Eastern Railroad Discussion > NS wrecks at Hiram GA (Atlanta - Chattanooga line)

Derailment Saturday night started with the  locomotives, but fortunately the two man crew suffered only minor injuries:

Train derails in downtown Hiram (msn.com)

They seem to have a lot of trouble keeping their trains upright & on the tracks...
 

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Not to worry, no stockholders were injured in this derailment but if those 3 miles long trains keep derailing there could be problems if a key train is ever involved. Hope it never happens but not a good idea to keep pushing your luck, just  in my opinion. One big derailment has got to be more expensive than a few more crews and diesel fuel. I always think about Graniteville and what it caused eventhough that was an employees error.

We can all thank E. Hunter Harrison and his cronies for that Precision Scheduled Railroad Crap to save money for the big shareholders, those Hedge Funds, etc.  Defer maintenance at the same time, just keep that money rolling in no matter what, all for today, do not worry about the future.
As a concerned person, I worry about someday that there will be a major catastrophe where many people are killed and/or badly injured, all to save money no matter what.  I pray to God that it never happens but when you play with fire at some point you can get burned.
John in White Marsh, Maryland

Not to defend NS, but this was eighty-eight empty cars, not a PSR monster.

I wonder if he cause will ever become public knowledge. I can only speculate now.

A few thoughts though. If this had been a loaded ethanol train, what might have happened to the town of Hiram? 

Regarding injuries, they may be minor in the sense that no one died or had to be admitted to the hospital. However if you are the one who had your knee damaged and it may be a on-going problem, would you consider the injury minor?.

Do we know the train was 3 miles long? Or exactly what the cause was?

Gary



steamloco Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Not to worry, no stockholders were injured in this
> derailment but if those 3 miles long trains keep
> derailing there could be problems if a key train
> is ever involved. Hope it never happens but not a
> good idea to keep pushing your luck, just  in my
> opinion. One big derailment has got to be more
> expensive than a few more crews and diesel fuel. I
> always think about Graniteville and what it caused
> eventhough that was an employees error.

Posted from iPhone

ts1457 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Not to defend NS, but this was eighty-eight empty
> cars, not a PSR monster.
>
> I wonder if he cause will ever become public
> knowledge. I can only speculate now.
>
> A few thoughts though. If this had been a loaded
> ethanol train, what might have happened to the
> town of Hiram? 
>
> Regarding injuries, they may be minor in the sense
> that no one died or had to be admitted to the
> hospital. However if you are the one who had your
> knee damaged and it may be a on-going problem,
> would you consider the injury minor?.

We should, something this major should trigger an NTSB investigation. The freight reports don't make the front page unless they were catastrophic to the local area, or could have been (i.e. inhalation hazard derailment).

The news reports show what appears to be the lead locomotive on its side.  Glad the crew was not seriously injured.  Here is a report from Channel 11, referenced in the MSN link above.

https://www.11alive.com/article/news/local/dallas-paulding-county/train-derails-downtown-hiram/85-fd55bb04-edfd-45e5-b32c-ffa0698fffc4?fbclid=IwAR2ZLtW78-5nn9oDq7oXPKM4ZwbZByejydXfbAaK7Jr_T18RjJ97ROC0jG4

If this is an "empty" (residue) 88 car ethanol train, with non-serious injuries, would the NTSB investigate?  Maybe it will be the Federal Railroad Administration and NS that will do the investigation. 

Edited to add that the diesel fuel spill may have been pretty large?  Perhaps that would have a bearing on the NTSB investigating.

Jim



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/28/21 12:59 by Jimbo.

It was a manifest that had empty tanks. Train 370


Jimbo Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The news reports show what appears to be the lead
> locomotive on its side.  Glad the crew was not
> seriously injured.  Here is a report from Channel
> 11, referenced in the MSN link above.
>
> https://www.11alive.com/article/news/local/dallas-
> paulding-county/train-derails-downtown-hiram/85-fd
> 55bb04-edfd-45e5-b32c-ffa0698fffc4?fbclid=IwAR2ZLt
> W78-5nn9oDq7oXPKM4ZwbZByejydXfbAaK7Jr_T18RjJ97ROC0
> jG4
>
> If this is an "empty" (residue) 88 car ethanol
> train, with non-serious injuries, would the NTSB
> investigate?  Maybe it will be the Federal
> Railroad Administration and NS that will do the
> investigation. 
>
> Edited to add that the diesel fuel spill may have
> been pretty large?  Perhaps that would have a
> bearing on the NTSB investigating.
>
> Jim

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