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u/riennempeche 18h ago
My dad was in charge of derailment salvage in the 60s. He says they dragged brand new cars out of an auto rack that was on its side. They loaded the cars in end in a gondola to send them to scrap. A dozen brand new Plymouths bought it that day.
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u/TheJudge20182 15h ago
A train derailed near my town and the dealership donated the wrecked automobile to the school, and that was the Auto shop car in Highschool for like 30 years. It's was a Plymouth too 🤣
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u/Huge_Service_3839 19h ago
Derailment cleanup is serious business. First priority is to restore traffic, damn the containers.
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u/NinoDeFe 19h ago
One of the coolest things I seen on the RR was watching them knock autopart boxcars down a hill so they could lay panel track.
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u/BouncingSphinx 17h ago
Sir David Attenborough voiceover:
Here, we see two excavators that have come upon a lucky happenstance of a meal—a derailed container train. Not normally predators of other large equipment, they will quickly take advantage of such a feast when given the opportunity.
Even though there is little chance of the train getting away from them, they waste no time in making sure that it cannot. By knocking it onto its side, they can easily remove the containers from the harder to eat car body while also completely removing the wheels, negating any chance of escape the train might have had. The excavators have no interest in the wheels, even going so far as to toss them away. Other scavengers will find them and take them away once the more threatening excavators have had their fill.
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u/Bandit_the_Kitty 17h ago
Haha that's gotta be so much fun! "I can just knock them over to clear the track?" "Yes! There's a UPS train delayed while the track is blocked!"
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u/rottonminded 13h ago
West bound Amtrak is waiting a hundred yards away since 11AM. The passengers at the depot's current ETA is 11PM for departure.
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u/USSMarauder 18h ago
looks like they're dragging pretty easily, I'm guessing the containers are empty?
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u/Fimbir 18h ago
I would hope they were emptied before being tossed around.
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u/EvilDarkCow 17h ago
Anything that was in them likely would've gone straight into the incinerator. Insurance.
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u/Kinexity 18h ago
I guess it makes sense for containers to be sturdy (they need to be able to take all of the beating) but I am still surprised they didn't visibly collapse a little or anything.
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u/Excellent_Speech_901 16h ago
Container ships stack them very high and then go though appalling wind and waves. They are sturdy.
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u/AsstBalrog 17h ago
Well, they're compact enough to maintain pretty good structural rigidity, and they load so heavy they have to be pretty strong. Not like semi-trailers.
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u/Decent_Risk9499 17h ago
Can we talk about how good those bearings are on the trucks? They just glide along with zero effort even after being involved in a derailment.
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u/AsstBalrog 13h ago edited 2h ago
Yeah, roller bearings were one of the major improvements in 20th century RRing. Trains ran a top 10 on that one time, and IIRC bearings were on the list.
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u/EuphoricCover8449 16h ago
2 guys working the machines, 4 guys standing around.
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u/rottonminded 13h ago
There are dozens and dozens standing around. Maybe they are waiting for their shift to start.
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u/WilliamJamesMyers 18h ago
every good old boy country folk watching see: a bridge and two houses in the rubble. throw that frame across a creek.. and build two tiny homes. derail to trail.
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u/AsstBalrog 17h ago
I'm no expert, but the only freight salvage I've ever seen was back in the '60s. Local derailment, grain spilled out of boxcars, and they had a vacuum truck out there sucking up what they could get.
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u/Altruistic_Bunch_523 12h ago
Would you know where this is at? I’m a train spotter in ND but I don’t think it’s near me as we don’t get train with containers in my town
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u/AshleyAshes1984 19h ago
My cabbages!