NS encountered some pretty high winds in Harrisburg Monday. No injuries but the bridge was closed for 24 hrs. or so. Local news coverage here.
Railfan-Photographer Jim Fickel from Duncannon, PA (about 9 miles west on the Pittsburgh line), braved the wind and chilly temps, and posted his shots here: http://www.pbase.com/pitp_mp_119/21t_derails ...believe train was symbol 21T, westbound inter-modal stack train out of Harrisburg. Looked like about 15 wells overturned - the two in the water were listed as "empty". Who'd have thunk wind could derail a train? Bob C.
The breeze out there on the bridge is pretty stiff quite often. You usually want the windows closed or your paperwork heads for the river but it's still hard to imagine it knocking a train over. Empty doubles with the wind hitting them flat-on must have been like a sail to push that hard.
Nice weathering! :thumbs_up: Interesting to see all the pipes and conduits along the side of a very old bridge like that. Interesting vegetation growth along the sides, too. Nice photo spread.
Stack trains have been blown over at least twice that I can remember on the causeway at Sandusky, Ohio.
I think the after-effects of the NorEaster may have played a part in the derailment. This storm I think was the strongest to date.
