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Ohio members near Derailment

We're about 25 miles Northwest, and well upwind of any smoke, gases, or debris. I don't think we have any members here that are any closer than us.
They did a "controlled release" of some unknown chemicals this afternoon in an attempt to thwart an explosion. It's been burning since last Friday, with no end in sight yet. The overall evacuation area in Ohio is about 4 square miles, with another two square miles in Pennsylvania that are downwind of the "controlled release."

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  • East Palestine train derailment
  • East Palestine trail derailment fire

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Wind shifted overnight. Now Southeasterly, and there's a slight chlorine odor noticeable here. Health officials advising to stay indoors if possible. NASTY!
 
I watched a train derail once. It was pretty dramatic although nothing on the scale of this. But the engine went on it's side also and believe me at about 50 mph that big old engine will slide a long ways before it stops. it was all cargo and the conductor and co-conductor climbed out and walked away so I assume no one hurt.
 
Having been a fireman since 1958, until retiring from the fire service as a Fire Marshal in 2000, I've fought a lot of fires and I was called for a few incidents involving severely hazardous chemicals from time to time, but none were as big or serious as this, and I'm very thankful for that. The train that I drove (in my avatar) occasionally hauled hazardous commodities (strange people), but no hazardous chemicals, and it just circles the Village Park in town. My sister and her family live in Ohio, but fortunately in the SW part of the State and far from this incident.

There are towns in this Country where the railroad main line runs right down the middle of Main Street with houses and shops close to both sides of the track for miles. A good example, La Grange, KY is one of them, and even a very small derailment in places like this could wipe out a very large portion of the town and it's population. Yet, moving the tracks away from all towns is not possible.

We need the trains and what they transport, but I can only hope that they begin to come up with railroad cars and trucks that can carry these dangerous commodities more safely. There are special railcars for carrying nuclear materials, so it can be done with other hazardous chemicals too. We just need to get our government thinking and acting about it to begin requiring safer hazardous material transport methods. Unfortunately, it takes fires and accidents like this before any regulations are ever put into place to prevent it from happening in the future. But we as a people tend to only react and change safety rules after situations like this. Fire escapes and sprinkler systems only came about after serious fires and extensive loss of life too.

Charley
 
Charles Lent said:
...There are towns in this Country where the railroad main line runs right down the middle of Main Street with houses and shops close to both sides of the track for miles. A good example, La Grange, KY is one of them, and even a very small derailment in places like this could wipe out a very large portion of the town and it's population. Yet, moving the tracks away from all towns is not possible...

Charley
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That's exactly the case with East Palestine, and the derailment was smack in the middle of it.

Fires are out now, and evacuations have been lifted. Cleanup will take weeks, or even months before things return to any semblance of normal. Only good thing was that there were no deaths or serious injuries.
 
Charles Lent said:
We need the trains and what they transport, but I can only hope that they begin to come up with railroad cars and trucks that can carry these dangerous commodities more safely. There are special railcars for carrying nuclear materials, so it can be done with other hazardous chemicals too. We just need to get our government thinking and acting about it to begin requiring safer hazardous material transport methods. Unfortunately, it takes fires and accidents like this before any regulations are ever put into place to prevent it from happening in the future. But we as a people tend to only react and change safety rules after situations like this. Fire escapes and sprinkler systems only came about after serious fires and extensive loss of life too.

Charley
Click to expand...
-In my former life when I was working I used the rails often to move containers from east coast and mid-country to the west coast to ship to China... and for a number of years I worked for a company that specialized in shipping hazmat.... hazardous materials... we shipped a lot of oil field explosives via ocean, rail and air.... but never did a full container of any hazardous liquids as the Ohio train was carrying.... the tank car was most likely specially designed for the material it was shipping. The danger is that rails are old and probably in need of being replaced in places... the train de-railed ... we need to know why and how to prevent future de-railments.

You mentioned town where the rails run through... my dad lived in such a town... the rail ran parallel to the main street and within 30 or 40 yards... it also ran right in front of Dad's house. You could sit on the front porch of his house and toss rocks at the trains as they went by... there are several crossings as the train comes into town... they would start blowing their horn about 5 miles from Dad's house and every crossing as they approached... you could hear them coming for miles and still blowing as they went on out of town...... First night I spent with Dad and my step-mom after I came home from the Navy, a train came through about midnight, sounded like it was running through the bedroom where I was sleeping...
 
Chuck Ellis said:
...You mentioned town where the rails run through... my dad lived in such a town... the rail ran parallel to the main street and within 30 or 40 yards... it also ran right in front of Dad's house. You could sit on the front porch of his house and toss rocks at the trains as they went by... there are several crossings as the train comes into town... they would start blowing their horn about 5 miles from Dad's house and every crossing as they approached... you could hear them coming for miles and still blowing as they went on out of town...... First night I spent with Dad and my step-mom after I came home from the Navy, a train came through about midnight, sounded like it was running through the bedroom where I was sleeping...
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When my BIL was in college in lived in the small town of Portales NM. One of the places he and his roommate lived was a single wide trailer right next to a bend in the tracks. The living room window offered a great view of a train coming straight at the trailer, then the train would turn away at what seemed like the last minute.

One night they had a buddy over for the first time, and after probably more beers than was healthy for any of them, a train approached. The living room curtains were open. I don't know all the details, but I do know the visiting guest looked up, saw the headlight looming straight for the trailer, and then bailed out like a scalded cat. :rofl:
 
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