Only information I have is it happened in the evening of 3/3/21 in the California desert. John
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Lot's of chatter on Trainorders and Virtual Rail Fan. It took out both mains on the Trans-con between California and points east.
Good flyover video here.
Train length was too long so the engineer decided to "shorten " it by using both mains.
https://ogrforum.com/...-from-la-mirada-yard
Not a good week for BNSF.
This is "out there" in the Mojave Desert, close to Ludlow, about an hour's drive east of Barstow. This was part of my first territory as an Official, and it looks like it is just east of town, between Ludlow and Ash Hill.
The Tonapah & Tidewater Railroad used to terminate in Ludlow and interchanged with Santa Fe, until T&T's demise in 1945. T&T had a loop track around the town, so that its engine was properly oriented for its next trip. The town has a few hard core desert dwellers, a cafe, motel, and two gas stations, and that's all it is today. But that's off-topic.
Historically, pile-ups like this one in the California desert have been caused by burned off journals. However the modern versions of hot journal detectors have done a good job of reducing accidents, so that, whereas in 1970 there were several, today there are almost none.
This could cause a detour of the Southwest Chief, but not necessarily. They can drag the derailed cars to the side and get the main tracks open in a relatively short time. Picking up the derailed cars and removing them will take much longer.
I will keep my ear to the ground for a cause.
Tom,
How would they reroute the Southwest Chief if needed in your opinion? A quick look a the maps doesn't show a very easy reroute?
It was all that graffiti on the cars that derailed it! 
D.
That’ll do
@GG1 4877 posted:Tom,
How would they reroute the Southwest Chief if needed in your opinion? A quick look a the maps doesn't show a very easy reroute?
Sorry, Jonathan. I didn't see this until today. The Southwest Chief could have been re-routed between Williams, Arizona, and Colton, California, via the former Santa Fe to Phoenix and the former Southern Pacific from there to Colton.
However, I would expect Amtrak to just put all the passengers on chartered buses between Needles and Los Angeles.
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They have a real mess on their hands, I'm sure they will have it squared away in no time.
