Thursday March 20, 2003, CSX rolled three loaded grain cars over on their side in Anderson Indiana on the Emporia Sub. I have posted some of the shots I took on my Railroads of Madison County http://madisonrails.railfan.net/ web site. They're in the photo album pages, but you can get there easily from the home page The Emporia Sub was once a part of the NYC Michigan Division. How far it has fallen... Roger
I'm thinking that there may have been a severe weakness in the ties, or a wash out, since The rails are still plated together, no breaks (unless out of view), and the cars didn't go far from the rails, almost like they were simply pushed over. Best 2 cents i got.
ooh just forgot, there was asimilar accident about 2 miles from my house that dumped 23 coal cars and 1 of the two helpers on the end into the local river, The NTSB determined that the 4ft 8.5in rail spacing was too wide. That may also been a cause.
Officially. 'Broken rail under load'. It was 90 pound rail. The 66 car train was slowed to make a curve into the yards with air applied. It was when power was applied that enough torque must have been generated at the end of the train to snap a rail and dump the three cars on their side. In my estimation, the heavy freeze-thaw that we had around here coupled with the running in of the cars and the sudden stretching out found the hidden flaw in the track. I have a shot showing the broken rail. In one case that I did not shoot, there is a small four inch piece of rail lying under the car. Interesting, but it may have absolutely nothing to do with the derailment.
