It's April 15, 2017. Norfolk Southern 593 is returning to Shire Oaks, Pennsylvania. This empty coal train consists of two engines and 112 cars in tow. The train has a surprise today, DC to AC Norfolk Southern 4001, wearing it's special blue mane gray long hood scheme. All's going well until the train hit McVeytown Pennsylvania. The train hits a kinked rail. 20 cars and both engines derail in a mangled mess. Though the crew was alright, NS 4001 showed another story. Throughout the past 2-1/2 years, few railfans have seen 4001, the last sighting being this: It's 9/11/19, and a lucky railfan is outside Altoona shops. What they see is a shock: 4001, back in it's former glory. This marks a new beginning for a fan favorite engine.
Great post! As a new/beginner railfan, I appreciate the pictures and the descriptions as well. It's also interesting to note that each train has its own 'license plate', and that railfans are always on the lookout for these. It really seems like each train tells a story. What an absolute mess though. The more I'm reading about how trains operate (the wheels and the tracks) it's a miracle their's not any more accidents happening. I wonder how long it would take to clean up a mess like this? And the cost? The amount of time and work repairing the rails? So many questions!
True. Railroads loose tons of money in these. Track repair, damage cost, repair cost, delay and reroute cost, what a mess. And yeah, we learn the "licence plates" or number boards. Don't worry you'll learn them. Though the way the wheels or axles work and design keep them from derailing, just a tip on that, in this case, track maintenance was the problem. Not that they didn't take care of it, more of no one found the bad spot in time. Sorry my post is clustered, just allot of stuff to say.
Another wreck you might be interested in is Mer Rouge. Look it up. There's a video on YouTube Mer Route train crash.