"we just hit the ground hard!" 7 a.m. Yard Job Derails

[BBT609]

Wow. What are the odd of catching something like that live on camera? lol

[UFOterror]

why are the rails so often wavy in america?

[benschlechter]

There was a derailment yesterday in Bulls Gap,TN, where an empty coal train was making a turn toward Andover Va from Bristol and the locos went off the track. They got it cleaned up last night.

[kmothersil]

Man what are the odds of that happening when railfanning? Well the good thing is that everyone is okay that's the most important thing. :)

[kasabian619]

fucking hell

[Muzzy337]

Goober dun got hissself a problem.

[Supdude180]

I think he went to fast and bounced off.

[njcurmudgeon]

Nice catch. I was wondering if Norfolk Southern used your video to help their investigation of what went wrong?

[traindude390]

I love how someone has to get out and say "Yep we derailed"

[Jemalacane]

Why the fuck did they derail the train? Hahahahaha! :D

[JerryNSretired]

Morg52, It was ON PURPOSE--it's called SHOUTING!!!!! LOL! This guy's gonna come on here and call names? Who is the REAL 'armchair f****wit

[morg52]

Apparently you don't know how to turn off your caps lock,JerryNSretired.:)

[JerryNSretired]

EXACTLY! I SPENT 30 YEARS OUT THERE ON NS. IF YOU KNEW WHAT YOU WERE TALKING ABOUT IT WOULD BE DIFFERENT. THE APPEARANCE OF THE RAILS IN THIS VID ARE GIVING PEOPLE THE SAME IMPRESSION THAT DRIVERS GET WHO ATTEMPT TO CROSS IN FRONT OF AN ONCOMING TRAIN WHEN THERE ACTUALLY IS NO ROOM/TIME TO CROSS. YOU CAN SIT BEHIND A KEYBOARD AND CALL PEOPLE NAMES? FINE. I'LL MATCH WITS WITH YOU ANYDAY ON RAILROAD KNOWLEDGE SINCE I *LIVED* IT EVERYDAY SINCE 1978!~

[thedodger1234]

@JerryNSretired What did you do for NS?

[cripticgatekeep]

@JerryNSretired you are right. and next month I start working for Loram MoW.

[simonspics1]

Houston "WE HAVE A PROBLEM" I bet thats frustrating to any engineer!

[101MTA]

fail much, nice catch!

[4202EJW]

Haaha "All right...we have a little problem!" HHAhaha, one in a life time catch! Niiccce!

[TOY5OLDI3R24]

if this was a full train and MSTS cars would fly every where and morph into each other...

[GilmourWaters91]

Is that the original Norfolk Southern yard or the one on the the NC railroad?

[JerryNSretired]

First of all, you have no business WALKING on railroad tracks----------PERIOD! A railroad employee can get in trouble for even stepping ON a rail. Last, as already expressed, there is NOTHING wrong with the tracks; it is mostly an optical illusion. You "sidewalk superintendents" need to know what you are talking about or say nothing at all!

[defiant18]

@JerryNSretired what optical illusion, this from a armchair fuckwit let me guess, ur a expert u drive trains n all that sit, fuck off idiot.

[gregretro]

@defiant18 Ahhhh, who's the idiot? I'd bet 18 is your age, amiright?

[chrisnzella]

Oops! 

[SSJZTrunks91]

Not the best way to start the morning

[BUNCHofxs]

you couldnt even walk heel to toe on that track without slipping off lol

[bozerabc123]

that looks like some old shitty track

[theshugchannel]

@bozerabc123 indeed

[mitchWhiteLIRC]

Do you have a vid of them getting put back on the rails?

[athosia33460]

remove the old  track idiots

[TheTVGuy45]

Damn nice catch!

[BNSF2184]

ROFL LMFAO im sorry but that was kinda funny. Lol all right we have a little problem. Thats probably how I woulda said it too.

[Theworldking100]

dang those tracks look awfuly bad

[n5ifi]

Look at the track conditions. I can't believe anyone would be going more than 5 miles per hou in that yard..

[Fan2La]

Dispatch: A little......?

[CaseyRedDragon]

all those rails look bad

[robertgift]

Great catch!

Cause?

Any damage to the locomotive?

Glad they cleared the grade crossing.

Did you video rerailing efforts?

[SuperDuckman24]

those tracks look very old!

[JerryNSretired]

To those who posted about modifying their handheld radios to transmit out of band OR are tempted to do so to "talk to the trains" (foamers have been known to do that), do NOT do it! It is highly illegal to do and will get you in real trouble with serious fines! Railroading is NOT a "game" for your amusement, and real railroaders will turn you in for this! (Yes, I sure would!) It is fine to listen but keep your on-air comments to yourself! A word to the wise! DON'T DO IT!

[wheels069]

@JerryNSretired Agreed. Thanks for posting this

[JerryNSretired]

All these "armchair" supervisors! Never worked a day on the railroad and already they "know" what happened! Yeah, right. You can't tell from this video what happened. Kinda like those ball games, sitting at the water fountain telling each other what play they "shoulda" done! Shur'! Just so you know, NS is one of most particular about track in the nation! If it is crew, or track people, THIS railroad is quick to assess discipline. Better believe it! NS doesn't play WRT safety!

[Boss302fan]

@JerryNSretired Couldn't agree more. A small minority of railfans are so willing to cast stones or disparaging remarks at the very industry they follow. Not that there isn' room for improvement.  Without a doubt there is. But this 10% or so number of railfans take a video like this and are quick to condemn when in fact they have absolutely no idea about what is going on.

I started out on NS before moving west. And if it hasn't changed...you're right. One hell of a railroad.

[alexander1485]

woah, they have 3 step?

[bigbird427Bob]

The track looks all-to-hell!

[1madaboutguitar]

Retarded train lol

[gonetoworkbbackin5mi]

Wow You got a derailment on tape.  You in the right place at right time.

[tarmac2001]

"Ahhh, Shit, Bubba, I don't think we made it over that last piece of the jointed rail".

[GeneralLeeStudios]

no duh they derailed just look at the rails!

[nsrailfann4life91]

"Alright, we have a little problem here" lol. I love train crews. They often have a great sense of humor. You would think that he would just get pissed and start cussin, but they seem like they just want to bust out laughing. I wouldve laughed AFTER I knew everyone was ok. Nice video and of course a very rare catch.

[Boss302fan]

@nsrailfann4life91 It's just part of the job. In situations like this for crews the incident is more of an annoyance than anything else.

[nsrailfann4life91]

@Boss302fan True that.

[CSXtrackworker]

@nsrailfann4life91 What can you do other than laugh. It is not a matter of if, but when you are going to go on the ground. Once that first axle goes off, nuttin you can do. Just gotta laugh it off and chock it off as just another day on the railroad.

[nsrailfann4life91]

@CSXtrackworker True. Not much you can do. Your just along for the ride.

[Boss302fan]

@CSXtrackworker Pretty much sums it up.

[Pugragger]

someone is using a yaesu :)

[alokraja1]

thank god this was at slow speed,i it was a high speed then there would have been a lot of trouble.

[Bassotronics]

Those rails look all bent. They all need to be replaced!

[youlldietrying]

Damn, that was kinda cool. Sorry to who ever had to pick up the pieces.

[randomguy652]

LOL "Where?"

[randomguy652]

That track looks VERY poorly manitaned.

[MachintoshCJ]

We just hit the ground hard. Fail

[trainmasta227]

@MachintoshCJ Thats what you say when you derail Dumbass

[likitty20]

train fail lol

[thunderbirds113]

Cool

[storm24awesome]

did that bad track cause the train to derail

[belzelga2]

I had no idea that this had happend back in 08. I dont remember seeing anything about it on WRAL5.

[RailWolf7306]

Man, I hate when that happens. 

[SuicidalTripWire]

woops xD

[chris40539]

Epic Fail

[Fan2La]

@chris40539 agreed

[Hiei2k7]

yea, any safety supervisor that sees that will shake his head. Can see the rail head all the way back from the camera point to the locomotive just ragged. Spaghetti rail.

[Boss302fan]

@Hiei2k7 I am a rail safety superviser and I"m not shaking my head. There is no way you can view this video shot through a zoom that distorts angles and determine that the track in this yard is not safe for yard limit movements. What you can do is draw the obvious conclusion that on this particular day at that particular switch something went wrong. But you cannot judge the overall condition of the yard from this video.

[Starfield1959]

I'm glad it wasn't any worse than that. That can be some scary shit bouncing along the ground.

[Boss302fan]

@Starfield1959 At that speed it's not so much "scary" as it is "ahhhhh shhhiiitttttt". THe rest of your day isn't going to be good. :>

[pcnerd2]

And I thought the track state over here in NZ was bad

[wolevet97]

LAWL!!! "Alright... we have a little problem." XD

[QuarterHorsesAQHA]

my grandfather told me when he was working for NYC he raced PRR a few times. till Amtrak came along. he worked for the railroad for bout 43 plus years for NYC PC CR split with CSX instead of NS. he got into two wreaks one rear ended him during a really bad fog and one in the yard. he said the yard looked worse then this one. i to work for a railroad company and we have some really bad track, but nothing compares to Maumee and Western railroad which is a norfolk southern owned.

[Boss302fan]

@QuarterHorsesAQHA The Maumee and Western is absolutely not Norfolk Southern owned.

[QuarterHorsesAQHA]

@Boss302fan yes it is norfolk southern owned. if you look at the name plate on the crossing it says norfolk southern with a contact number which is a norfolk southern cause the contact number is the same in liberty center as it is in waterville for the blue bird. and on top of that i work under norfolk southern so i should know.

[Boss302fan]

@QuarterHorses You wrote "I work under norfolk southern so I should know"

Well, maybe you should know but you do not know. The Maumee and Western took over the line from Indiana Hi-Rail. The IHRC acquired the line through the thoroughbred program from NS. The line is independent and is not owned by NS. The name plate on the crossings is meaningless. Many short line operators don't bother with making the change.

[MrMAKEDONASGR]

Probably some railroad idiot employee didnt do his job right...

[LNERMallard]

"We just hit the ground hard!" "Where?" lol cracks me up everytime

[norfolkwestern10]

Great way to start of the day!

[griz4020]

bad day

[jtq69]

NS needs to invest in some serious track rehab for that yard. Probably track was shit even back when it was a Southern yard.

[Boss302fan]

@jtq69 What do you base your assumption on? Do you know the tonnage moved in that yard? The revenue moved over it? The frequency of the moves? Serious rehab equals serious money. Are you up to date on the return on investment associated with a "serious rehab?".

Railfans and second guessing. Jeez.

[DetroitLove4U]

Did a Red Sox fan(s) cause this derailment since their team had derailed for some 86 years and were further derailed because of steroid use and lies which tainted their two titles? Pun Intended.

[MrTransman99]

"Alright, we have a little problem." lol

[scdevon]

That track looks terrible.

It looks like the lead engine picked a set of facing switch points.

A minor derailment easily fixed.

[BNSFME]

lol we just hit the ground hard

*dgaf voice*

WHERE XD

[Dragunov1Bros]

Scary, it happened in lovely Raleigh! Man, this city's rough for me. :P

[MrCraig1930]

I'm a retired ATSF Throttle Jerk, I done that 2 time with ATSF 2945. The problem is bad track maintenance in rail yards. Can't blame the track crews, it's a management call.

[arkie74]

@MrCraig1930 what PENNCENTRAL used to call "differed maintanance" lol

[AlcoFan2010]

@MrCraig1930 True. isn't it funny how the managment yells at the crews for "damaging equipment" when they could've just took an hour or two to replace a couple of ties? but no now you've got to spend ten hours clearing a huge mess. who made these guys mangment?

[Boss302fan]

@AlcoFan2010 Another railfan spouting off about issues he knows nothing about. Rail managers in the US manage some of the most efficient, safely run and profitable railroads in the world. We move massive freight over long distances and make money doing so. But that's not good enough for railfans who love to criticize instead of saluting the people who manage these operations.

Then they wonder why they are not welcome on railroad property.

Unbelievable.

[AlcoFan2010]

@Boss302fan First off i'm an intern for the canadian pacific RR police so i can go anywhere on RR property i want. Second, i based that comment of a past experience and i ment to say the maintenance dept managers

[Boss302fan]

@AlcoFan2010 Maintenance department managers, as you will learn with more experience, are unfortunately given a budget that is not always what they need to maintain perfect track conditions. Same for power supervisors who seldom have the funds to buy the equipment they need. I can go on and on.

Good luck with your internship. The industry needs bright, young people to come in. As far as Alcos are concerned, I used to manage a big fleet of them. Great pulling units but high maintenance.

[AlcoFan2010]

@Boss302fan thanks. no hard feelings huh.

[headmouse]

@Boss302fan Man, who pissed in your Wheaties this morning?

[coldblue9mm]

@MrCraig1930 that's not always the case. You train crews are great at doing a lot of this crap on your own. How many times did you split a switch, then pull cars back through it, derailing as you go? How many time have you shoved cars over the bumper at the end of the track? About half of all derailments are HUMAN FACTOR meaning the TRAIN CREW screwed up. I didn't even mention by passed drawbars, rough joints while making a joint. The list goes on. The facts are just that, the facts.

[silicon212]

@coldblue9mm I remember being told by a railroader once about 20 years ago, regarding decrepit track:

"If it goes on the ground, if the locomotive will still move, I'd have the engineer run-8 that bitch and tear as much of the track up as I could, so that it gets fixed the right way!"

[coldblue9mm]

@silicon212 Now they have "event recorders" on the locomotives so if a disgruntled engineer pulls something like that, it will show up in the download. Making a bad situation worse is not the way to improve or get something "fixed right". It just adds to the already long list of things to do for the Maintenance crews. Hopefully if there are enough derailments in a certain location, the railroad will bite the bullet and decide to do an upgrade before an expensive derailment occurs.

[Boss302fan]

@silicon212 Somebody was messing with you. Even without event recorders which are prevelant on most larger operations if you were stupid enough to try something like that an investigator is going to be asking a lot of questions about "tearing up track".

[Boss302fan]

@silicon212 He was messing with you. The last thing you want in one of those investigations is to make things look worse than it was.

[KinetikPlayground]

must have run completly over the frog

[MAPFWH]

Looking at the state of the rails, I'm not surprised. It wouldn't happen at low speeds in the UK. It would be at 100mph or more....

[Konman91316]

@MAPFWH The US suffers from chronic underinvestment in infrastructure. Its really going to bite us in the ass very soon if not already now.

[Boss302fan]

@Konman91316 Overall possibly. But not in railroading. The investment in track and equipment is massive here.

[Boss302fan]

@MAPFWH Yes, but you run tiny low tonnage trains in the UK. I just returned from a 10 day rail consulting trip there. You move passengers at high speed fairly well. But freight traffic on the UK is tiny in comparison to what is hauled in North America.

[Amtrak1194]

@MAPFWH I'll tell you what.

You guys average maybe 16-21 cars (pushing it at 21) on freights, That requires small, light weight locomotives. Here we need sometime 9 locomotives to move a 2.5 mile long freight. This results in HEAVY MONSTER LOCOMOTIVES, which even for switching, are big.

The longest train in the US was a coal drag of 5 miles long pulled by 3 big boys, 4-8-8-4 wheel arrangement, and not those little garrett weight distributers yall got.

[MAPFWH]

@Amtrak1194 You missed the point (not a joke) Have you heard about these two incidents?

Potters Bar 2002 was 97mph. Killing 7 and injuring 76. Caused by poor maintennance at a set of points (turnout) the stretcher bolts were loose!

Hatfield 2000 was 115 mph killing 4 and injuring 70. Caused by the rail fracturing as the train passed over it. The maintenance crews knew about these faults, and repairs were scheduled. Alas too late.

Yours are heavy, we have more and they are faster.

[benschlechter]

Is that an ex-Southern locomotive?

[Amtrak1194]

@benschlechter NS has post southern locomotives which are high hood versions of SD42's SD45's and a few other lower number units.

[brainerdrebel]

That is a lot of power for a yard job. This happens everyday around the country. i have derailed several times this was nothing, I have been on the lead engine that turned sideways.

[robertgift]

@brainerdrebel What was the cause of your derailments? My great uncle, a steam locomotivengineer, said there was no excuse for derailments. They could moreadily damage a steam locomotive.

[brainerdrebel]

Several reasons over the years. My crew one time ran through and switch and then went back through it. I ran over a derail one time. Yard Tracks in low used areas are not always in the best condition. People make mistakes and railroaders are no exception. I worked in the 70s, we went wide open. We kicked cars, jerked cars by, etc. When we got through we went home, think about it, I have worked two hours and gone home. We ran 70 mph on a 55 mph mainline, things have changed, railroads have too.

[robertgift]

@brainerdrebel My uncle said that in the late 1930s they would race a train on the other side of a river. PRR vs NYC. Would keep the whistle constantly blowing for the grade crossings!

So when you go through a closed switch, it is not forced open and can close again andiverthe reverse direction to the other track? Saw that on you tube. A European trolley and spring switch. Operator backed while only frontruck wenthrough spring switch. Uncle loved his 4-8-4. Disliked vacations!

[brainerdrebel]

@robertgift; Some switches are spring switches, some will just align with the movement, BUT, some are tear up switches. TUSs latch down for the movement and can't move without tearing up the spacers in side the switch, I have fixed a few without turning them in (old trick). TUSs once ran through are not lined either way, causing a derailment, one wheel goes one way the second wheel goes the other way. CTC operators know when you run a switch, it lights up their panel, signals indicate alignment.

[willibill1]

If i were an accident investagater, lets put two and two togeather here. Railfaner with camera, scanner, perfect angle for shot, HMmmmmm, where am i going to look first.

[hwoods01]

@willibill1 Interesting point... 

[JLJ061]

Any derailment sucks big time, but at least this train was running light and low speed... Though I'm sure the crew still felt it hit the ground hard!

[TheFlyingKipper513]

It's Sir Handel!!

[ACLTony]

I'm glad the crew was OK. Can you imagine how rough this would have been had they'd been hauling a long, heavy manifest and derailed on this same spot. Could have been messy after the slack ran into the head end.

[jedi725]

was that 349 leading, if not what engine was that, and how did you get to listen to the radio conversation? Were you using a walkie talkie of some sort, if so what kind, if you didn't use a walkie talkie, what did you use instead?

[JLJ061]

@jedi725 It's a radio scanner, you can buy one at any Radio Shack. Then just program the appropriate frequencies and you're all tuned in!

[foroke1]

LOL! "Alright, we have a 'little' problem."

[demonicwolf69]

how does one go about un derailing a train cant just breaking or the jacks and there you go ???

[CableReadyTechnoSIut]

@demonicwolf69 I'm sorry but, what? What the fuck did you just attempt to say? Please PLEASE tell me your first language is NOT English.

[Dakotajohnboy]

DRUG TESTS ALL AROUND!!!!!!

[brainerdrebel]

It is unusual for a yard job to use three road engines. I worked out of Debutts Yard in Chattanooga and we never used more than two GPs. SDs are more likely to derail in yard service because of their weight and curve restrictions.

[1537trainman2]

"allright, we have a lttle problem" lol

[PRL2204]

Looks like the engine picked a switch more than anything. :P

[colliecandle]

looking at the state of the track in the foreground I'm not surprised that thing de railed! Don't the railway companies over there have PW teams?

[LimaLocoProductions]

Looks to me like the train was approaching the yard much to fast.

[AVincent2]

You know it almost seems like the dispatcher is hiding the fact that hes not surprised it happened. That "what where !" seems almost not genuine lol.

[i8uwithalime]

switch wasn't locked

[derail14]

looks more to me that the engine picked a facing point switch.

[travkccase]

looks like they need a tamper in that yard!

[digimaks]

Wow, I can see he tracks being so WAAAAVYYYYY!!! And seems like an old rail too- very thin.

I think they keep the same rail until a dozen of those derails happen.

[GeneralLeeStudios]

NO WONDER THEY DERAILED THE TRACKS ARE IN HORRIBLE CONDITION!!!!!!!!!!

[Boss302fan]

@GeneralLeeStudios Oh gawd. I hate when the completely uninformed make comments like this.

[Rdrake1413]

Great catch dont see mant derials live

[TheZeke1974]

loooove the horn!!!!!

[SaberTanker22]

wow a live derailment cool.

[redneck101157]

lol

[TheRichRobloxian]

I love this video! ^.^

[Thunderingsounds]

Don't see that everyday

[justkiddin08]

Wow great catch!!!

[blackheart31000]

the railroad repair company should be fired completely hands down

[charlieb640]

@blackheart31000 Railroad repair company? Hands Down? Huh? Do you have any idea what you're talking about?

You can tell from this video that the railroad repair company (whatever that is) was responsible for this accident? You are indeed amazing and posess skills far beyond anything those of us who work in the industry have!

[Qtrainstudios]

good filming are your working for NS

[supramanz]

koo koo. koo koo. Roger over victor victor sliced chesse n gravy over

[222delta1]

@supramanz LOL

[lespaulguy32]

@supramanz lol

[Mdpaulk]

Haha thats an awesome catch!!!!! Great video!!!

[taxi7676]

another bad day at work. 

[dmonat]

No problem! Just back up! :P

[trainzeiro]

The rails are completely shit.

[charlieb640]

@trainzeiro You can tell the rails are 'complete shit' from this video? Wow, what an amazing railroader you must be!

[SuperDuckman24]

Fail



[hinodecho69]

Looking at that track, no wonder. Looks like old 39-foot sectional rail beat to death...

[Boss302fan]

@hinodecho69 Zoom lense on cameras distort those images and make the rail seem far, far worse than it really is.

[SonicFreak4]

Wow, I can only imagine what the engineer felt.