Western Railroad Discussion > Stevens Pass shut down due to derailment

Well, to add to the crapshoot that is ongoing - An empty coal derailed coming out of the Cascade tunnel a short time ago. No word on how extensive it was but they are working to get the crew on the assisting EVESPO or Z (not sure who was helping when the train initially stalled out of Skykomish) that is stuck in the tunnel to back down to Scenic and them out of the tunnel.

No word on how the passengers on Amtrak at Wenatchee will get to points West.

Stevens Pass is slated to get another 30 to 40 inches of snow over the next 16 hours.

 

Pretty sad when you stall an empty coal train.

Out 

Well, it didn't help that they added a bunch of cars to it plus restrict/reduce power.

Macster Wrote:
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> Well, to add to the crapshoot that is ongoing - An
> empty coal derailed coming out of the Cascade
> tunnel a short time ago.

Funny when an empty coal symbol is a Key Train! It also has 22 loads and 11 empties for Spokane adding 3,585 tons. Grand total of 152 cars, 6,096 tons, 8,362 feet.

> No word on how extensive
> it was but they are working to get the crew on the
> assisting EVESPO or Z (not sure who was helping
> when the train initially stalled out of Skykomish)

Z PTLCHC pushed them up to Scenic, initially.

Sounds like a multi-part story.
Another part tomorrow?

Big ole oof

MP555 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Macster Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Well, to add to the crapshoot that is ongoing -
> An
> > empty coal derailed coming out of the Cascade
> > tunnel a short time ago.
>
> Funny when an empty coal symbol is a Key Train!
> It also has 22 loads and 11 empties for Spokane
> adding 3,585 tons. Grand total of 152 cars, 6,096
> tons, 8,362 feet.
>
> > No word on how extensive
> > it was but they are working to get the crew on
> the
> > assisting EVESPO or Z (not sure who was helping
> > when the train initially stalled out of
> Skykomish)
>
> Z PTLCHC pushed them up to Scenic, initially.

To add, further down to the west, Skykomish siding is out of service due to inop switch heaters. Commercial power outage is to blame for that. Electricians and Signal is working to get generators going but travel is tough. Baring Siding is OOS due to snow.

Oh yeah, and an edit, Avalanche Level 4 in designated areas. Avalanches hitting the track is “likely”. A flash flood warning was just issued, too. Rain continues to fall in Skykomish.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/06/22 15:40 by MP555.

Macster Wrote:

> No word on how the passengers on Amtrak at
> Wenatchee will get to points West.


Well all the passes are shut down till Friday now, so it won't be by bus unless they go via Portland. They might run the whole Empire Builder to Portland tonight.
 

Ted Curphey
Ontario, OR

MP555 Wrote:
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> Z PTLCHC pushed them up to Scenic, initially.

ZPTLCHC detouring via Seattle for some reason?

Thanks for the info, sounds like BNSF is having a rough first ever winter.

wyeth Wrote:
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> ZPTLCHC detouring via Seattle for some reason?

Probably because of the derailment at Babb on the normal route. Ironiclly the Z-PTLCHC that was caught by the derailment at Babb yesterday just passed through Cheney, first train to get past the derailment at Babb.
 

Ted Curphey
Ontario, OR



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/06/22 17:01 by funnelfan.

PSR strikes again

I doubt it's PSR, especially when it comes to tons and tons of snow dumping up there! Hopefully they got the Hi Line back up and running by tomorrow!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/07/22 17:04 by ProAmtrak.

funnelfan Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Macster Wrote:
>
> > No word on how the passengers on Amtrak at
> > Wenatchee will get to points West.
>
>
> Well all the passes are shut down till Friday now,
> so it won't be by bus unless they go via Portland.
> They might run the whole Empire Builder to
> Portland tonight.
>  

Add to that a mudslide between Centralia and Kelso, according to this news article: https://komonews.com/news/local/mudslide-closes-amtrak-railroad-in-southwest-washington

Everything is at a complete standstill. The Z SSECHC7 06A turned back westbound at Skykomish and looked to set out its train at Baring. The headend power is at Lowell at 8pm. There is a tree foul of the track and foul of 115,000 volt power lines a couple miles west of Sky. Nothing at Scenic has moved; Neither the Z PTL in the siding nor the empty coal stuck in the west end of the Cascade Tunnel with the derailed car. Battery power has been exhausted at East Baring following commercial power outage and CTC is down at that location.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/06/22 20:06 by MP555.

Reminds me of a book I read called White Cascade where trains in the area were stuck in snow for days and an avalanche knocked a passenger train down the mountain killing many early 1900's!

viatrainrider Wrote:
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> Reminds me of a book I read called White Cascade
> where trains in the area were stuck in snow for
> days and an avalanche knocked a passenger train
> down the mountain killing many early 1900's!


That resulted in the construction of the present-day Cascade Tunnel to replace the old winding route and its shorter, higher tunnel.

ProAmtrak Wrote:
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> I doubt it's PSR, especially when it comes to tons
> and tons of snow dumping up there!

A prudent strategy to address that weather is more and shorter trains, not few bigger ones.

TAW
(Spent lots of winters working snow storms in difficult places)

Exactly. SP did the same over Donner, shorter trains with lots of HP

Agree with the time proven shorter but more trains to keep the rails clear of snow idea, but they run out of crews faster.
They just run the show differently these days. They seem to like to just shut things down and turn it over to the MoW crews for a few days,

It looks like BNSF is starting to have issues elsewhere in the PNW.  Looking on the Chehalis Virtual Railfan camera water is rising quickly between I-5 and the Chehalis Depot. Mow has equipment out there, don't know if they're trying to clear a culvert or something else.