Eastern Railroad Discussion > Update On NS Derailment Alston South Carolina

NS train 28T (?) loaded BMW auto-rack train derailed Sunday afternoon and fortunately no one was seriously injured. Reviewing an old NS Timetable it appears the derailment occurred just north of the community of Alston at the mile post W108.8 at the west end of a 6500 foot siding just east of the Broad River. The last SAD detector for this south bound auto-rack is located at MP102.4 It will be interesting to know the cause of this derailment given the two locomotives and four head end cars were re-railed pretty quickly.Corrections / additional updates are encouraged.  http://www.wistv.com/story/33864422/clean-up-begins-after-train-carrying-bmws-derails-in-midlands

Reading the reports of this incident on regular media. Not too much shown in terms of the damaged BMW's, and am looking forward to some better photos on T/O hopefully.

Never a good thing to see, brand-new expensive automobiles being moved around by front-end loaders.  

Fascinating work in the video by RJ Corman and Norfolk Southern in clearing and reopening the railroad.  Walt Disney could have used RJ Corman to update "Fantasia" to have a ballet of track equipment instead of hippos.

A hundred wrecked BMWs.   That was not a cheap derailment.   Makes you cry watching the jaws pick up a Beamer with 0 miles.   Will a salvage company get to salvage parts? 

A long time ago I was involved with a BMW claim against a car carrier. Seemed that the driver lowered the top ramps a little too close to two cars on the lower ramps. Both had minor hood damage from a bump in transit. BMW totalled the cars, made the case the could not longer be sold as new.

On MSN.  Article notes that these vehicles are destined for export.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/autos/news/train-derailment-kills-120-innocent-bmw-x-models/ar-AAlbK4r?ocid=spartanntp

Tominde Wrote:
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> A hundred wrecked BMWs.   That was not a cheap
> derailment.   Makes you cry watching the jaws
> pick up a Beamer with 0 miles.   Will a salvage
> company get to salvage parts? 

Probably crunch everything. Liability issues.

BMW is probably very sensitive to that issue. Does anyone remember them getting burned in a case about 25 years ago where they had been repairing paint damage on new cars, but still selling them as new? A class action lawsuit was successfully brought against them, but the high punitive damages allowed in the state of Alabama were overturned in the US Supreme Court.

tronarail Wrote:
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> Reading the reports of this incident on regular
> media. Not too much shown in terms of the damaged
> BMW's, and am looking forward to some better
> photos on T/O hopefully.

Word on the street is somewhere around $8 MILLION in damages.

Posted from Android

Tough to watch....the total sounds about right...  120 BMW's x $65,000 (roughly each) = $7.8 million.

bioyans Wrote:
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> tronarail Wrote:

> Word on the street is somewhere around $8 MILLION
> in damages.
>
> Posted from Android

sp8192 Wrote:
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> Tough to watch....the total sounds about
> right...  120 BMW's x $65,000 (roughly each) =
> $7.8 million.
>
> bioyans Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > tronarail Wrote:
>
> > Word on the street is somewhere around $8
> MILLION
> > in damages.
> >
> > Posted from Android

I doubt the RR would have to pay retail cost - and no one would release the cost that BMW says is 'wholesale'.  Nevertheless, a costly derailment.  Time for trackwork?

I have heard that there was another recent derailment near there that affected BMW.  At what point would the shipper demand 'trackwork' or other things to guarantee the safety of their shipments?

P Wrote:
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> I doubt the RR would have to pay retail cost - and
> no one would release the cost that BMW says is
> 'wholesale'.  Nevertheless, a costly
> derailment.  Time for trackwork?

All the trackwork in the world won't help, if someone insists on running through a switch not lined for them ... if you catch my drift.

The BMW plant in Greer SC has made their X-5 series for many years (at one time it was the only production facility in the whole corporation for that model)  NS operates the "other auto train" in South Carolina by transporting from the factory directly to ocean going ferry at Columbus Pier in Charleston SC for international distribution.  The empty rail auto carriers are then loaded with product that came off the same ship (or similar) and carried back to Greer for final assembly and distribution to the dealer network in North America.  As far as I know, NS runs the dedicated BMW trains six days a week.

If I'm catching your drift then either a previous train had made a trailing point move through the switch when it was not lined for their route, a previous train had mistakenly left the siding switch lined for the siding after they departed or this BMW train was supposed to either take the siding or stay on the main and failed to approach the facing point switch prepared to stop and hand line it.

This brings up a nagging issue about this NS route from Spartanburg to Charleston.  It is almost entirely dark, and very few of the passing sidings even have spring switches or approach marker lights for the switches.  This isn't the first time the BMW train has wrecked on this line.  About 10 years ago, the eastbound encountered a facing point switch lined against them at the Pacolet siding and derailed.  And within the last couple of years, an eastbound derailed after encountering a switch lined against them near Charleston.  There have undoubtedly been other instances of derailments caused by improperly lined switches, broken rails, etc. that could have been prevented by having a signal system on this line.  There has been tremendous growth in the number of trains and the value of the trains that operate on this line due to the BMW traffic and the traffic to the new inland port at Greer over the last few years.  It seems to me that the traffic on the line justifies the installation of a signal system, if not full CTC, at least an ABS system with spring switches at the passing sidings.  I wonder why NS doesn't see fit to signal this line?  
 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/06/16 11:46 by DirtyShirt.

Agree with you DS. Have never fanned on this line but have been looking at Google maps and with a rather old timetable come to the same list of possible causes you have listed. NSSpike

A drop in the ocean compared to the derailment in MT a few years back which totalled those Boeing fuselages.

Not the first time for BMW auto being totaled solely because they were in a auto carrier car which had derailed.  Conrail had a west bound train derail while traveling the Southern Tier, just before crossing the giant trestle across the Genessee River in western NY.  Several cars fell down into the gorge, but many chewed up the deck timber and made it across the trestle but then they laid over on their sides at the west end. The entire trestle was full of derailed cars on chewed up timber. This is the trestle being replaced by a arch bridge and all the foundations piers have now been completed and steel work has begun.  The part of the train that derailed contained several auto carriers full with BMW very special autos which were built for display at the Miami Auto Show in Florida.  Even though the cars were untouched as their chains had secured them up side down, every auto in any derailed car was smashed in a crusher. It too was a very expensive derailment.

Now, the entire deck oi the trestle was destroyed and it was found impossible to locate the giant timber that was used to support the track.  The railroad became very scared they would be a long delay finding the trees to cut to get the required timber.  Then they found the construction of the Buffalo subway had used giant timber which were still left over and immediate purchased them to lay on the deck to temporally get the line back in service.  All the re-railing of an entire train had to be worked with several wrecking contractors out over the river in zero winter weather with snow and high winds.  No one got killed but it was a frightful job. Later when the new deck timber was cut and treated, the subway timber was removed and replaced with new giant timbers. Soon this entire trestle will be removed and replaced with a high speed bridge. Does someone need some giant bridge timber-slightly used?

I like the idea that BMW is manufacturing vehicles in the US, and exporting them to the rest of the world.

North American parts and component suppliers get a lot of work, assembly plant, rail workers, etc get paid. Puts a different spin on "American car manufacturers".

Other American plants export at least VWs and Hondas, there is no foreign/American car anymore. While I like the idea of buy American we live in a Global economy and that ain't going to change anytime soon! BMWs at $65K, nothing special there, the fancy Ford and GM pickup trucks go for that much!
Gonut.

Gonut1 Wrote:
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> Other American plants export at least VWs and
> Hondas, there is no foreign/American car anymore.
> While I like the idea of buy American we live in a
> Global economy and that ain't going to change
> anytime soon! BMWs at $65K, nothing special there,
> the fancy Ford and GM pickup trucks go for that
> much!
> Gonut.

Yes.

I was surprised to learn that auto parts are also a big part of the US export mix.  Mercedes Benz exports cars and car parts to China and elsewhere. More than $12 bn last year in Benz exports from Alabama alone

Alabama cars and car parts exports

DirtyShirt Wrote:
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> If I'm catching your drift then either a previous
> train had made a trailing point move through the
> switch when it was not lined for their route, a
> previous train had mistakenly left the siding
> switch lined for the siding after they
> departed or this BMW train was supposed to either
> take the siding or stay on the main and failed to
> approach the facing point switch prepared to stop
> and hand line it.

Not exactly. Supposedly, it is more along the lines of a conductor not wanting to walk the whole distance of his train after re-lining the switch, and failing to remember that the distance to the head end, was longer than the room behind the train in the siding. Again, supposedly.

Posted from Android



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/07/16 17:36 by bioyans.