AFC - First: This topic should be titled "BNSF Derailment - Cairo, Nebraska - February 9, 2024"
(Cairo is in Hall County, Nebraska NW of Grand Island)
There were THREE drone videos by KHFarms1 posted on consecutive days - all are of good quality and
shows the derailment site and subsequent cleanup by RJ Corman* wreck crews vividly...
(*An RJ Corman flatbed truck is clearly visible in one video)
The train is a *Unit Coal Train* taking note to the loaded hopper cars on this train heading eastward from
the Powder River Basin coal fields to a generating facility for a single customer (that can be determined
from the WFRX reporting marks on the hopper cars) using one type of coal hopper car for the entire train...
The three BNSF locomotives were DPUs (Distributed Power Units) that are placed at some point away
from the head-end of the train to provide extra push/brake power for what is a very heavy weight train...
DPU Locomotives in the middle (or at the rear) of a train are remote controlled by the engine crew...
Two SD70AC units - 8415 and 8518 - along with #9199 were the three BNSF locomotives involved...
I was able to estimate that about 48 loaded WFRX hopper cars were involved and derailed in this wreck...
Numbers readable were 927312 and 937242 as examples...The overview of the various wrecked hopper
cars in particular offers an almost-surreal view of the wreck scene reminding me of model railroad cars
in pieces - car bodies, trucks, axles and/or wheelsets - during the salvage process...
The derailment cleanup and track restoration process begins with clearing away tons of dumped coal...
The three locomotives have little visible damage other then their lower end areas and look repairable...
There are hopper cars that range from salvageable and/or repairable to damaged beyond recognition...
A percentage of these hoppers will end up being written off and eventually scrapped...
The damaged track(s) need to be relaid with replacement rails and ties and the equipment remaining
on site moved nearby for eventual removal in a manner to allow service to be restored on the route...
This wreck will be investigated by the NTSB and BNSF to find what the cause of this incident was...
MACTRAXX
EXPRESS TRAIN TO NEW YORK PENN STATION-NO JAMAICA ON THIS TRAIN-PLEASE STAND CLEAR OF THE CLOSING TRAIN DOORS
