Western Railroad Discussion > When lumber goes askew

That train wreck 10 days ago east of Reno, NV left about 3 houses worth of 2 x 4's along the Truckee River.  

When semi's wreck on the freeway out here it's ok to help remove spilled material once the scene is released.  

Amazing the booty left behind that insurance companies just want gone.  

Guessing there's no way to get permission to scamper down to the tracks and grab some good-looking lumber?

What company handles clean-ups out here for the UPRR?

Thanks!

Chuck 

RailDawg Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Amazing the booty left behind that insurance
> companies just want gone.  
>
> Guessing there's no way to get permission to
> scamper down to the tracks and grab some
> good-looking lumber?

I will play plaintiff attorney:

Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, my client was told by a UP employee that he could take what lumber he needed that was left on the right-of-way from a recent train derailment.  My client drove his truck up the private gravel road owned and maintained by the railroad that is situated next to the tracks and proceeded to load up the lumber. Just then a UP train came along and the wood that was sticking out the rear of the truck was hit by the passing train. This caused a douglas fir plank to hit my client in the head causing a traumatic brain injury. My client can no longer work ever again and suffers headaches all day long. He is in so much pain that he no longer has interest in sex anymore and his wife suffers mental anguish as a result. 

Had the UP employee warned my client about the hazard he would have never gotten hurt. On top of that the railroad has a policy that all workers and contractors have to undergo safety training before they can enter railroad property and the employee never mentioned that to my client. If it wasn't for the lack of safety concern by Union Pacific my client would by living a happy and fulfilling life.... my client requests you grant him $28.5 million for his injuries, pain and suffering, and loss of consortium.  Since, the railroad employee was aware of the dangers and told my client to take the lumber without asking him to attend safety training, the railroad is gross negligence and therefore my client is requesting you grant him 3x damages.

This might seem like a joke, but this is how personal injury lawsuits playout. 

Todd Clark
Canyon Country, CA
Trainorders.com

there are people that jump in front of UP trucks for cash

UP get  sued for lines , if some one gets injured, that they have sold

UP gets sued if any of there old cars injurs someone

UP gets sued if someone climbs an old water tower

this is why there is pretty much a scorched earth policy

scrapping old facilities, cars , etc i think that is the reason everything is getting scrapped and demolished

Liability is a big issue...

Posted from Android

webmaster Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> again and suffers headaches all day long. He is in
> so much pain that he no longer has interest in sex
> anymore and his wife suffers mental anguish as a
> result.

This is no joke.  We had an employee driving a large bus during a training exercise with 20+ other drivers onboard and our employee rolled the bus over onto its side.  While there were injures, none were serious.  One of the passengers latter sued for this.  Went all the way to trial and immediately after the injured driver's testimony (which was prolonged and very detailed), our employer settled because she made a wonderful victim and the lawyers knew the jury was probably going to give her a lot of cash.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/05/26 06:59 by SCAX3401.

RRs have authorized salvaged companies

Possibly land fill or grinding / chipping for some other product input.

They had a situation after a number of center beams derailed just north of Dunsmuir. The lumber loads were dumped on the ground to aid in removal of the rail cars, one afternoon a number of independent minded pick up trucks arrived at the pile and began loading dimensional lumber. Somehow the County Deputies were alerted and arrived in numbers. An aggressive physical altercation occurred, eventually the word from the RR came down that if the lumber was put back in the pile no charges would be filed by the RR. At least one person was detained for physical assault on an officer.

The point being the RR kept possession of the dimensional lumber, it was eventually removed by a Contractor but didn't notice what the disposition was. That sort of agrees with the question of liability and the idea of not letting the wood get into the regular building product stream. In California it's a major chore to eliminate building debris, often it has to be buried or sent out of state. There are heavily regulated co-Gen operations that the State de-permits them every few years.

Regulations are probably very different in Nevada though.

Some of my best bargain buys in the 1970s were at Rhodes Salvage, just adjacent to the Union Pacific yard in Pocatello ID.  Never knew what would turn up but it was always heavily discounted.  Their stock came primarily from damaged freight and retail store closeouts. Still have some Floquil model paint that came from there. Got skis, bindings and poles once. Other people scored hardware paint, white goods and so on.

WAF Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> RRs have authorized salvaged companies


Yep.....don't get caught "helping yourself"....

You will quickly find out why.

Posted from Android

Way back in 1964 on the Rock Island Line at Fowler, KS a westbound freight piled up.  It was carry various tonnage including some carloads of bottled mustard, lumber, and autoracks of new Buick and Cadillac autos.  The attached photos show some of the automobiles and other various wreckage.  These autos after their unloading, were transported to a location in the Division point at Liberal, KS.  I was told most if not all these automobiles were demolished at a nearby salvage yard so as to not become a burden against the automaker.  As I photographed, I saw workmen using crowbars breaking the driver's window glass so as to aid in steering the auto as it was pulled from within the autorack by chain of a dozer.  Some autos that were nearby the car of mustard became painted with such.

 

---

---

---

 Back In The DAY -- shortly after Erie & Lackawanna merged in 1960, the combined company began hauling Ford Motor Co. vehicles & parts from Detroit to Ford's new assembly plant in Mahwah, N.J. As Erie had lower overhead clearances than Lackawanna, due diligance in routing was required while enroute. As both RR's served Binghamton, N.Y., the RR decided to lower only 2 of the 4 through tracks through the yard & depot area. All was ok -- until it wasn't -- and an E/B loaded auto rack train was routed down the wrong yard track in Binghampton. Many new Fairlanes & Galaxies became CONVERTIBLES in SHORT order !!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/07/26 11:19 by Aprefugee.

There is still a most-awesome pile of 2 x 4's along the wreck site.  

A lot of other stuff too there hasn't been any recent salvage it appears. 

Ok so we considered Rambo-ing along the Truckee under a moonless night and tossing as much lumber as possible into the river.

We would then raft them for collection down by Derby Dam.  

We then considered 10-years in the Big House to be too steep a price to pay for said lumber and abandoned plans.  

Chuck 

RailDawg Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> There is still a most-awesome pile of 2 x 4's
> along the wreck site.  
>
> A lot of other stuff too there hasn't been any
> recent salvage it appears. 
>
> Ok so we considered Rambo-ing along the Truckee
> under a moonless night and tossing as much lumber
> as possible into the river.
>
> We would then raft them for collection down by
> Derby Dam.  
>
> We then considered 10-years in the Big House to be
> too steep a price to pay for said lumber and
> abandoned plans.  
>
> Chuck 

Go do it and tell us you did it

WAF Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

> Go do it and tell us you did it

Bam another WAF-rock right on cue!

We thought about bringing you in on the lumber-caper.  

Chuck 

Lumber still there maybe build a boat on-site and Lewis and Clark it all upriver.

Chuck