Train Drailment In Rockford IL

[95' regal gs]

Guys, I don't know how many of you have heard about this but there was a train that drailed in Rockford IL around 8:30 pm last night. We had some very heavy rain and the tracks washed out and the train jumped the tracks at a pretty busy crossing in town. There were 74 tankers carrying ethanol and 18 of them drailed and 14 exploded. There were several cars waiting at the crossing when it happened and 8 people were injured (some very severly burned) and 1 person was killed as they fled their vehicles. This happend in close proximity to several large subdivisions. This all happened like three miles from my house at a crossing I go over almost everyday. The flames from the explosions were seen as far as 10 miles away and the fires were finally extinguished late this afternoon. The really messed up thing is about this same time last year those tracks washed out in the same place after heavy rains. It's lucky that it didn't happen any earlier or there would have been alot more cars waiting at that crossing. Please keep the victims and their familys in your prayers.

 

[BEATAV8]

Holy cow I can't believe I hadn't heard about this yet...

prayers to those families..

 

[stack1]

Another good reason why I always stop at least 10 car lenghts behind the tracks regardless of where the stop bar is painted on the road. If the train derails, then you have some room for the rail cars. Also if someone comes up behind you, doesn't stop and rear ends your car. It gives more room so that you don't get pushed into a moving train. I'm amazed by people that stop and sit a few feet away from the tracks.

 

[chopped39]

I heard them say the train hydroplaned because of the water .How does 100's of tons of steel hydroplane.I know there is not a lot of contact area between the wheel and the rail but the weight is unreal. Either way it sucks for the people that got hurt.

 

[95' regal gs]

I heard them talking about hydroplaning too, but the train was going 33mph. I don't see a 80,000 lbs+ train car hydroplaneing unless the water was up to the belly of the tanker, which it wasn't. I don't think the wheels have enough surface area to hydroplane at that low of a speed. I also saw a news interview on a local station with a guy who said on his way home he crossed those tracks, saw they were washed out, and called 911. 30 MINUTES BEFORE THE TRAIN JUMPED THE TRACKS!? If thats true then there is no reason this should have happened.

 

[TURBOV8R]

Cars cant really hydroplane,There's a rule that states we cannot cross tracks with more than 2and a half inches of water due to the fact that the traction motors in the locomotives will short out Probably what happened was the track was washed out.the "Bomb train' as it's affectionately known as usually runs 80 cars and weighs in around 13-15,000 tons.
Thank you to all who at least have the common sense to adhere to the warning lites and so on,you have NO IDEA how at times it can be difficult to stop one of these in a safe manner,and having to live with the fact when something goes wrong because of someone else's ignorance.
Prayer's for the innocent victim's from last nite.................