Western Railroad Discussion > UP Shermer derailment/rebuilding photos

Short on time to summarize this, but I'm sure others can fill in details/questions.

1. North side of Shermer Rd.

2. Ballast had just been dumped

3. South side of Shermer Rd.

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4. Wreckage on the South side of the bridge.

5 - 6. What I think is UP's Proviso - Minneapolis manifest passing Northbound over the fill - at a suprising 15-20 mph. This was all created in the last two days.

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More wreckage photos -

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What I presume are portions of the bridge. ... and - a mountain of coal next to the fill.

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when did the u.p. start re-numbering the sd-90 macs into the 3400 series?

66

goneon66 Wrote:
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> when did the u.p. start re-numbering the sd-90
> macs into the 3400 series?
>
> 66
..


3470-8521 EMD - 1 SD90/43AC Planned re-#ing Active: #3478 (ex UP 8008)

It's unfortunate that this happened and a tragedy that two lives were lost but it's always amazing (a word I try not to overuse) what UP and its contractors can do so quickly. Pile up 28 cars, drop a bridge and trains are rolling again in what seems like just a matter of hours. And a new bridge will be in place in a couple of months. If this was a state highway project you could figure at least a year...and that's if it was (no pun) fast-tracked.

Is the fill right where the bridge was or did they build a shoo-fly around to enable building the new bridge?

Great job getting out there so early to take these photos! I had wondered if UP would re-route, but obviously their crews have made that unnecessary.

Absolutely amazing. That's the only thing you can say.

I was curious how they would be able to block a street with a pile of dirt, but I suppose even if they didn't do that, the road would be closed anyway while they rebuilt the bridge.

Interesting set of pics!!!!!! Thanks for sharing.

filmteknik Wrote:
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> Is the fill right where the bridge was or did they
> build a shoo-fly around to enable building the new
> bridge?

It is right where the bridge was. A shoo-fly could not have been constructed so quickly as the "Shermer" interlocking immediately east of the bridge site would have to be relocated (you can see the home signal in the pictures), requiring a temporary bridge over Willow Road for the CP connection. There are also businesses immediately north and south of the fill on that side; in fact the dry cleaners on the north are so close they almost ended up with a bathtub gondola in their store.

I don't know what method UP will use to replace the bridge, but if it's similar to what the Chicago Transit Authority's contractor (Kiewit Infrastructure) did in Evanston, Illinois two weekends ago, no shoofly will be needed. In fact Kiewit did two bridges in one day. Including demolition of the old bridges and the CTA's own removal/re-installation of trackwork, the line was only closed from 8:30 p.m. Friday to 4:00 a.m. Monday. By hearsay, Kiewit's delay penalty was $10,000 per minute, with no allowance for weather conditions.

I have a question. When cars derail like this, can the bulky, heavy steel items like couplers and wheels and /or trucks be re-used, or is it not safe to do so becase of possible cracking or other problems? I believe most of the cars get cut up for scrap, but how much can be salvaged?

Thank you,
JimBo

I believe with the magnitude of of everything involved it's faster and cheaper to just scrap everything instead of trying to did through and see what might be salvageable to reuse. And as mentioned you can't see what kind of stresses the parts have been put through to worry about reusing them. Some things can probably be reused.

Well, since there were deaths in the accident, I expect that nothing will happen with that equipment until the investigation of the accident is complete as they will probably look at that as a possible cause.

Secondly, even if there had been no death, the cars belong to Wisconsin Electric, and the cars would be considered a total loss so it would all be scrapped and insurance would pay for new cars and lading. The insurance company will likely go after UP for cash recovery.

Why would anyone want to re-use those parts if there is ANY possibility of fractures buried in the steel?

What happens when you scrap a car? You sell it to a scrapper, don't you? What does he do with it?

Any sensible scrapper takes things apart and segregates them, and tends to recycle the bits that have more value than molten random metal.

sevenbrewer Wrote:
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> Well, since there were deaths in the accident, I
> expect that nothing will happen with that
> equipment until the investigation of the accident
> is complete as they will probably look at that as
> a possible cause.
>
> Secondly, even if there had been no death, the
> cars belong to Wisconsin Electric, and the cars
> would be considered a total loss so it would all
> be scrapped and insurance would pay for new cars
> and lading. The insurance company will likely go
> after UP for cash recovery.
>
> Why would anyone want to re-use those parts if
> there is ANY possibility of fractures buried in
> the steel?

Union Pacific will just buy the coal cars involved, there is a value set for this purpose. Then the UP will scrap them out.

filmteknik Wrote:
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> If this was a state highway project you could figure
> at least a year...and that's if it was (no pun)
> fast-tracked.
>

Perhaps in your state. In California Caltrans is adept at expediting emergency repairs.