Southwest Chief Derailed in KS 03/14 early AM

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I love that they clearly illustrate how long it takes a train to stop. That's good info for people who think a train can stop as quickly as a car.
 
There's a report here that the re-railed train set is moving to Kansas City today. It says the train will probably being staying in Kansas City tonight for a thorough inspection before heading east to Chicago tomorrow.
 
Here's a video of it rolling through Topeka, KS. This was posted on FB by the guy who put it up on YouTube.

 
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It would seem that the damage to the equipment could not have been too severe if it was mobile enough to be moved intact at low speed. From the pictures I saw the rear cars were tipped on their right side, so any damage to the right side of those cars was not visible from the angle the video was taken. I hope the two critically injured passengers who were flown to the hospital Amarillo are doing well. Amtrak certainly seems to be a hard luck outfit, and this was an example where the blame does not lie with them. One report gave credit to the engineer for being vigilant and spotting the kinked rail. I believe there is only one engineer on that segment from La Junta to Dodge City.
 
A Voice said:
Here's a video of it rolling through Topeka, KS.

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I don't think we're seeing the side that hit the ground. I'm guessing the boarded up areas are where the emergency personnel entered the cars and/or the windows where pax crawled out.
 
AmtrakBlue said:
A Voice said:
Damage certainly appears to be minor.
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I don't think we're seeing the side that hit the ground. I'm guessing the boarded up areas are where the emergency personnel entered the cars and/or the windows where pax crawled out.
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The cars that fell hit the dirt on their left side, which is the side of the train shown in the video.
 
Aren't we seeing the tipped side, which was indeed to the left facing the engine (right facing the rear), or the same car order seen in the video? Emergency exits are through the windows; I wouldn't expect to see plywood covered damage on the side facing the sky.
 
Thank you for getting the position of the tipped cars correct. I thought it was the other side damaged, because so little was visible in the video except for the plywood.
 
FormerOBS said:
printman2000 said:
Wow. Goes to show how well these cars were made.
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Right. After the Auto Train derailment in April of 2002, I got a chance to see some of the damaged cars and talk with some of the crew who were aboard at the time of the accident. Those carbodies are well built, and it takes an awful lot of force to cause serious structural damage.
Tom
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So I take it you were either on the other set or at home the day of the derailment? What happened to the other set that day? I'm too young to have been paying much attention to the derailment, and only found out almost three months later via Trains magazine.
 
As I recall, Crew 5 was on the train at the time of the derailment, which was caused by a track anomaly something like the one under discussion (the cause of the anomaly was different). I had been on Crew 5 previously and knew all of the crew members, but I had moved onto another crew about a year or two before the accident. A lot of my friends were aboard. Some had a pretty hard time of it afterwards and never returned to work, but others handled it well. Some are still working on the Auto Train. Several Supervisory personnel were aboard, on their way to a meeting in Florida, and they were pressed into service to help. The engine crew, conductors, Chief, and onboard service crew 5 were widely praised for their performance.

Yes, I was home at the time. I don't remember specifics, but Amtrak did all it could to resume service as quickly as possible. I don't remember for sure what happened to the other set, but I think it was turned back at Richmond, returned to Lorton, and annulled. The problem was that the track needed to be rebuilt after the investigation, and the Sanford terminal was crowded with damaged equipment for a few days. Replacement Superliners were brought in from all around the country and service resumed after a couple days. We were used to seeing the same individual cars trip after trip, and we knew about their individual peculiarities. Some of the transferred cars from other trains were a bit unfamiliar to us. I think sleeper 32100 "New York" was never returned to service (could be wrong), and maybe another car too. As I recall, it took a little while before we had enough equipment to run full consists. Some of those damaged cars sat in Sanford for over a year. I think that was because all the legal issues hadn't been resolved.

Tom
 
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Yep.

The ends of the Superliner Coach cars is where the electrical/mechanical/HVAC systems are located.

In the linked to graphic those spaces are blank but the access doors are shown.
 
SarahZ said:
I love that they clearly illustrate how long it takes a train to stop. That's good info for people who think a train can stop as quickly as a car.
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When I was on the Texas Eagle a decade ago and we went into Emergency, I obviously didn't know how far we took to stop, but it sure seemed less than 18 seconds.
 
Postscript of sorts to the Kansas derailment: I learned a few days ago that a lady who is a member of my church here in Flagstaff was traveling to Chicago in coach on this train. Tonight I spoke with her. While she was quite shaken up by what happened, she said she did not really feel afraid - she expressed thoughts of faith that she would be OK even as the coaches ended up turned on their sides.. She did not go to the hospital, although had a CAT scan here today, rather a bit too long after the fact, I would think. She seemed fine tonight as I spoke with her as she was getting in her car at church. They were taken into town and then, after a lengthy wait, were taken by buses from a local junior college and driven to Kansas City, where the passengers were put up for the night in a hotel. The next morning they boarded the next day's Train 4, which I believe came by way of the Amarillo detour, and she said another locomotive and several cars were added to this train, which I heard had been deadheaded from Chicago. She arrived in Chicago about 27 hours late. I did not discuss with her about her return trip.
 
Would these folks likely get any kind of voucher/return of points for all their troubles? If so, would Amtrak offer it or would they have to call someone and ask for it?

Greatcats--thanks for the update.
 
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