MMA Train explodes at Lac-Mégantic

[sailormatlac]

Strange occurrence ......can't remember when a train explosion has also taken out about 1/3 of a town .......one report says the loco was on fire for several miles beforehand...not sure how accurate that was

T

The loco was actually on fire at some point. Presumably after the crew change at Nantes where the train was parked and idle for the night. I photoshopped the picture of the engine on fire. I can't say what kind of engine it was, but the fire was near the rear end where exhaust is larger than the hood. At this point, something happened to the brakes and the train went rolling down the slope toward the downtown. The slope is quite steep there. In the process, the cars detached themselves from the driverless engines (which stopped) according to some accounts and crossed the main street at high speed where they derailled then exploded. More than that, I guess the inquiry will let us know.

When I railfanned there a few weeks ago, I was standing exactly where the derailment occured. An oil train was passing by. I made the remark to my friend that the cars were leaning on the curve as if they would derail. It was kind of scary and I told him it looked dangerous. I guess it was OK at normal speed but definitely a bunch of cars at high speed here would jump of the curve and crash into the buildings.

Aerial pictures show that crude oil spilled toward the lake. You clearly see the oil trace and that everything in the spill burn down to the ground including a park.

It's quite crazy. I wouldn't be surprised this could be among the worst train wreck in Canada history, not in term of railroading but of damages. Really frightening. Unfortunately, this wreck seems to start protest against trains in general, something this industry doesn't need at all.

I don't know what will be the conclusion about all this, but it makes we wonder about this North American culture of rundown railroads doing business letting tracks, rolling stock and other stuff in bad state. I just think about CN practice of running down subdivisions to the extreme to make the best out of profit. Maybe it have nothing to do with this wreck, but it does nothing good in the long run. We may find funny to model rundown engines, patched rolling stocks, but in fact, it's a symptom of something that maybe not be just aesthetic. I'm quite puzzled. I only hear about run down railroads with speed limitations and other restriction...

Sorry about this rant, but as proponent of railroading, sometimes I feel thing goes wrong.

Matt