Eastern Railroad Discussion > CSXT derailed in Washington, DC

Approximately 10 cars piled up near Rhode Island Av. METRO shut down. Tankers leaking.

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News reports say cars are leaking "hazardous chemicals." Bad spot for hazardous leaks as they might mix with the poisonous gas coming out of the rest of DC.

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http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/CSX-Train-Derails-Hazardous-Material-Leaking-377725691.html

Looks like POD is within an interlocking. No info yet on train length, or posit ions in train.

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leaking lye

http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/CSX-Train-Derails-Hazardous-Material-Leaking-377725691.html

Small train by SanbornStandards....only 175 cars. Certainly buff forces were not a factor.

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https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/trafficandcommuting/csx-train-cars-derail-in-ne-washington-hazardous-substance-leaking/2016/05/01/568ae3fc-0f97-11e6-8967-7ac733c56f12_story.html?hpid=hp_hp-more-top-stories_no-name%3Ahomepage%2Fstory

I wonder if this will revitalize the opposition to the Virginia Ave Tunnel project?

​175 cars - at times railroads are their own worst enemies.
 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/01/16 08:55 by ts1457.

Seeing pics of the derailment, the cars are upright but almost sideways. When cars end up like that, is that a giveaway to a particular cause(s)? I wonder with the rainy day if weather was a factor.

The 'accordian' effect of the cars going sideways generally means the weight of the rear of the train continued to move and pushed these particular cars, this is most likely due to a hill but could be a number of causes like speed or brakes but generally a momentum/weight issue. Another photo shows cars on their side but still coupled, often called 'stringlining' this indicates a curve and the weight of the train simply pulling the cars to the shorter side.
After observing a number of derailments there is usually one of these signs but not a number of them all at once, the presence of a number of these characteristics suggest severe train dynamics, such as slack running in and out and generally suggests the train was too long. There's all sorts of reasons for these characteristics, but a general cause could be too many cars, perhaps poor distribution of power (all on one end or at wrong points in train), perhaps poor distribution of the loaded cars (all the weight at the wrong part of the train with the empty, lighter cars being the weakest point). It's also a demonstration of the huge weight of a train.

CR23135 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Seeing pics of the derailment, the cars are
> upright but almost sideways. When cars end up like
> that, is that a giveaway to a particular cause(s)?
> I wonder with the rainy day if weather was a
> factor.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/01/16 09:43 by TCnR.

CSX doesn't run DP on merchandise trains in this area as far as I know.  The only stuff around here that runs DP is double-barrel unit trains out of Fulton Yard in Richmond ready to go south towards Rocky Mount.  So all the power is always going to be on the head.

TCnR Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The 'accordian' effect of the cars going sideways
> generally means the weight of the rear of the
> train continued to move and pushed these
> particular cars, this is most likely due to a hill
> but could be a number of causes like speed or
> brakes but generally a momentum/weight issue.
> Another photo shows cars on their side but still
> coupled, often called 'stringlining' this
> indicates a curve and the weight of the train
> simply pulling the cars to the shorter side.
> After observing a number of derailments there is
> usually one of these signs but not a number of
> them all at once, the presence of a number of
> these characteristics suggest severe train
> dynamics, such as slack running in and out and
> generally suggests the train was too long. There's
> all sorts of reasons for these characteristics,
> but a general cause could be too many cars,
> perhaps poor distribution of power (all on one end
> or at wrong points in train), perhaps poor
> distribution of the loaded cars (all the weight at
> the wrong part of the train with the empty,
> lighter cars being the weakest point). It's also a
> demonstration of the huge weight of a train.
>
> CR23135 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Seeing pics of the derailment, the cars are
> > upright but almost sideways. When cars end up
> like
> > that, is that a giveaway to a particular
> cause(s)?
> > I wonder with the rainy day if weather was a
> > factor.

I should also say there's lots of things that the photos don't tell us, the photos were chosen to show the dramatic nature of the derailment. There's a few obvious things shown in the photos, but the sheer weight of a 175 car is the most obvious.

I've said this before. RR's have been running trains of 150 cars or more for years. I saw them on the Santa Fe in north Texas around 1960, logged many of them in the East on almost every RR I encounted. I could list them. Yes, cars were smaller and so were the locos. But both of them have gotten bigger over the years and so has technology of locomotives and equipment, safety and all other factors, including the higher education of employees and training. To prematurely blame this accident solely on train length is pure speculation.

Yep, speculation. Lots more info would be needed and it would be well beyond a hobby discussion site to do anything more than speculation and discussion.

Looking through the Washington Post photos it could all have happened in a short distance, can't tell if there is a switch underneath the derailed cars or not. Anybody know how fast the train was going or if there was anything unusual going on? Does this happen often on CSX?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/01/16 16:43 by TCnR.

Nope....It dosen't happen often on CSX.

I do not think CSX is any more derailment-prone than any other major carrier. My knowledge and impression is that CSX's track is much better than 15 years ago when they took some hits after some wrecks after the CR takeover. I'd say NS and CSX are close equals. NS track looks better in my area because it is mostly ex-PRR track which had a very high ballast section due to the heavy traffic of the past and the maintenance that required. But here CSX's track is the best it has ever been including the B&O days. Where I would say NS is ahead of CSX is that they keep their property much neater. Clean out excess vegetation near tracks, track materials left behind, and building maintenance, etc is generally better than CSX.  

CSX has indeed let the vegetation encroach the right of way in many places.  My last AutoTrain trip was delayed when a tree blew onto the tracks north of Quantico. Took an hour to get a guy with a chainsaw, and a tow line to pull the pieces out. The area between Lorton and north of Quantico has a lot of dubious trees, but the area around Quantico is seeing a huge amount of work for the new track, etc.

South of Fayetteville NC, they took up the track and the train bounced along the ties for 20 miles, or so it seemed. Really rough, banging around track. In other places, like south of JAX, the track was like glass. Perfect, you could stand a dime on edge and it wouldn't tip either way.

Sorry, I've never been a fan of trains over 120 cars or so.   Just too much slack action, imho.  Its amazing that there arent more accidents.  Its just too easy to pick a switch or a frog or just ride up on a curve.    And this isn't texas.....the NE has plenty of tight curves and switches, and really worn switch points are common. And I'm always amazed when I've ridden with an engineer who says...we're gonna slow down here, cause there's a bad spot. Eventually someone who doesn't know about the bad spot is gonna run a train thru there at track speed. .  ANd who knows..there train cud of big holed from a low hose, or crew action..  Or it cuda been a broken axle.

TCnR Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The 'accordian' effect of the cars going sideways
> generally means the weight of the rear of the
> train continued to move and pushed these
> particular cars, this is most likely due to a hill
> but could be a number of causes like speed or
> brakes but generally a momentum/weight issue.
> Another photo shows cars on their side but still
> coupled, often called 'stringlining' this
> indicates a curve and the weight of the train
> simply pulling the cars to the shorter side.
>

There is a grade of a bit less than 2% eastbound from Silver Spring, MD to the throat of the Washington Union Station terminal tracks.