A freight train carrying dangerous chemicals plunged from the rails on a steep downgrade in the Cajon Pass and exploded in flames before dawn Thursday, hurling a noxious cloud into the sky. Department of Transportation workers. One of Cajon's first noteworthy improvement projects occurred in 1913 when a second line was completed (boasting two tunnels), to help accommodate growing traffic levels. It was a monstrous fire, flames going 600 to 800 feet in the air, burning bad and burning high, said one of the rescuers, 67-year-old Gerald Davis. The train, run by the Southern Pacific Rail Corporation, a subsidiary of the Denver-based Anschutz Corporation, had 82 cars and was bound from East St. Louis, Ill., to Roseville, Calif., near Sacramento. With a true weight of 8,900 tons, however, the train would have needed the functioning dynamic brakes of at least six or seven engines (with moderate dependence on the air brakes), or five engines (with a heavy input from the air brakes) in order to maintain control. Dynamic braking ability is most effective near a speed of 25 miles per hour (40km/h) and diminishes if the train travels slower or faster than this optimal speed, so engineers try to maintain speeds between 2530 miles per hour (4048km/h) on steep grades. All but one of the houses on the side of Duffy Street nearer the tracks were destroyed. was not heavily populated. Into the diesel days interesting lash-ups could still be found with long strings of F units working freights and passenger trains over the grades. He was 38. However, sources close to the investigation said the brakemens apparent decision to leap would seem to indicate that the train was accelerating out of control, either because of brake failure or crew error. Extra 7551 East proceeded to Oban, and the dispatcher instructed the crew to move into the siding at that location to await a westbound train that was being assisted by a helper unit; the helper unit would be cut off and used to assist Extra 7551 East over the Cajon Pass. Under the direction of William Barstow Strong the AT&SF and StL&SF signed the "Tripartite Agreement" in 1879, which essentially gave the former control of the latter. It was scrapped in 2013. The slower a wheel moves, the more easily friction can induce slowing traction instead of heat. Witnesses offer conflicting accounts, Mars Voltas lead singer broke with Scientology and reunited with the band. They were sold for parts to Precision National and scrapped at the crash site. ), Lakers vs. Warriors: What scouts expect in playoff series, The Great Big Highly Specific Guide to Disneyland, Decades of failures leave L.A. County facing up to $3 billion in sex abuse claims, LAPD investigating stabbing near Los Angeles High School, Bass budget proposal for Animal Services is far less than what department requested. Its causing some delay but its not something that cant be dealt with, said Bruce Gebhardt, vice president of marketing for Viking Freight Systems. https://www.nytimes.com/1996/02/22/us/a-derailment-in-colorado-kills-two.html. As a result, the train was listed as weighing about 6,151 tons total (2,011 tons from the freight cars themselves, 4,140 tons of cargo), significantly lighter than its actual weight (Warren, 3). Mike Bledsoe photo. 1989 train crash and subsequent oil pipeline rupture in San Bernardino, California, USA. He said that the freight train originated in Barstow, at Drawbar Flats, on Cajon Pass, in 1996. https: . Las Vegas officials said they expect little disruption in the stream of gamblers to the city. Author's collection. mountain side all lit up." Although the exact scenario is not yet clear, sources close to the investigation said the train apparently was accelerating downgrade, out of control, when it toppled from the tracks on an S curve a few hundred yards north of the intersection of California 138 and I-15. flammable and combustible liquids. All were later released, but a train crewman with a fractured collarbone was admitted. All written content, photos, and videos copyright American-Rails.com (unless otherwise noted). Even American Locomotive's beautiful PA model would occasionally make an appearance. . Author's collection. It had also surveyed a disconnected western segment between Isleta, New Mexico and Needles, California before financial struggles arose and the company slipped into bankruptcy once again on October 30, 1875. Dec. 15, 1994 12 AM PT. The railroads agreed to the installation of the devices on virtually all freight trains operating anywhere in the nation by June 30, 1997. Alan Pollock, a spokesman for the NTSB, said recording devices on the locomotives should be recoverable from the wreckage, and if they were turned on they will show the trains speed, throttle settings and brake settings in the moments before the crash. [9] For broadcasters that do not use the series name Mayday, this is one of three Season 3 episodes labeled as Crash Scene Investigation spin-offs, examining marine or rail disasters. inhabited areas, he said. Its an inconvenience, but not a major problem.. Thomas and his friends will make an appearance in Washington at the Northwest Railway Museum in Snoqualmie. . The valves were already defective at the time of the derailment, and this was not rectified in the two weeks between the derailment and the rupture. The dramatization was broadcast with the title "Unstoppable Train" in the United States. If you are researching active or abandoned corridors you might want to check out the United States Geological Survey's (USGS) Historical Topographic Map Explorer. The train was carrying 178,000 pounds butyl acrylate, 158,000 pounds trimethyl phosphite, 191,000 pounds methyl ethyl ketone, 193,000 pounds denatured alcohol, one train car of petroleum distillates, and one train car of glycol. On February 20, 1854 they arrived at "The Needles," so-named for a three-pronged rock formation on the California side of the Colorado River. May 13, 1989 12 AM PT Times Staff Writers SAN BERNARDINO A runaway freight train careened down the Cajon Pass, leaped the tracks, plunged down a 30-foot embankment and slammed into seven. He outmaneuvered Southern Pacific's Collis P. Huntington for access into the Golden State and eventually established service to all of its major cities. The mandate now is that they must all remain functional. Additionally, the stop-and-check valves downstream from the rupture failed to close, allowing product to flow back down the pipe through Cajon Pass, which strengthened the intensity and duration of the fire. The pipeline operators monitored the initial flow in the pipeline, and as there was no leakage, everything was assumed to be fine. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive. However, Don Strack rescued the data and transferred it over to his UtahRails.net site (another fine resource). Engineer Holland remained in his seat at the control stand in unit SP 8278 at the head of the train, and suffered several cracked ribs and a punctured lung. Or purchase a subscription for unlimited access to real news you can count on. Unit SP 8317 was sold to Precision National, repaired, then resold to Helm Leasing for continued service. Some 20 people have been sent to local hospitals for The two helper locomotives trailing, SD45R #7443 and SD40T-2 #8317, derailed and were later returned to service. That accident is a small part of the whole testimony, which can be found at . He said he never checked to see if the device was working before the train left Barstow and said company rules did not require him to do so. for treatment of injuries. The California Southern was incorporated on October 16, 1880, organized by Kidder, Peabody & Company, Thomas Nickerson, and three additional Santa Fe officers. told reporters his son and son-in-law pulled the injured man BEFORE that incident, on December 14, 1994, a BNSF predecessor (Santa Fe) train ran away and rear ended a standing UP near Cajon. He was asking me where he was. After another trip to Boston, Massachusetts, Kimball and the city of San Diego successfully persuaded the AT&SF which agreed to underwrite a railroad running via San Bernardino. While Strong worked on a permanent foothold in the Golden State, San Diego leaders lobbied hard for the Santa Fe to reach their town. (318K QuickTime movie). NTSB Chairman Jim Hall says the wreck is one of at least 10 during the last three years that could have been prevented if the trains had been equipped with working remote control devices. NTSB investigators found gashes that were determined to have been left by a backhoe cleaning up the spilled cargo. highway link between Los Angeles and Las Vegas, Nevada. Many tourists and High Desert commuters were left frustrated and angry by the decision to keep I-15 closed for what could be as long as 36 hours, but the closure was handled in stride by experienced truck drivers. It is an excellent resource with thousands of historic maps on file throughout the country. On Feb. 1, a Burlington Northern Santa Fe freight train crashed in the Cajon Pass near San Bernardino, killing two crew members. chemicals to burn themselves out. [2][3] Seven houses on the street immediately next to the tracks were demolished by the wreck, as were the lead locomotives and all of the freight cars. Mr. Williams, a brakeman on the train, was killed, along with the conductor Gilbert L. Ortiz, 25, of The "ACE 3000" project was the last attempt at producing a highly efficient and technologically advanced steam locomotive. headed and whether it would be dissipated before reaching On Feb. 1, when the accident occurred, there was no mandate by either the railroad or the Federal Railroad Administration requiring freight trains to be equipped with the devices, even though they were in widespread use. the two bodies have not yet been identified. Since the railroad was provided a great deal of property from Kimball's National Ranch, it launched construction from National City (also the location of its primary shops), just south of San Diego. About 1:17 a.m. on February 1, 1996, HBALT1-31 with its 4 locomotives and 45 loaded and 4 empty rail cars departed Barstow and proceeded to and stopped for 30 seconds at Hodge, California, (MP 13.6). Copyright 2007-2023 American-Rails.com. This is a digitized version of an article from The Timess print archive, before the start of online publication in 1996. [4][5] The total property damage was US$14.3 million (equivalent to $31.3million in 2021), with more of this damage resulting from the fire than from the train derailment, although there were more fatalities from the derailment. All 69 hopper cars were destroyed and scrapped at the crash site. The crew departed Mojave at 12:15a.m. on May 12, and headed south (railroad direction east) approximately three miles to Fleta, where they were to pick up the 69 freight cars. The dispatcher determined that they would need the dynamic brakes of 5.23 functional engines (6 total) to maintain this optimal speed between 25 and 30 miles per hour (40 and 48km/h), so picking up only the one additional helper locomotive at Palmdale, as originally planned, would not provide sufficient dynamic braking effort for the 2.2% grade on the west side of Cajon Pass where the derailment happened, so instead of adding the single unit at Palmdale, the dispatcher ordered a two-unit helper set dispatched from the helper pool in West Colton, California. In the end, the California Southern received much more than originally agreed upon; this included 17,356 acres of land south of San Diego, two miles of property along the waterfront, 486 city lots for a depot and terminal, and finally $25,410 in cash. Foster said that although he applied the air brakes as the heavily laden train began descending the steep, 24-mile grade, we started gaining a little speed. At this point, the railroad's future appeared uncertain; it ran out of money but still needed to reach the Santa Fe/A&P at Barstow. "What we're looking at is this corporate culture situation where safety is not uppermost in everyone's mind," Lauby said. Because of the route's steep grades it has been the scene of many runaways, the most famous of which occurred in May, 1989 when a Southern Pacific freight train lost control and hit a residential area of San Bernardino, killing two civilians as well as the engineer and conductor. The AT&SF was eventually convinced and aided the California Southern Railroad in its endeavor to build north along the coast whereupon it would meet the Santa Fe pushing south towards San Bernardino. While at Mojave, the crew obtained the necessary paperwork for their train, including a Car and Tonnage Profile (a printout generated by SP's TOPS computer system that showed, among other things, the assumed train weight of 6,151 tons).
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