Late in the afternoon of May 29, 2018, around 4:45 PM I think, an eastbound Canadian Pacific Railway train derailed between Rosser and Winnipeg, Manitoba. About 13 double-stacked container platforms were blown over by strong winds.
Local railfan Felix Lesiuk passed by the scene before the highway was closed and took some photos. He graciously gave permission for me to post a couple. There are more on the Winnipeg Model Railroad blog.
CP derailment scene. Photo by Felix Lesiuk.
Truck and kingpin - a rare sight. Photo by Felix Lesiuk.
I was initially unaware of the derailment. After supper, I went out for a bike ride. When I returned home, I checked my email and a friend in the area had sent me a message about the derailment (thanks Sheldon!). It was 8 PM at this point. I grabbed my camera bag and rushed up north toward Rosser.
I arrived "on scene" at 8:40 PM. Highway 221, which parallels the CP Carberry subdivision, was blocked off just over 5 km west of the Perimeter Highway (road 3E), where the head end of the train was.
The marked location "2.77 km" is where the train was, on the west side of Winnipeg. The 2.77 km is the approximate length of the train.
The location
A closer look:
The local fire department was manning a blockade on the east end, with CP Police right behind them. I parked down road 3E then walked up to the barricade to take the photo above. The firefighters eyed my camera and cautioned me to be safe. I assured them I would stay on the public roads outside their perimeter.
Down highway 221
The train was headed by CP 8764 (which I last saw in Spillimacheen, BC), with a mid train DPU (CP 9769) and a tail end DPU.
There were about 8 or 9 autoracks in front of the tail end DPU and all were still upright, along with a couple of doublestacks.
I was glad to hear that nobody was injured, and there seemed to be no concern about hazardous materials. The road was blocked off so the cleanup crews could work without interference from passing cars.
There were a fair number of people gawking from their cars but I don't think anyone was walking around like I was. I talked to two gentlemen from a nearby farming colony who were pretty curious about the situation.
It looks like about 13-15 platforms blew over right behind the mid train locomotive. Lots of equipment was on site and cranes were in operation, with more arriving while I was there.
Reinforcements arriving
I brought out the long lens to get some shots from the grid roads around the train.
CP 8764 and emergency crews
I walked north up road 3E to get some decent angles. The 70-200mm lens was earning its keep.
Farther
Nearer
I tried the road parallel to the highway, a mile north. You can see track panels on a truck trailer in the photo below, ready to install to patch up damaged track.
Note the track panels on the truck trailer on the right.
I took a video of the train, using my long lens and my monopod for a little stability. It's still a bit jerky but a lot better than it would have been hand-held.
It was getting fairly dark by this point - about 9:15 PM.
Looking through the bottoms of the cars
Working at night
I cropped the heck out of the above photo to show this worker cutting a doublestack apart. I guess they can't be unlocked in that position...
Cutting a doublestack of containers apart
I tried the west end of the blockade, but it was a long way from the train and there really was nothing to see from there.
I decided that I had all the shots I could get, so I wrapped up with a few more from the head end and prepared to leave.
CP 8764 and a fire truck
A few more photos of the scene...
The blockade and the train
As I was getting in my car, I heard CP 8764's horn blow. I watched as the front end of the train slooooowly crept forward, dragging the front end of the train behind it. This was 9:40 PM.
Pulling through the crossing
I headed for home after that.
Everyone on site was very professional and were working hard to clear the wreck and restore service. It's unfortunate that this happened just before the CP engineers and conductors went on strike. Fortunately they quickly reached a tentative agreement and they are going back to work.
There were three derailments in the news this week. Quite an unfortunate run.
QNSL
The Quebec, North Shore and Labrador (QNSL) railway derailed 14 cars (and perhaps the locomotive?) between Sept-Îles and Schefferville, Quebec on May 11. Nobody was injured and there is no environmental issue, according to the company.
This was a better outcome than the derailment in November 2014 that claimed the life of engineer (and sole crewman) Enrick Gagnon. The train ran into a landslide and the train derailed and ended up in the Moisie River.
Canadian Pacific
On the same day, May 11, CP train N51 derailed the last 17 cars of the train at mile 97 (Cheviot) of the CP Sutherland subdivision just outside Saskatoon, SK. Again, fortunately, there were no injuries and no environmental release.
CN
On May 9, CN train 121 derailed 8 cars near Plaster Rock, NB. They were quickly righted and the train continued on with only a few hours' delay.
The RCMP are saying that the derailment was caused by a 'deliberate act' and they are looking for an ATV driver who was seen in the area.
Let's hope the individual(s) responsible are brought to justice. There is no need for that.
Let's also hope that next week is a much quieter week!
There was a derailment in downtown Winnipeg late this afternoon, around 4:40 PM. According to CN's Twitter account "At ~4:40pm local time, 9 cars on westbound CN freight train derailed upright on CN main line in downtown Winnipeg. No leaks or injuries. Loaded cars contained sand; 2 derailed tank cars empty. CN crews on site, working to restore service. The cause is under investigation."
The cars in the above photo appear to be derailed. Notice how the car second from right is not connected. I noted sparks flying as crews were apparently cutting the couplers to separate them.
There was plenty of equipment and personnel in the nearby parking lot. That's the Fort Garry Hotel in the background, and you can see the dome of the VIA station above the truck cab.
There were personnel walking the train. Here I saw two people on the William Stephenson Way overpass. The end of the train is just off the right side of the photo.
Note the angle of the covered hoppers in the two photos below... clearly derailed.
Thank goodness they didn't fall off the overpasses!
I hadn't read my news this afternoon so I was totally unaware. I had headed up to the north end of Winnipeg after supper to get some video tapes converted to digital, and on my way home I noted the sparks flying from the stopped train and investigated.
Apparently CN believes the track will be clear late this evening. It's fortunate the cars were all upright and it doesn't appear that they traveled very far after derailing.
Global has helicopter video! The north track looks pretty torn up.
News reports:
After a derailment on June 3, the Hudson Bay Railway closed the rail line between Gillam and Churchill. Omnitrax, the owner-operator of the line (and the port of Churchill), said that permafrost had damaged the line and they were making repairs and hope to re-open within the first week of July. They had briefly re-opened the line to freight service but had to suspend it again.
VIA Rail in Thompson, Manitoba
VIA Rail last sent a train to Churchill on May 30. The company said they will not send VIA 692/693 over the line until they are satisfied that it is safe for passengers. In the meantime, passengers intending to use the train have had to find alternate arrangements (aka "fly").
This closure has really impacted the people of Churchill, as they depend on the railway for the majority of shipments into the town. The only alternative is to fly fuel, food and other supplies in at a greatly increased cost. Hopefully the line will be re-opened when Omnitrax says it will.
This might really make people question whether they should still be considering shipping oil by rail.
Just over 9 months after the railway disaster in Lac-Mégantic on July 6 2013, three men were arrested by the Sûreté du Québec (the Quebec provincial police) and each will be charged with 47 counts of criminal negligence causing death on Tuesday. The Montreal, Maine and Atlantic Railway itself also received the same charges.
The three are:
Thomas Harding, the engineer of the train that rolled into Lac-Mégantic;
Richard Labrie, a railway traffic controller for the railway; and
Jean Demaitre, the director of operations for the railway.
It's said that Harding was arrested by a SWAT team, even though his lawyer (Thomas Walsh) had already communicated that he would voluntarily turn himself in if charged.
I'm curious why it took so long to lay charges. It's possible that there is a draft of the upcoming Transportation Safety Board report being privately circulated that contained enough to get warrants for their arrests. I'm sure it'll come out soon.
I'm also a little surprised that more people weren't charged.
EDIT: The Transport Minister, Lisa Raitt, is announcing new rail tanker rules right now, another direct result of the Lac-Mégantic disaster.
CN 532 derailed about 5-7 cars around 12:55 today, just south of St. Norbert outside Winnipeg. Fortunately nobody was hurt and the cars did not contain any dangerous goods. Crews were on the scene to start cleaning up. I went there later in the afternoon and took some photos.
The police had one of the southbound #75 lanes blocked so the equipment could park, and the scene was taped off. I was able to shoot a fair bit from the "good" side of the tape. I had a nice conversation with one of Winnipeg's finest about railfans!
This is looking south from the bridge over the La Salle River. There were a few pipe loads involved in the derailment.
The CN boxcar involved in the derailment.
One crane was on site beginning to try to rerail a pipe car.
One lane was blocked off. The backhoe was going in to start digging an approach road to the scene.
One truck of NCIX 1251 was off the rails.
The "big hook" on scene. It wasn't being deployed when I arrived. It was probably waiting for the road to be built.
A view from the south end. You can see two hopper cars (with plastic pellets onboard, according to the news reports) and the CN boxcar.
The derailment scene is at 49.759548, -97.151342 if you want to look it up on Google Maps.
One bystander told me that the rest of the train had been south of the scene, but it was gone by the time I arrived. I presume they continued south to Emerson.
Earlier this week, CN 308 derailed just outside Plaster Rock, New Brunswick on Tuesday January 7. A number of the tank cars on the train caught fire and burned, quite spectacularly, but fortunately no one was hurt. The CN Napadogan subdivision was blocked until early Saturday morning. During that time, CN detoured trains through northern New Brunswick over the ailing Newcastle subdivision.
CN 308 had three locomotives on the head end, one DPU engine near the rear (CN 2684), and 122 cars. 19 cars and the remote locomotive derailed. Two of the LPG (liquefied petroleum gas) cars burned, and officials conducted a controlled burn to put the fire out.
Preliminary reports indicate that a car near the head end (13th car?) had a broken wheel. The initial Transportation Safety Board (TSB) findings indicate that the broken wheel tore up the track and rails for 10 miles before the derailment, and they found 17 broken rails and 50 impact locations on the rails.
About 150 people in the area were evacuated as a precaution. They are now permitted back in their homes but have been instructed not to drink local water, as it may have become contaminated.
Here's a TSB photo of the offending car. Notice how both wheels are sitting on the ground between the rails.
There's a closeup of the wheel showing a big crack in it. I wonder if they will be able to determine if the crack was there prior to the derailment, or whether it was caused by banging on ties and crossings and so forth for 10 miles.
All of CN's regular trains detoured through northern New Brunswick: CN 120, 121, 305 and 308. CN 120 was the last detouring train on Saturday morning. Here are a few of the detouring trains:
CN 120: CN 5611, CN 2438, and CN 2646
CN 121: CN 2652, CN 5693, and
CN 8900
The challenge with detouring on the north line is that there are few places to meet, given the short and infrequent sidings. CN 120 and 121 met in Campbellton and there was another meet at Irvco near Belledune.
Photos courtesy of the TSB's excellent Flickr page. Thanks to all of the railfans (Wendell, Nicolas, Michel and more) for their sightings.
The federal government has promised $60 million in aid for the town, matching the province of Quebec's contribution. About 1,000 runners ran the 12 km from the Eastern Townships to Lac-Mégantic to raise money for the victims.
A lot of focus has been placed on the operation of MMA trains by a single crew person. This Eastern Railroad News article talks about the introduction of single-person crews. In theory a one-person crew can operate a train but I have questions about the operation of main line trains by single crews, mainly what might happen if the crew-person has health issues while operating the train.
The Transportation Safety Board has posted a Rail Advisory Letter after the accident, advising Transport Canada to consider reviewing its procedures on unattended trains. Transport Canada has issued an emergency directive disallowing one-man operation for trains with tank cars, as well as other directives for unattended trains. New Brunswick Southern Railway has announced changes to its operating procedures, although it never left main line trains unattended anyway.
PS - Eastern Rail News have other related articles on their news page but they are subscription-only. Consider subscribing - it's quite inexpensive right now.
Many more details are emerging on the Lac-Mégantic disaster.
MMA's chairman, Edward Burkhardt, was interviewed about the accident. His position is that the railway followed generally-accepted practices. He said the practices were obviously not sufficient and they have made changes already: the train will continue on to Sherbrooke and not change in Nantes, and the trains will not be left unmanned.
Burkhardt visited the scene today, and during media interviews he basically said the engineer didn't set enough hand brakes. "It seems an adequate number of hand brakes were not set, and this is the engineer's responsibility. I don't think he'll be back working with us." Apparently the train engineer, Tom Harding, pulled nine of the tank cars out of the way after the explosions started.
Here's a good piece describing how train brakes work and how trains are parked. MMA officials said that all five locomotives had their hand brakes on, but it did not say how many cars also had their hand brakes on. The accepted rule of thumb is 10% of the cars plus 2 brakes. For a train of 5 engines and 72 cars, at least 9 hand brakes should have been set. The fact that the train was on a slope should have been considered as well.
Many towns with railway tracks nearby are now questioning the railways. Rothesay, NB is questioning CN and Harvey, NB already talked to NB Southern. So is Ste-Anne, MB. I think it's good that they are questioning, so they can update their emergency response plans and be aware of the risks. I don't think it is realistic to expect the railways to share the exact consist of every train passing through, but it would be helpful for the towns to know what kind of cargoes travel through.
By now I'm sure you have read the news reports about the Lac-Mégantic train accident.. but if not, here's the recap: a Montreal, Maine and Atlantic (MMA) freight train was parked a few miles outside of the town of Lac-Mégantic, Quebec. The engineer booked off and left, and sometime in the early morning the unmanned train rolled into Lac-Mégantic, derailed and a number of explosions occurred, followed by intense fires. At this point it appears that thirteen (13) people were killed but it is likely that this number will rise, as up to 40 are reported missing. The explosion and fires happened in the downtown core and the town is devastated, physically and emotionally. About 2,000 of the 6,000 people living in the town were evacuated and at least 30 buildings downtown have been destroyed.
July 5, 23:15: Train stopped and tied down by engineer at Nantes. The train had 5 locomotives and 72 car loads of crude oil, destined for Irving Oil in Saint John, NB.
July 6, ?????: Train starts rolling downhill to Lac-Mégantic.
July 6, 01:15: Train derailed at Rue Frontenac crossing in downtown Lac-Mégantic
July 6 (later): Firefighters battle the intense blaze through the day. 13 intact carloads pulled from rear of train by MMA.
From the second press release by MMA, it appears the engine(s) were shut down after the engineer left, presumably during or after the firefighters arrived to put the fire out. What is disturbing to me is that the MMA statement says that the shutdown "may have resulted in the release of air brakes on the locomotive that was holding the train in place". I am no railroader but section 112 of the Canadian Rail Operating Rules is quite clear on this.
When equipment is left at any point a sufficient number of hand brakes must be applied to prevent it from moving. Special instructions will indicate the minimum hand brake requirements for all locations where equipment is left. If equipment is left on a siding, it must be coupled to other equipment if any on such track unless it is necessary to provide separation at a public crossing at grade or elsewhere.
(emphasis mine) The implication is that air brakes cannot be relied upon to hold a train in place. Again, I am strictly an amateur but this did catch my eye.
The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating and they have 14 people on the scene. I understand the locomotive event recorder has been recovered. That will help fill in the timeline as to when the train started moving, and most crucially, when the air brakes were released.
In addition to the tragic loss of life, the destruction of the town, there are concerns about water quality due to the quantity of spilled crude oil.
There are some railfan reports that the runaway train may have struck a set of propane cars that were in the town and those are what caused the initial explosions.
My heart is broken at the thoughts of the people killed and injured as a result of this terrible accident.
EDIT: More information here that confirms that the firefighters shut the engine down before battling the blaze.
VIA train 693, the Winnipeg-Churchill passenger train, derailed near Togo, Saskatchewan around 6 PM on Sunday night. There was a washout, likely due to spring runoff, and the track was undermined. There is a highly distorted but dramatic photo in the CBC article showing a coach hanging in mid-air with only one truck on the ground. Fortunately noone was injured beyond "a few scratches". The seven (7) passengers were taken to a nearby lodge in Duck Mountain Provincial Park for the night and presumably other arrangements have been made for the rest of their journey. Reports say the track may be out of service for two days.
There is no word on damage to the train, except that there was a fire under one of the engines, presumably from a punctured fuel tank. The news reports say the fire was quickly extinguished. The plume of smoke was visible from a CN freight train over a dozen miles away.
In case you are wondering why the train was in Saskatchewan, the CN Togo subdivision that VIA 692/693 takes does cross into Saskatchewan and the Hudson Bay is in Saskatchewan for about 4 hours before returning to Manitoba for the long trip north to Churchill. (VIA timetable - PDF)
The Transportation Safety Board has dispatched a team to the location to investigate.
On Thursday, March 7, CN had a small derailment in their Transcona yard in Winnipeg. The lead engine and first car of westbound CN 115 derailed while coming into the yard, blocking the CN Redditt subdivision at around 7 AM. The rest of the train blocked a busy street (Ravenhurst) and the east Perimeter Highway. This also trapped VIA 1 and a couple of freights (CN 101 and CN 111) east of Winnipeg.
Radio station CJOB 68 had their chopper in the air and took some nice aerial photos of the scene. From the photos it appears that there was a sideswipe but I am told it was a simple derailment.
Perhaps the two CN engines (led by IC 2701) were there trying to hook on to the train to pull it into the yard. I believe the derailed engine was CN 8848.
I drove up to see what I could see. I decided not to go anywhere near the derailment site, as the traffic would be crazy and based on the location I would probably not be able to see anything. I drove up Deacon Road to avoid the Perimeter and then headed out Dugald Road (route 15) toward Dugald. Very quickly I found VIA 1 stopped on the main line at Pineridge Road. The strange thing was that they only had one engine.
When I was taking pictures, a taxi came up with a new crew and they boarded the train. There were six deadhead cars on the train.
I guessed that the lead engine had been sent to help clear up the derailment scene, being the closest engine to the incident on the east side. I drove over to the Deacon Road intersection and sure enough, there was VIA 6446 on the end of a container train.
I went to the crossing and watched them slowly pull the train eastward. Quite a pull for a single engine!
Once they had pulled it far enough, one of the engineers dismounted to uncouple from the train.
Once that was done, they headed east toward the Canadian. Note the EOT / FRED / ETD back on the coupler.
They crossed Deacon Road and kept on going.
I hopped back in my van and returned to the Canadian to catch them coupling up.
This is a damn shame. I was just reading this article about two Maryland girls who were killed when a CSX train derailed next to them. Apparently they were sitting on a railway bridge in Ellicott City, Maryland, tweeting away on their phones, when the train passed behind them and derailed, burying them in spilled coal.
Rose Mayr and Elizabeth Nass were both 19. Elizabeth's last tweet was "Drinking on top of the Ellicott City sign with @r0se_petals". They were very close to the Ellicott City Baltimore and Ohio Museum (featuring the oldest surviving railroad station in the USA) and it is prominent in the news footage.
The big question is why did the train derail right there? CSX is investigating and plans to resume service soon, once all the coal from the 21 derailed cars is cleared away. All that is known at this time is that the train was going at track speed of 25 MPH, an engineer-in-training was at the controls, the cars immediately behind the engines derailed, and the crew were unaware of any problems until an emergency braking application occurred (probably from a brake line separating).
It's easy enough to say that they should not have been there... but really, haven't we all been pretty close to the tracks? If you look at this image on Panoramio, it's clear that you could be on the station platform at the museum and be just almost as close to the tracks as the girls were.
I understand they were quite close to the tracks but I don't think a few feet farther away would have made much difference. As Marmie Edwards, a spokeswoman for Operation Lifesaver, said, "It's probably just as well to stay away, not just to be off the tracks, but stay away from the train so you know you're going to be safe,"
she added . "Because it's hard to say, 'OK, here it's safe; there it's not.' So just stay away."
My condolences to the family and friends of these two young women.
An eastbound CN freight train had a minor derailment in Oakville, Manitoba last night (Tuesday at 9:30 PM) after an emergency brake application. The rear wheels of one grain car went off the rails, and sparks from the train started a minor fire. The fire was under control within an hour and CN was running trains on the adjacent track by 11:30 PM. The local highway 13 was closed because of the fire.
I saw CN 111 heading west out of Winnipeg around noon on Thursday, March 15. I was waiting for the Canadian near Diamond. I had my Canon S3 on a tripod waiting to video it, and shot a few long distance shots of the approaching freight before turning the S3 on... and having it turn itself off and complain about low batteries. Drat.
CN 2676 was the lead engine, with CN 2677 behind it. Funny to see two engines in numeric order.
This was scrawled in the dirt on the rear of CN 2676.
I guess it was an editorial comment about CN's maintenance practices.
Farther down the train, CN 2663 was the first DPU engine.
Oddly enough, there was a second DPU engine right behind 2663, ex-BC Rail engine BCOL 4645, yet another Dash-9. Four in one train!
I was interested to hear that they were detouring! They told the RTC that they were detouring through Dauphin (rather than going through Melville SK) and the RTC said they would pick up their pilot in Portage la Prairie. They need a pilot when the crew is unfamiliar with the territory, much like ships need pilots to enter unknown harbours.
CN had a 22-car derailment on the Rivers subdivision about 40km east of Melville at about 03:30 Thursday morning. VIA 1 and 2 were delayed so I never saw VIA 1 on Thursday.
Clayton Chaloner reported that he saw CN 101, CN 401, CN 111 and two others detour before the derailment was cleared. Canada Newswire reported that the TSB was sent. The Regina Leader-Post reported that the derailment site was clear by 6 PM Thursday and that the derailed cars were empty tank cars. 40km east of Melville is around Bangor or Atwater on the CN Rivers subdivision.
EDIT: Corrected engine type of BCOL 4645. Thanks Zartok!
