Western Railroad Discussion > Funnel Derailment Story

It's Tuesday, February 27th, 2001 around 10am in the morning. The MRL
engineer of the H-KCKPAS 23 is notching out the throttle on the #1 as
the train clears the 40mph speed restricted turnout at Rathdrum, ID. Based of info I revieved from numerous sources, and my own personal observations, this is likely what happen yesterday


In less than a hour this crew should be tying up at Yardley in Spokane
after a pre-dawn start out of Missoula, MT. Up ahead on the opposite
main another Pasco bound manifest is slowly creeping out the west end of Hauser yard.
At the same moment Scott, a welder working on a
contractual basis with ACSYS and FMI (where I work) leaves a metal
fabrication shop for a short walk to the FMI plant, which is right next door. Also in the same moment a BNSF employee driving a truck to Hauser Yard is slowing down for the turn onto McGuire Rd. And also at this exact moment, one or both trucks of a empty bulkhead flat has dropped on the ground for some unknown reason. Unbeknownst to each party, this day has just took a turn for the worse.
The Kansas City to Pasco freight is bearing down on the McGuire Rd.
crossing at or just below any applicable speed limit (which probably was 45mph considering the empty cars). The gate is already down because the other train is still slowly creeping across the crossing. On the north side of the tracks a BNSF employee is patiently waiting in his truck.
The engineer starts sounding off the normal crossing salute with his
horn. The KCKPAS now is passing within a few feet of the train on the
opposite track as it comes across McGuire Rd, but the difference in
velocity is around 40mph. The BNSF employee, inspecting the train in
standard roll-by procedure notices a cloud of dust rising alongside of
the train to the east of the crossing. He narrows his focus to the
onrushing train. He spots a car jostling extremely and rocks being
thrown in all directions. Just then a incredibly horrid feeling develops in his gut, but he is helpless to do anything about it. The derailed car bounds across the roadway just mere feet from the front of his truck.
The flat drops out of the air and slams into the switch machine for the crossover just west of the crossing. With the machine broken away from the turnout, the point rails slam against the outside rail. Dozens of railcars start stumbling across the lose switch tearing up the track and falling against the train on main #2. Scott, who has just tramped through some snow turns on the first big crash. He can hardly believe what he is seeing, railcars weighing several tons each flying through the air and crashing into each other much like toys in the hands of a four-year-old. The ground trembles with each collision, and a large cloud of dust envelopes the pileup.
With a sudden jerk and a whoosh of air from a emergency break in the
airline, the crew of the KCKPAS gets that sinking feeling. Their train
screeches to halt a few car lengths from the Pleasntview Rd Crossing. Undoubtedly the crew of the other manifest has hit the deck as their train is repeatedly slammed by flying railcars. After everything stops moving , Scott runs into the office of the FMI plant to inform everyone of the derailment. I along with the most of the employees walk outside. I take one glance and then immediately grabbed a phone and called 911. I have to repeat "Train....Derailment" to the operator twice, obviously I was the first to call.
Five to seven minutes later the emergency response vehicles begin to pass the plant. First a Fire Chief's rig, then some fire trucks, and then a almost hour long parade of Police, Haz-Mat, and BNSF vehicles. Even though the FMI plant is fairly close to the scene, we weren't evacuated. It was probably determined early on that no Haz-Mat was involved.. Soon, every cop and sheriff in the county was blocking all roads within a few miles of the wreck, Including Hwy 53 which follows the BNSF tracks from Spokane to Rathdrum. But none the less, news media helicopters and planes were soon swirling about the area and newsvans were broadcasting by 11am.

The finally tally of wrecked cars was:

HKCKPAS23:
2 empty bulkhead flats
3 black 22,000 gal tankcars
4 cryo reefers, Carnation decorated
2 gray 18,000 gal tankcars
1 Boise Cascade Hi-cube
6 brand new SRY blue Hi-cube boxcars

The other manifest:
6 black 22,000 gal tankcars hauling diesel crude oil, two of which were cut open and leaked about 1000 gallons of the heavy oil.

The crude oil was steaming as it hit the cold snow covered ground, and never had a chance to penetrate the frozen soil. Most of the tank cars on main #2 were rolled of of the tracks to the south while cars on the other train accordianed. By noon, a eastbound Z train at Yardley had been pulled back to Napa St. Jct. so it could out UP's ex-SI (Spokane International) line to Sandpoint, ID. bypassing the wreck. After getting pilot from UP, the train made it's way to Sandpoint by mid-afternoon, having meet a southbound UP at Clagstone. The tank trucks sent to remove the crude showed up around 1pm and the first of the heavy equipment was present by 2pm. Most of the train that was still on the rails. Had been removed from the scene by 2pm as well and the active moving of cars was going on by 3pm.
During this time a southbound BNSF intermodal with 3 H2 CW44-9's was
coming down the SI with a crew on short time. the UP DS obliged the crew by having the northbound UP MHKSN go in at Coure d'Alene Jct and another northbound detouring BNSF train clear at Velox. After the southbound detour cleared, the northbound Sandpoint Turn continued on to do some switching at Chilco. But in attempting to do so derailed two axles of UP CW44-9 # 6920 around 7:30-8:00pm. This stranded the northbound BNSF detour at CDA Jct. and another northbound UP at Velox. Luckily UP was able to get going again by 10pm.

Great post, man.

Good writeup. Thanks.

I wonder how this compares to the garbage the media came up with?
("Choo choo derails! Motorists endangered! Hazardous materials sent flying thousands of feet through the air, toxic waste pouring all over the ground! Citizens outraged!!")