Eastern Railroad Discussion > Why all the HYPE on East Palestine,Ohio

There have been lots of derailments in the past and fires too along lots of railroads,So what the Big Deal about this one getting all the HYPE,...Scoobydoobydoo from Ohio

No other big shocking news items out there to focus on.

scoobydoobydoo Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> There have been lots of derailments in the past
> and fires too along lots of railroads,So what the
> Big Deal about this one getting all the
> HYPE,...Scoobydoobydoo from Ohio

The bulk of the hype is the fire department going ahead and blowing the cars up without prior consultation. If they didn't, this wouldn't have been near as blown out of proportion. It wasn't bad UNTIL that occurred.

It was a serious derailment involving HazMat and it occurred in a town. The fact that toxic chemicals were released in a populated area would be enough to generate scrutiny.

Having said that, the media is largely responsible for what generates outrage in this country. They pick what to be outraged by and how long they carry the story. Many of us understand that, but a significant portion of the population are easily manipulated by the media.

There are far more things of far more importance than this derailment that we should be outraged by, but since much of it involves politics and those connected to the power brokers, the media ignores it. So they pick on private industry or a private individual and make it their mission to take them down.

A chemical release of this magnitude is a big deal, but this episode allows the media to ignore more important injustices.

Posted from Android

That's true. The fact is that EVERY day the railroads of America safely move THOUSANDS of cars of nasty stuff that keeps the economy humming. Maybe it's better they don't know???

    Ross Rowland 

First, more knowledge and transparency is always better. 
As to this incident, I am waiting to hear/read transcripts of crew--dispatcher radio.  That said, as I wrote in another post, a rise from 38 to 103 degrees above ambient would get my attention.  We will have to see what NS was prioritizing.

Macster Wrote:

> The bulk of the hype is the fire department going
> ahead and blowing the cars up without prior
> consultation. If they didn't, this wouldn't have
> been near as blown out of proportion. It wasn't
> bad UNTIL that occurred.
Yes, you're right - "It wasn't bad UNTIL...." Now, here's where you're wrong -
It would have been worse!  Those cars would have exploded because
of the pressure. Someone made the right choice to release the vinyl chloride
and let it burn, thus avoiding an explosion, as I understand it. 
What do you mean by "blowing the cars up?" They were not "blown up."

The wreck started approximately 1300' back from the head end with the 23rd car dropping a bearing.  Highly visable fire had been flying for over 20 miles (Salem)  There were three crew members on the head end..  There are over 10 right hand curves in that 20 miles......and even more left hand curves.
  "if you see something...say (DO) something ."



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/25/23 08:59 by mp208.

Macster Wrote...

> The bulk of the hype is the fire department going
> ahead and blowing the cars up without prior
> consultation. If they didn't, this wouldn't have
> been near as blown out of proportion. It wasn't
> bad UNTIL that occurred.

Watch some videos of tank car BLEVE’s and feel free to reword that statement

Posted from iPhone

Doug Wetherhold
Macungie, PA

There are descriptions of the decision and actions to drain the tank cars in the media. There's also a Wiki with a broad description of BLEVE and history, lots of serious info to pick from on the web.

There's a lot of posts that have been removed already, folks are going to have to be creative to find info.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UM0jtD_OWLU   is worth your time if you'd like to get a quick background on BLEVE.

Today is the 45th anniversary of the 1978 Waverly, Tenn. incident. If you have never heard of this, grab some Scooby snacks and go over to the Nostalgia board and look at what has been posted about Waverly and a few other notable incidents...

---

Just imagine the catastrophe that town would have had if all those tank cars would have been ruptured and exploded during the derailment.  Would have been 100% different situation we would be talking about here.

A interesting story about a beef cattle farmer. Living just northeast of the derailment and within the one mile evacuation radius.
National guard and the state patrol
would not allow him on his farm.
Farmer called the sheriff. The sheriff said you will let this man attend his cattle. Especially with it being calving season.
NS will be paying for some calves born in January that died because of the smoke inhalation.

Posted from iPhone



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/24/23 16:34 by farmer.

P Wrote:
>
> Having said that, the media is largely
> responsible for what generates outrage in this
> country. They pick what to be outraged by and how
> long they carry the story. Many of us understand
> that, but a significant portion of the population
> are easily manipulated by the media.
>

I'd rather have trained journalists pick my news than a social media algorithm doing it, run by the likes of Elon Musk or Mark Zuckerberg.  Otherwise, we'd be fed even more Q-Anon, Jewish space lasers, anti-vaccs and stolen election nonsense.

CPMorris Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Macster Wrote:
>
> > The bulk of the hype is the fire department
> going
> > ahead and blowing the cars up without prior
> > consultation. If they didn't, this wouldn't
> have
> > been near as blown out of proportion. It wasn't
> > bad UNTIL that occurred.
> Yes, you're right - "It wasn't bad UNTIL...." Now,
> here's where you're wrong -
> It would have been worse!  Those cars would have
> exploded because
> of the pressure. Someone made the right choice to
> release the vinyl chloride
> and let it burn, thus avoiding an explosion, as I
> understand it. 
> What do you mean by "blowing the cars up?" They
> were not "blown up."

I wasn't onsite and I am not sure if you were. But I am a retired Certified Haz Mat Technician. From what I have read, the NS had received permission to burn off the product in one tank car. Evidently the other four cars were not in danger. Somehow this became five tank cars product being burned off instead of off-loading the other four cars which then created five times the contamination, Off-loading would have taken more time to do safely. Ironically the Norfolk Southern was able to open their right-of-way for traffic the very next day..

radar Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> P Wrote:
> >
> > Having said that, the media is largely
> > responsible for what generates outrage in this
> > country. They pick what to be outraged by and
> how
> > long they carry the story. Many of us
> understand
> > that, but a significant portion of the
> population
> > are easily manipulated by the media.
> >
>
> I'd rather have trained journalists pick my news
> than a social media algorithm doing it, run by the
> likes of Elon Musk or Mark Zuckerberg. 
> Otherwise, we'd be fed even more Q-Anon, Jewish
> space lasers, anti-vaccs and stolen election
> nonsense.

The media is 'trained' alright.  I see that it is working.  

How can the media be objective when the NTSB chair Jennifer Homendy said during a news conference that the accident was 100% perventable. There can no longer be objective news reporting when unqualified leaders are running departments and everythin is political.

The newest Trains Magazine has a story on the Waverly incident written by the daughter of the town doctor at the time of the explosion.
Dick Eisfeller

farmer Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> A interesting story about a beef cattle farmer.
> Living just northeast of the derailment and within
> the one mile evacuation radius.
> National guard and the state patrol
> would not allow him on his farm.
> Farmer called the sheriff. The sheriff said you
> will let this man attend his cattle. Especially
> with it being calving season.
> NS will be paying for some calves born in January
> that died because of the smoke inhalation.
>
> Posted from iPhone

In Ohio, The Sheriff is the top dog in any county with regard to law enforcement.  If THE sheriff tells a tropper to jump, the troopers next words had better be how high...