Freight trains collide in Chicago

"Eight full-sized cars went off the tracks, and one slid down an embankment into a backyard, a Chicago fire official and media affairs director, Larry Langford, told The Chicago Sun-Times."

As opposed to traditional-sized cars?

Rusty

Thanks for posting this, Sam. It's the first I had heard about it. The Tribune doesn't have much on it, as of now:http://www.chicagotribune.com/...0902,0,1323323.story

Here's the Sun Times on it. It also mentions "full sized cars", so they must run mini-cars on this line, normally:http://www.suntimes.com/148872...-southwest-side.html

I can't believe how many major wrecks CSX has been having.  It seems they're averaging at least one per month.  Is this just bad luck, or general incompetance on the part of those who run the railroad?

Stuart

"As opposed to traditional-sized cars?"

great post!

Ah, just wait, once PTC is in place all railroad problems are solved. No more accidents, all trains run on time.  (And I am Santa Clause..)

PTC will not stop any trains if a loose cut of cars roll onto the mainline.  And PTC signals will come fron the front of the train with locomotives, unless there is a pusher on the rear.

Will FREDs get PTC transmitters?

Dominic is correct of course.  I should have add phrase "sarcasism off" as PTC won't fix all troubles but can compensate somewhat for human inattention.  PTC can't fix poor roadbeds, negleted hotboxes etc etc.

I was on the scene of the wreck around 1:30 PM Sunday. Cranes were already in place, ready to start clean up. The people in this neighborhood are extremely lucky.

Interesting that they just push stuff to the side rather than using the big hook to upright and rerail cars.  Guess its cheaper and gets a critical line re-opened and revenue ($$$) moving again.  Besides isn't that why RR have insurance, let insurance pay for it.

None of the "big railroads" have "big hooks" anymore. With professional contractors like R.J.Corman and Hultcher, it is much faster, and less expensive in the long run, than maintaining all those "big hooks" and the huge quantity of wrecking crew personnel that went with them.

Insurance doesn't pay for all of it. Most railroads have multi-million dollar deductible policies. 

The Big Hooks had to attack a wreck from the ends of the mess.  If track was torn up, it had to be replaced before they could advance.  Cleanup could be a long drawn out process.  Dozers and mobile cranes can attack a wreck anywhere as the photos show.  Once the debris is removed, the tracks can be repaired and the line reopened.  The wrecked cars can be removed at any time.  Time is money.

Tom

From what I have seen, most of the big hoops' booms had a limited length.  Good for a heavy thing, but lenght can come in handy.

I just hope that one of those damagerd containers didn't contain the trains that I had ordered a LOOOONG time ago.  I would hate to start the wait over.

Tom

Those are fascinating photos, Josh; thanks for posting them!

Thank you very much! Also, I wanted to point out, those bulldozers appeared to be holding the fallen coal cars in their position, so they didn't roll further down the embankment and into the garage behind me. There was a large crane on the other side of the tracks that was waiting to move into position to begin clean up.

Long Live the Big Hook.  That had to be a little frightening to look out your back window and see cars piled up so close to your deck.  Yikes!

 Wow, very luck indeed. The power lines alone could have done some damage. Imagine if those cars hit the houses! Thanks for the pics.