Eastern Railroad Discussion > Salem, Virginia Derailment

https://www.wdbj7.com/2020/10/31/train-derails-in-salem-along-barley-drive/

On the NS Whitethorne District west of Roanoke.  Bridge collapse.

Neil

Oh no!! The world is gonna end because they spilled some coal. 

Eng.Shadetree

Minor to moderate flooding at various places along the Roanoke River in the last 48 hours. Related? Wait and see. 

A friend has been to the scene and says it is the Roanoke River bridge just west of Salem, on the Whitethorne District.   That's a major bridge.  Don't believe the derailment was related to flooding.  The updated WBDJ7 report says it's 26 cars of coal en route to Norfolk.  

https://www.wdbj7.com/2020/10/31/train-derails-in-salem-along-barley-drive/

Damage from spillage is to be minor, local waterworks have switched to wells which they have until the coal can be removed. As for the bridge....watch how fast a new one can go up!

Here is a link to a Roanoke County press release with pictures  https://www.roanokecountyva.gov/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/2657

This same friend was back to the derailment site this afternoon and reports that all of the wrecked cars and steel bridge parts are out of the river and most, if not all, the coal is too.  The Roanoke River was running clear.  Construction crews were working in the river in preparation to replace the two destroyed bridge piers.  Both bridge abutments were damaged, too.

NS can reroute trains over the Christiansburg District around the derailment, but the climb up Christiansburg Mountain for eastbound trains is much steeper than on the former Virgnian.  More pushers or more DPUs will be needed.

Jim

The Roanoke Times this morning has an update on the aftermath of the derailment.  According to the Times, NS will not operate the Monday-Friday trash train to the landfill located west of the bridge outage.  Access to the landfill is still possible by going west on the Christiansburg District to one of two connections located east of Narrows and then coming back east on the Whitethorne District.  You would use a locomotive on each end of the train for this operation and yes it would take longer, but it is possible to do.  Instead the Roanoke Valley's trash will be trucked to a landfill near Dublin.

https://roanoke.com/business/local/train-crash-fallout-reroutes-garbage-removal-halts-use-of-river-for-drinking-water/article_fcdef764-1d4f-11eb-911c-0387305ee329.html#tracking-source=home-top-story