Railworks America

Me thinks the ground fault breaker is not working.

WOW. I wonder if they canceled the Texas Eagle? Was recently visiting Austin, TX. Very glad we missed this.

I really do hope that the crew of that train is safe. Don't know if it would be better to stay in the cab, or to crawl through the window and make it to land.

CSX5202 wrote:I really do hope that the crew of that train is safe. Don't know if it would be better to stay in the cab, or to crawl through the window and make it to land.

The crew was fine. They both knew how to swim.

Good. On a different note, those SD70's look like they may never run again. All the electronics are probably water logged.

CSX5202 wrote:Good. On a different note, those SD70's look like they may never run again. All the electronics are probably water logged.

New locos are ~$2.5m. If just the electronics were ruined on the loco they would repair them and put them back into service. If the prime movers or alternators were submerged it could be a different story.

true, but the prime mover might be half way submerged. And if that's the case, maybe they can replace the engine

CSX5202 wrote:true, but the prime mover might be half way submerged. And if that's the case, maybe they can replace the engine

Thing is, the EMD 710 is not Tier 4 compliant. That destroys my hopes on how 8337 and 8742 can run.

OpenRailer90 wrote:

CSX5202 wrote:true, but the prime mover might be half way submerged. And if that's the case, maybe they can replace the engine

Thing is, the EMD 710 is not Tier 4 compliant. That destroys my hopes on how 8337 and 8742 can run.

Umm, that only applies to new locomotives. They can still replace the 710...

I would bet a fair amount that these locomotives will see service again.

My guess is those cars are empty or near empty. I say this cuz the flood surge across them must have lifted the car bodies (hollow, empty hopper cars are far more buoyant and lighter in weight than loaded ones) and bogies straight up vertically and then horizontally.... leaving a lot of the wheels (which are solid, dense and heavy.....not hollow steel, making them pretty much the least buoyant part of the car) still in their pair position on the rails or just off the rails.... with exceptions of course. You don't see that happen often.

That implies this was a quick wall surge of water that was rather high at it's head to lift the cars and then lay them gently on their sides on the backside of the surge's crest. Also... the couplers held for the most part with the locos heavy weight acting as an anchor to keep them from washing away.