Western Railroad Discussion > Boeing fuselages derailed on MRL....

Not a lot of details yet, but a westbound BNSF train has derailed on MRL near Lothrop, MT. Cars carrying Boeing fuselages and parts are involved in the derailment.

Paul Birkholz
Sheridan, WY

FAA enroute :o)

MRL photo

http://newstalkkgvo.com/montana-rail-link-train-derails-near-superior-three-cars-in-clark-fork-river-audio/



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/04/14 11:00 by dan.

---

Wonder if the fate of the planes is the same as the fate of autos involved in derailments?

It won't take that much damage to turn them into beer can stock!!

Wow, derailments on both the Hi-line and the MRL. Someone really wanted the weekend off bad! ;^P

Ted Curphey
Ontario, OR

wpdude Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Wonder if the fate of the planes is the same as
> the fate of autos involved in derailments?


Could you imagine the lawsuits??? Bad enough when one family could sue if their new Toyota flipped over on the highway due to a 'defect' related to damage incured from shotty railway transport. Now multiply that by several hundred passengers and their familys when a 737 falls out of the sky due to a rail transport related defect. I'd bet the planes are toast, and the BNSF has a big bill on their hands. Still just pennies out of very deep pockets though.

Mr. MRL

I suppose Boeing will now want to ship them by truck. Imagine that!

Jim

Wonder if this means Evaro Hill reroutes.......

Posted from Android



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/04/14 06:29 by jc76.

The F18 Navy fighter jet are shipped from California to Missouri by truck for final assembly by Boeing. One time the truck was run off the road and fell down an embankment, damaging the nearly complete aircraft. Engineers went over the plane, figured out what the problems were, and repaired it. Unless there is a lot of damage I think Boeing will do the same. We are not talking a $15,000 Toyota here. In that instance it is cheaper to just total the unit out. You don't do that with an airplane fuselage that costs millions.

Todd Clark
Canyon Country, CA
Trainorders.com

What will be truly interesting is what the "final" recipient of the completed airplane will do??? Boeing can inspect, repair and assemble the airframes involved in the incident. The end user, the company or individual that purchased the aircraft have the contractual right to refuse the aircraft if there is a question about its flight worthiness or its structural integrity.

If you ordered a $15,000 Toyota from the factory and were informed it was involved in an accident during its delivery, you would have the right to decline acceptance of that vehicle. The manufacturer cannot force you to accept the delivery of a documented inferior or damaged product.

Stay tuned, the court battle certainly looms!

webmaster Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The F18 Navy fighter jet are shipped from
> California to Missouri by truck for final assembly
> by Boeing. One time the truck was run off the road
> and fell down an embankment, damaging the nearly
> complete aircraft. Engineers went over the
> plane, figured out what the problems were, and
> repaired it. Unless there is a lot of damage I
> think Boeing will do the same. We are not talking
> a $15,000 Toyota here. In that instance it is
> cheaper to just total the unit out. You don't do
> that with an airplane fuselage that costs
> millions.

But the potential liability if the plane is later in a crash could be in the billions. I hope the railroad priced the move high enough to crunch a few.

Was the derailment low speed and is there visible damage? This will be an interesting situation to watch.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/04/14 07:37 by ts1457.

Guess we gotta know if the cars fell over or just came off the tracks and remained upright? Next question is, will parts/panel/assemblies be remove and replaced with new parts/panels/assemblies or will the damaged parts/panel/assemblies be repaired.

Old Bob out in Lost Wages

funnelfan Wrote:> Wow, derailments on both the Hi-line and the MRL...

During my 23 years with MRL it seemed that derailments ALWAYS happened in 3s. And nearly always it 2 on the hi-line & 1 on MRL.
So, where will the next one be for this latest trifecta...

...been there, seen that!

At this point in their lives the fuselages are just cans. There is no wiring or mechanical appliances installed. I was once told a repair to a bullet hole which damaged a member behind the skin could approach a million dollars. Any torsional damage would probably be fatal.

Posted from Windows Phone OS 7

Its going to screw up the assembly line at Boeing.

Posted from iPhone

fbe Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> At this point in their lives the fuselages are
> just cans. There is no wiring or mechanical
> appliances installed. I was once told a repair to
> a bullet hole which damaged a member behind the
> skin could approach a million dollars. Any
> torsional damage would probably be fatal.
>
> Posted from Windows Phone OS 7

But they may not be "true and plumb" anymore. Kinda hard to mount the wings if the bolt holes don't line up!
And skin damage is one thing, but if you got bent frames it's game over.
Cheaper to scrap that fuselage then it would to have to modify everything else to fit that "bent" fuselage.

The automobile thing has always amused me. Cars are nothing but parts and parts can be replaced with factory new ones and there is not a doggone thing wrong with the vehicle. And yet, people scream to the high heavens.

If they are not repairable, they will probably be used for structural testing and analysis (load testing) and at least that way if they are a write off . . . Additional tax write offs become available under "Research and Development."

A report from last night says that 18 cars are derailed including 13 cars hauling Boeing parts and fuselages. The cars are derailed 'accordion' style. The fuselages are off the cars, heavily damaged, and at least one of them is in the river.

Paul Birkholz
Sheridan, WY

Pictures or newspaper link?