Western Railroad Discussion > UP Incident at Yermo

CNN just reports that a UP train at Yermo, CA carrying Defense explosives has been halted and that nothing wrong has been found with 'the rocket'.

Just heard a report on the local news.

Apparently someone broke into a boxcar carrying a rocket engine with bolt cutters. The car had an alarm that went off, and the intruder dropped the cutters and ran.

No harm was done to the rocket engine, but "per protocol" the DoD is investigating, and a voluntary evacuation was done.

They interviewed a sheriff's deputy who said the UPRR police told them around this time of year there's break-ins by people looking for fireworks.

Navy Sets Up Safety Perimeter Around Train Car Carrying Missile Part
The lock on a railroad car carrying a U.S. Navy rocket motor was tampered with early Friday, prompting authorities to evacuate at least 100 residents who live near the train yard in this high desert town.

Union Pacific notified San Bernardino County sheriff's deputies about a burglary alarm on the car at 2:20 a.m., sheriff's spokesman Chip Patterson said.

"Deputies responded and they discovered some bolts to the box car had in some way been tampered with and it had been opened," Patterson said. Deputies could not determine if the motor had been damaged, so the Navy asked for the evacuation, he said. A community center in nearby Barstow was set up as an evacuation center.

A Navy representative was on his way to Yermo, located 100 miles east of Los Angeles, to check the motor out, Patterson said.

Yermo, 11 miles north of Barstow, sits alongside Interstate 15, a heavily traveled highway linking Southern California to Las Vegas.

The freeway was not closed, Patterson said, although a frontage road and several surface streets were closed

Uh...how would one know? If there was no damage, why evacuate 2000 people and seal the area with marines?

>>>No harm was done to the rocket engine.

karldotcom Wrote:
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> > Uh...how would one know? If there was no
> damage, why evacuate 2000 people and seal the area
> with marines?

Standard government protocol.

There are some specific rules that govern the movement of certain items. When I was stationed in North Dakota we once had a semi break down and I directed that US 2 be closed. And it was! By guys in green suits with big guns. And it stayed closed until that truck was fixed. Don't ask what was in the trailer with the blue and white stripes that was placarded EXPLOSIVES.

I have no clue what type of booster was in that car at Yermo. It could have been a Trident rocket motor, given that the Navy was called; it could also be that the Navy had the closest qualified folks to evaluate the shipment. In any case, if there is ANY doubt regarding the safety of rocket propellant, everything stops until it is determined to be safe. Even solid fuel is hazardous and treated with great care, love, and respect!

'Cause it surely beats the alternative!

karldotcom Wrote:
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> > Uh...how would one know? If there was no
> damage, why evacuate 2000 people and seal the area
> with marines?
>
> >>>No harm was done to the rocket engine.


It was a VOLUNTARY evacuation within a certain distance.

I see on the front page where this was a motor for a Trident D5 missile. The ICBM for the Ohio class missile subs. I'm sure the Navy had a great interest in the well being of this particular box car.