[Paging Loco Vette & other RR fans] BIG train derailment near me
 

Have been heading out to the Shenandoah/Blue Ridge area lately on drives, this is about a fat hour away from where I live...heading back home this particular day, I was wondering why there was so much heavy traffic (Front Royal is not exactly a happenin' place :Jeff '79: ), and noted a lot of heavy equipment being moved about. Now I know why! I drove the route (Rt 55/John Marshall Hwy) that goes under that rail overpass seen in the video footage after *this* happened...

https://royalexaminer.com/no-injurie...in-derailment/



I remember one of your past threads about a derailment, and how costly it was/how much finesse it takes to clean up such a scene. :yesnod: :cool:

Thankfully, no injuries reported. :seasix:

I know that area. Been stuck on 66 for over two hours before. It doesn’t take much. And 81, fuggetaboudit. I take the VRE from FXBG into town. I know this won’t impact it, but hope they get it fixed soon. What a mess.

Sorry, I was long since asleep when you posted this. I'll have to do some digging to figure out what went wrong there but my guess is that there was a "wide gauge" issue (weak ties allowing the rails to spread apart) since the lead unit seems to have "dropped in". Other issues would likely have the locomotives skewed all sideways since this seems to have happened at some speed.

Dang glad no one was hurt.

Thanks for the RR intel/explanation! :seasix: They were using some LONG acetylene torches to free up everything, I know there were some Hazmat concerns also. It could have been much worse :yesnod:

Neat video! Thanks!

Train derailment that close is too close for comfort. :leaving: