Eastern Railroad Discussion > Buffalo & Pittsburgh derailment

According to posts to several Facebook groups, Buffalo & Pittsburgh has had a derailment in East Aurora, N.Y. A photo on the linked page shows a derailed EMD SD60M "Triclops" locomotive that reportedly is leaking fuel into the parking lot of a Subway restaurant. Cars are derailed at several locations in the train.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/18/20 20:40 by toledopatch.

Buffalo and Pittsburgh Railroad went off the track around 10:50 p.m. The train was traveling from Salamanca to Buffalo, NY.  Police Chief Shane Krieger says an engineer and trainee were on board, but neither were hurt. Crews say 15 cars came off the tracks, out of the 98 total cars.  Fresh looking B&P 3892 SD60M was the derailed locomotive.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/19/20 14:44 by cozephyr.

Here are a few reports.  East Aurora is only about 17 miles from Buffalo.
https://www.wgrz.com/article/news/local/police-advise-caution-in-east-aurora-after-train-derails/71-08f29ee2-4a0c-46da-9ed0-f963eb83e280
https://wben.radio.com/articles/train-derails-in-east-aurora-monday-night
https://www.wivb.com/news/local-news/east-aurora-police-train-derails-in-area-of-main-street-elm-street/

Good drone vid on that other site.

Posted from iPhone

Wow already some know it all congressman is already asking for an investigation. FRA will already be there

News flash for the Congressmoron: no need for terrorists to target our trains.  We do a good enough job derailing them and blowing them up without outside help.

BobE

Looks like the leader is PTC equipped.  That may bode well for it being repaired at some point.
 

Speed limit here is only 25 MPH.  In fact a little bit north of here they are replacing ties. Track is in good shape.  There is an old switch that is in the area of the derailment so good chance that caused it.   Congressman Higgins has alot of time on his hands.  I expect Senator Schumer to put his 2 cents in on the "bomb" trains running through neighborhoods.   Hasn't been a major derailment on this line in years.

---

That's a nice looking load of freight behind the power.

SouthBuffalo1 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Speed limit here is only 25 MPH.  In fact a
> little bit north of here they are replacing ties.
> Track is in good shape.  There is an old switch
> that is in the area of the derailment so good
> chance that caused it.

Indeed, the looks of the derailment had me wondering if there wasn't an old stub siding there that the train unexpectedly ran onto, because between the locomotives and the jog in the train about six cars deep, there are those three cars that are pretty straight and upright.
 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/19/20 11:47 by toledopatch.

toledopatch Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> SouthBuffalo1 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Speed limit here is only 25 MPH.  In fact a
> > little bit north of here they are replacing
> ties.
> > Track is in good shape.  There is an old
> switch
> > that is in the area of the derailment so good
> > chance that caused it.
>
> Indeed, the looks of the derailment had me
> wondering if there wasn't an old stub siding there
> that the train unexpectedly ran onto, because
> between the locomotives and the jog in the train
> about six cars deep, there are those three cars
> that are pretty straight and upright.

Looking at google maps that certainly appears right, shows a short siding ending right at that bridge.
>  

Go on to Google Earth and look at East Aurora.   There's a 'dead-end' siding that ends just in front of that highway overpass with a bumper on the end of it, facing point to the train.

You can see the entire train in the overhead view following that  spur track.    The units look like blew right through the bumper and on to the dirt roadbed.  That's why there's no rail under the units.

Doesn't look like they derailed on the switch, it looks like the switch was thrown and they blew through the end of it.   That's speculation, but look at the overhead photos.

FWIW a good number of those tank cars are probably asphalt, this is not a unit crude oil train.   



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/19/20 13:38 by randgust.

I think tank cars have special couplers that keep them in line and coupled in a derailment. Can anyone confirm?

The switch was left open accidentally by another B&P employee. I was in our office and overheard the call about it with the M of W guys this morning.

JB

WMF7A Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The switch was left open accidentally by another
> B&P employee. I was in our office and overheard
> the call about it with the M of W guys this
> morning.
>
> JB

Whoops!   Not a good day for the guilty party.   I definitely don't wish that feeling on anyone especially at this point in time.   Glad the crew was not hurt.  Hopefully they are only laughing about how they filled their pants when they realized they had entered the short stub siding and were on a terrifying ride for a short time.  

Buffalo TV was all over this tonight with references to 'bomb trains' and political overtones; no factual information at all.   Close-ups of the cars showed '3257' placarded which is hot asphalt, although there were also undocumented claim of propane.   Butane in and out is also a common commodity regionally but not crude.  
Claim was made that the railroad did not provide a lading list to the local fire department - I question that.
They interviewed a pundit criticizing the crude oil trains and showed images of Lac Megantic.    B&P does not host crude oil trains, but they have run through Buffalo to the port of Albany in the past.
But there was also no rep from the B&P on hand, no spokesperson...so the media invented a story to go with the images.    
The relatively low speed of the train certainly helped, the shelf couplers sure looked like they worked, and other than the lead unit that got a wild ride over the bank, nothing moved off vertical.

In any business, getting ahead of the news cycle is essential.  If you don't have somebody telling your side of the story, your opponents will fill in for you.

Never a good thing.

Lackawanna484 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> In any business, getting ahead of the news cycle
> is essential.  If you don't have somebody telling
> your side of the story, your opponents will fill
> in for you.
>
> Never a good thing.

Of course if you're the modern "media", never let the facts get in the way of a good story.

It's not mine, and I don't know from where it came.

Ron

You must be a registered subscriber to watch videos. Join Today!

Great video. They work almost as fast as the big hand on my model RR!