Cars falling off bridge

r_i_straw Apr 27, 2015

  1. r_i_straw

    r_i_straw Mostly N Scale Staff Member

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    A thunder storm in New Orleans blew some container cars off the Huey Long Bridge.
    [video]http://player.ooyala.com/iframe.html#pbid=1af9f4729c77407baf4796020154bcb6& ec=xhdmFydDrij2qU8qYHeNi9WQnhwzo-R1&docUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nola.com%2Fweather%2Fi n dex.ssf%2F2015%2F04%2Ftv_shows_rail_cars_as_they_f al.html[/video]
     
  2. BoxcabE50

    BoxcabE50 HOn30 & N Scales Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    Holy-----------------------!!!!!!!!!!!! WOW. Someone was in the right place, at the right time!
     
  3. HOexplorer

    HOexplorer TrainBoard Supporter

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    Glad it never rains in SoCal. Well, I think I'm glad? Jim
     
  4. LegomanBill

    LegomanBill TrainBoard Member

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    Woah!!!!!! There's something you don't see everyday.
     
  5. Hytec

    Hytec TrainBoard Member

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    I assume somebody is going to be called onto the carpet for dispatching that train onto the Huey P at that time. There was no excuse for letting that train onto the bridge. That storm system originated in east Texas and was tracked with tornado watches and warnings by the NWS Severe Storms folks across all of south Louisiana and into south Mississippi since about 8 this morning.

    Here's a local news report.
     
  6. BoxcabE50

    BoxcabE50 HOn30 & N Scales Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    One way or another, this is going to cost the company far, far more than if that train had been delayed for an extremely extensive time.
     
  7. RBrodzinsky

    RBrodzinsky November 18, 2022 Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter In Memoriam

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    I started thinking "why did the guy turn his car 90 degrees in the parking lot just then?" Then, decided he is some Marvel super-villain, wreaking havoc prior to the movie release later this week.

    Amazing video
     
  8. Eagle2

    Eagle2 Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    That had to be a heck of a strong wind...
     
  9. Hytec

    Hytec TrainBoard Member

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    The photographer was part of a WGNO-TV news team that happened to be at the right place, at the right time, at least for them and their station. It looks like they were just leaving Cane's after lunch, saw the train on the bridge and, being an alert news team, wondered what if.

    On the other hand, I'm sure the engineer and conductor further up the 4-1/2 mile span were having significantly different thoughts, including considerations as to their own mortality. The top of the span, where they were near if not at, is approximately 225' above the river.
     
  10. BoxcabE50

    BoxcabE50 HOn30 & N Scales Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    Hopefully they wore brown pants, or there was a Laundromat close by.....
     
  11. Metro Red Line

    Metro Red Line TrainBoard Member

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    Welp, there goes our supply of Atlas track...
     
  12. Hytec

    Hytec TrainBoard Member

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    Oh, that's cold, but funny. Fortunately the containers were empty according to a UP spokeswoman. That also is probably why they blew over so easily.
     
  13. BoxcabE50

    BoxcabE50 HOn30 & N Scales Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    Looking at the picture in that link posted, it seems to my eyes as if there is spilled cargo from a container further back.
     
  14. ddechamp71

    ddechamp71 TrainBoard Member

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    It's all about density. And that's why, fortunately for the train's crew, the locomotives remained on track. Remember a video that was wandering on the internet à few years ago, taken from a rear unit's cab, just ahead of empty hoppers that where blown out of track the same way in a tornado, maybe in a neighbouring location, as I remember it was in South-eastern US..

    Dom
     
  15. Hytec

    Hytec TrainBoard Member

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    A news report this morning (Tuesday) said the train was coming down off the bridge and the locomotives were already at grade entering a yard. So the engineer and conductor at least were on the ground, not near the top about 225' above the Mississippi River during the height of the storm.
     
  16. BoxcabE50

    BoxcabE50 HOn30 & N Scales Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    I believe that was a CSX train? It is still on YouTube:

    [video=youtube;a-smEEHYdGQ]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-smEEHYdGQ[/video]
     
  17. Hytec

    Hytec TrainBoard Member

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    Read on another blog that the westbound Sunset Limited (Amtrak #1) had just past that point a few minutes earlier. It then was held west of the bridge for over three hours while the weather and "chaos" cleared, though safely off the bridge and at grade.
     
  18. BoxcabE50

    BoxcabE50 HOn30 & N Scales Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    That is scary. There could have been a major disaster!
     
  19. ddechamp71

    ddechamp71 TrainBoard Member

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    Yeah. Exactly this one.

    Dom
     
  20. BoxcabE50

    BoxcabE50 HOn30 & N Scales Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    Huey Long is a UP(SP) bridge?
     

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