here is the news from the CBS affiliate in
> > Missoula.
> >
> >
> http://www.montanasnewsstation.com/Global/story.as
>
> > p?S=5674778
>
>
> There is a video link at the above site. The
> "video" actually contains some pretty decent still
> photos from the wreck site.
> -Wes

The Missoulian didn't have much more today...

TROUT CREEK - A derailment Monday in western Montana may require leave tracks closed for up to a week, Montana Rail Link said.

Twenty-seven cars in a coal train derailed 2 1/2 miles west of Trout Creek. No one was injured.

The train with 115 cars and four locomotives began its journey in Buckskin, Wyo., and was bound for Boardman, Ore.

Closure of the track is likely to last five to seven days while crews move equipment and repair damage, Rail Link said.

Cause of the derailment was under investigation.

To: All Impacted Customers

11/13/2006

Derailment - Montana Rail Link at Tuscor, Montana


At approximately 6:55 a.m. CT Monday, November 13, 2006 train C BKMSPB1-13 derailed 25 cars blocking the single main track at Tuscor, Montana. This location is approximately 62 miles east of Sandpoint, ID.

Estimated time for restoration of service is pending. Updates will be provided as information becomes available.

Customers may experience delays on traffic moving through this corridor.

Trains will begin running westbound out of Missoula about 0400 tonight. Eastbounds out of Spokane sometime later.