Western Railroad Discussion > Northern Arizona Derailment Clean Up

Last night at about 23:30 MDT, BNSF train H-KCKBAR1-05A (KC-Barstow) derailed 20 cars at Williams Junction, AZ.  This is the BNSF Seligman Subdivision, part of the Southern Transcon route.  The train consisted of 140 loads, 27 empties, had 15519 trailing tons, and was 11374 feet long.   The train was configured with 4 lead units, 2 mid-train DPUs, and 1 rear DPU.  The train was on Main 2 (south track) when it derailed.  The derailment was just west of the Garland Prairie Road crossing.

The derailed cars were the first 20 cars behind the mid-train DPUs, and consisted of 9 conventional autoracks, 10 AutoMax autoracks, and 1 Thrall articulated autorack.  By about 4:30 AM, the front half of the train was released and proceeded west.  As I viewed the scene at 7:15 AM, the rear-most mid-DPU was still at the site and appeared to be leaning.  The first conventional rack was upright, the remaining 8 were laying on their sides to the south of Main 2.  The 10 AutoMax cars were in an accordian style pileup leaving the Thrall car derailed but upright.

Photo 1 -- looking west from the road crossing.

Photo 2 -- looking south across the woodyard from Garland Prairie Road

Photo 3 -- looking west, showing proximity of derailment to the house on the south side of the tracks.

(continued)

Ted Ferkenhoff
Flagstaff, AZ



Edited 6 time(s). Last edit at 06/09/23 09:56 by tferk.

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Great report! 

Chuck

This afternoon, I was able to return to the scene to see how the clean-up was progressing.   A work train was dispatched west from Winslow about mid-day, consisting of 2 flats of track panels, a dump car of rip rap, and several cars of ballast.  The work train was on Main 1 when I arrived, having unloaded the track panels.  Many truckloads of track panels were also delivered to the site.  As of 5pm, all wreckage had been moved off the right-of-way, with only the 1st and 20th cars upright on the track.

Photo 4 -- Work train on Main 1, and the Thrall articulated autorack, which was the last car involved

Photo 5 -- The rear-most unit of the mid-DPU consist, and the first car derailed.  They appear to be sitting on the east switch of the east crossover from Main 2 to Main 1.

Photo 6 -- Crews working to restore the tracks after clearing the wreckage.   (continued)

Ted Ferkenhoff
Flagstaff, AZ



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/08/23 21:57 by tferk.

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Additional photos of the clean-up at Williams Junction this evening.

Photo 7 -- South side off Main 2, sections of AutoMax cars on their sides.

Photo 8 -- AutoMax sections

Photo 9 -- A lot of Fords from what I could see.  That one section has a van on top and an F150 on the bottom.

Ted Ferkenhoff
Flagstaff, AZ

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As reported in earlier threads, this train went into emergency in downtown Flagstaff, AZ, at 19:01 on Wed 6/7.  The train broke in two somewhere between the mid-DPU and rear DPU consists.  They finally got moving west again at 21:07.

Ted Ferkenhoff
Flagstaff, AZ

Nice coverage. High value loads that will be scrapped.
JB

That is going to be a painful derailment for BNSF Automotive. Those Automaxes were specially configured Bi-levels designed to carry a cargo vans on top of F150's on the bottom.  More than likely, BNSF will have to convert other Automaxes to meet the needs of the Ford Supply chain

Trainorders post of the month. Thanks for the boots on the ground photos and report!

EDIT... And as of this typing BNSF already has a 17,266 ton H-KCKBAR on the move to compensate for the previous day's 15,519 ton failure... THE BEATINGS WILL CONTINUE UNTIL MORALE IMPROVES!!!!

~ Mr. MRL



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 06/08/23 23:26 by MrMRL.

Grizz Wrote:
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> That is going to be a painful derailment for BNSF
> Automotive. Those Automaxes were specially
> configured Bi-levels designed to carry a cargo
> vans on top of F150's on the bottom.  More than
> likely, BNSF will have to convert other Automaxes
> to meet the needs of the Ford Supply chain

That's fascinating, thanks for the info. I thought it odd to see that pairing of models.

Great series, thanks for the look.
—Mac

Millions and millions and millons of dollars lost here--wonder what caused it?

Thanks, very interesting series!

Larry

The beatings will continue, indeed.   Good grief. 

thanks for good photos of a bad mess.   
 

coach Wrote:
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> Millions and millions and millons of dollars lost
> here--wonder what caused it?

And as long as profits are higher than losses, it will continue.

Good report...slack action is a real possibility for the cause especially on a monster train like that.

Great report, thank you for the effort. Interesting to see.

Bob

Posted from Android

Great report and good insights as to what is in those boxes.

I'm sure some Ford dealers and customers are getting unwelcome phone calls this morning.

Posted from Android

Who did the cleanup? Hulcher? Corman? Others?

You'd think in situations like this that either the railroad or the cleanup contractor would evaluate and make an attempt to salvage lading, or at least let the customer decide what to do in the situation - try to salvage themselves or let it go to scrap.

I can tell you from personal experience (and a court case) that doesn't happen.   Much is scrapped on site, if not all.   And the customer may not be told what's happened until the lading is already destroyed on site.   And that goes back all the way to the 70's on a wreck I witnessed on the EL.

You may have a lot of dented-up trucks, but engines, powertrains, computers, a lot of component stuff is just fine.   Just seems like such an incredible waste.

This report shows Trainorders at it's best.  Thanks for one of the most well-done posts, including excellent informative pictures, that I've ever seen on this forum!