Western Railroad Discussion > Nebraska tornado damage

For those interested in seeing what happened on the BNSF lastnight, check out this photo gallery from the Lincoln Journal-Star:

http://www.journalstar.com/gallery/view_album.php?set_albumName=tornadoes&page=1

Second page shows a close-up of a derailed empty coal train.


CyRail

Actually was on the UP.

http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?1,733900

Prayers go out to the families affected by this weather.

Now I know my move from Omaha to Arizona was the right thing to do. Re picture of derailed empty coal cars at Hallam, NE., are you sure that is BNSF? UP has a former CRIP branch from Fairbury to Sheldon Station to serve NPPD power plant. Sheldon is about a mile beyond Hallam. Might this have been the UP and not BNSF?

Guess czepher17 answered my question.

czephyr17 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Actually was on the UP.
>
> http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?1,7
> 33900
>
> Prayers go out to the families affected by this
> weather.


Actually, there was two sepearte derailments. The one I was refering to is on the UP Marysville sub at Ana (just southeast of Hastings NE or central NE) and was an intermodal train that had the double stacks pushed over. The second derailment was the empty coal train near Halam (south of Lincoln or southeast NE), but I'm not sure who's train that is as UP nor BNSF own any tracks through Halam.

AaronJ

I beleive these are the old BN tracks that go down to Beatrice. It has been a while since I have been in the area. I know both BN and UP had tracks that went to Beatrice, but UP took theirs out several years ago. If it is BN tracks, the coal train was more than likely just stored there, as this is a very lightly used line. Please, if anyone knows differently, correct me. I need to get back on track with what is going on in the area, as I have been away for a few years.

Matthew

Well, I will correct myself, before anyone has a chance. It is not the BN line I thought it was. The BN tracks I was thinking cross this line south of there at Dewitt. So now, I am lost. An old map I found lists it as CRI&P. Any ideas? Why is there a coal train there? It looks to be a dead end line.

Matthew

<Actually, there was two sepearte derailments. The one I was refering to is on the UP Marysville sub at Ana (just southeast of Hastings NE or central NE) and was an intermodal train that had the double stacks pushed over. The second derailment was the empty coal train near Halam (south of Lincoln or southeast NE), but I'm not sure who's train that is as UP nor BNSF own any tracks through Halam.>

I wasn't aware of the intermodal derailment. Halam is at the end of the UP branch (old CRIP) from Fairbury, NE toward the northeast. If these were coal cars, which they appear to have been, they may have been stored there, as these types of lines are often used for car storage. Or is UP using coal cars to haul grain these days?

Wow. That is a massive storm with massive damage. I would be amazed if no one was killed.

Hallam, Nebraska was on the Rock Island, but UP continues to serve a power plant there via a short branch (made up of ex-RI mainline IIRC) from the Marysville Sub.