Mudslide vs BNSF: video link

I bet the weight of the train and the ground shaking translated into that hill did not help any.  What I don't get is how did the guy with the cell phone shooting the video know that was going to happen? 

Well, there's no way this thing could be faked.  Everything looked real to me.  Maybe he was just taking video on a railfanning trip and it happened.

Based on what I saw, it was right after a decent amount of rain, and yes, the vibration of the train may have been the trigger.

Wow! Was it just chance that the camera was aimed at the exact spot?

If you look closely, you can see the first trickles of mud, just before the whole thing gave way. Looks like it took out 4 or 5 cars that had already made it past the spot. Somehow the ones behind it stayed up.

That video was shown on the ABC Network, national news this evening.

Made it on our local news tonight

I read somewhere that an inspection crew was getting ready to inspect the hillside, and was waiting for the train to pass before beginning the inspection.  My guess is that they guy who filmed it was part of the inspection crew.  If he wasn't, then he was just in the right place at the right time to capture the video, because there was no way that was faked.

That is amazing. No matter how big we make our machines, Mother Nature can always win.

While this video is truly fascinating, it is also a great lesson in how NOT to shoot video with a smart phone.

HOLD YOUR PHONE HORIZONTALLY WHEN YOU SHOOT VIDEO! 

If you hold it horizontally the video is full 1080 HD and will fill the video frame. If you hold it vertically, as this guy did, you end up with this postage-stamp sized vertical image that looks rather silly and does not fill the frame!

I don't understand why people would hold a camera in such a way to make a vertical format video image. TV screens have always been wider than they are tall. It only makes sense to shoot video that will properly fit on a video screen. 

I dont know why but I nicknamed it Goat's Eye mode.  Drives me crazy that people do that.

Just goes to show how much force mother nature has....it knocked those cars off the track like they weighed nothing.  Time for some major work there.

I just saw this on the BBC news too. I hope that nobody in the track crew (Visible just up the line.) was hurt, although I expect that they may have set a few world sprint records when sideways containers started heading towards them!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-20778774

it appears the video was shooting the hillside, not the train, based on the view angle. that could confirm the person shooting it was part of the inspection crew.

makes me wonder if they thought a slide may happen, hence the work order.

Yeah, I wondered about that too. And the train was travelling at reduced speed? like they were hoping to get by instead of closing the track.

What gets me is the news reports.  This morning (approx 11AM EST) one network reported that "It could be weeks before trains are running again."  C'mon!  For the number of cars that went down the roadbed is probably cleared of them by now, bucket loaders are clearing the mud, and by now some panel track is probably ready to put in if needed.  Railroads don't waste any time getting the line open again.  I wonder how many Amtrak riders hearing the report changed their plans?

These idiots only read what's on their Teleprompters. I wonder if they can even see what they're commenting on?

That BNSF line through Everett Washington (former Great Northern) is prone to slides, and has been for decades. Train speed is also not that high thru there either.

"No my child, here's why Santa won't be bringing that Lionel (or MTH, WbB) train set you asked him for..."