I normally explore nature, but when a train car travels down the bank across from one’s home, I notice it. This is on the C.P.R. line between Nelson and Procter and about a kilometer east of Atbara.
This page shows follows the action on Friday and Saturday (Mar. 30, 31). The story is continued overnight with Wreck, stage one √ and then with Wreck, Sunday and Drowned excavator.
By the time I prepared this posting, there were employees standing at the top of the bank looking at the mess. How embarrassing.
Update 1: Peter Bartl’s comment below gives added information.
Update 2: There is further information from TMTV.
Update 3: The rest of Saturday’s pictures are below.
A car down the bank; a pile of wheels in front of the engine.
Saturday morning: people came out to assess the problem. A raft was lowered to the water (lower left), apparently to examine the excavator that slid into the Lake.
A boom was deployed, presumably above the positon of the excavator.
At about 12:30 the rear locomotive has been removed and a crane has been positioned. It is lifting the forward locomotive back onto the tracks. Apparently, they are using a pettybone: a small powerful crane. more portable than the 200 ton brownhoist.
By 3 pm the crane and many of the workmen, and the support vehicles had left towards Nelson. Presumably the locomotive was back on the track, but it has not moved. At about 3:30 the boat carrying four people headed up the Lake.
So, the raising of the excavator from the Lake bottom may take place tomorrow. Stand by.
5:30 pm Just when you think they are done for the day, in comes an excavator from the east to clear debris from in front of the locomotive. The light will fail soon. Lifting the sunken excavator from the Lake must await tomorrow.
7:00 pm. They continue to work into the dark of evening. Apparently, they have picked up the back end of the locomotive and are working under it.
9:30 pm. They are hard at it with every likelihood that work will continue through the night to clear the track. The removal of the excavator from the Lake will undoubtedly wait until daylight. They may work, but I am going to bed.
did it fall off the back of the previous train?
Alistair, it isn’t clear. We heard an unusually loud noise and looked out and there it was. Now two scooters have appeared and more people are standing around looking at it. The locomotive may be off the track also.
Thanks for letting us know. Very interesting.
Diana, there won’t be any trains bothering your sleep tonight. Nothing is moving through.
Alistair, This just in from Ramona Faust from her Area E info email:
Train Derailment at Atbera: Today March 30th a CPR Work Train derailed at Atbera west of Harrop. Five cars left the track, one carrying an excavator. There were no injuries and there is no public risk and environmentally the incident is contained. A rock slide was the cause.
peter b
Nice pictures, and up to date info.
Peter, do you know if the unit is still there? It looks like they had it re railed in your last shot, a person would think they would want to get it moved out of the way.
Brandon, can you tell from the 7pm picture? If you mean the locomotive, the answer is yes.
Yes I was talking about the locomotive, I hear people refer to them as ‘units’ a lot of times for whatever reason. Anyway nice picture, I wonder how late they will work.
Brandon, it is nearly 9pm and they are still at it.
i wonder where the lights came from.
Makes it easier to work.
Rob, I suspect that when needed, they have a great deal of generating capacity.
Thank you for the great view of the work!
Ruth, I will carry on today with the lifting of the excavator, so check back to the blog.
Do you think they are going to use a barge or just lift the excavator from the railroad tracks ?
Brandon, it will be exciting either way. A barge strikes me as safer, but they will have to drag the flat car up to the tracks. I will make a new posting about it as it happens.
I heard secondhand that the owner of the barge (that was used to bring in the plane that crashed in the lake last year) has said they don’t know of any crane that’s both powerful enough to pull up the excavator and small enough to fit both the crane and the excavator on the barge. It seems the search is on for a smaller/more powerful crane and/or a bigger barge.
Luna, that is odd. That was a rather large barge with, what I thought, was a good deal of room. Here is a picture I took of that barge with the plane on it. On the far side just above the bow of the barge is the spot where the excavator lies.
Hey neighbor thanks for the great shots! Was wondering what’s been going on out there, figured it was something big when we saw the containment boom. Guess they forgot the tie downs on the excavator huh?
I think they are fortunate none was hurt or killed. The boulder that knocked the train off the track and the excavator into the water must have been quite large. It would have taken a lot of force to cause that much damage. The conductor of the train has two small children and I am relieved he was able to go home to them. It is spring breakup and all the ground is so unstable. Another act of nature. Great pictures by the way.
Great photos. I’m glad it did not hit “Nude Rock”
Derailment was caused by a rock slide on the track.
The tracks under the locomotive were spread and the ties totally destroyed. The flat car and the excavator won’t be removed until the track is repaired to allow the removal equipment to get closer to them. The Pettibone crane lifted one end of the unit while crews used guage bars to pull the tracks closer on that end. The crane then lowered it back on the rails on that end. Due to the location, another crane was brought in to handel the other end as it would have taken the Pettibone many hours to go around.
Don, I appreciate your insights. They are very helpful in making sense of what I see.