train with 26 wagons of sulphuric acid derails

[LisaP4]

Sort of near me, in an Aussie kind of relative distance way.

 

The area's flooded, so there's a bit of trouble getting to the wreck.

 

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-12-27/freight-train-derails-in-outback-queensland-near-julia-creek/7055686

[SRman]

According to the news report I saw this morning, "A 26 carriage locomotive has derailed ...".

[PhilH]

Proper job from the look of it...isn't it unusual for the whole lot to come off the rails like this?

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-35188125

[Southernman46]

Trying to pull too many wagons round that 1st radius curve ................... looks like many of my first layouts

[rab]

Interesting the report says the area

had also been affected by flooding;

a contributing factor???

[edcayton]

Surely the term "derailment" is inadequate?

 

Ed

[Nearholmer]

Straight(ish) track and everything tumbled over on one side, with no "pile-up" to speak of....... Suggestive of track collapsing under the train.

 

The photo is very hard to "read", but I wonder if it shows a washout under the tank-cars towards the left, with ballast having been scoured "up and to the right" (thinking of the picture purely in 2D terms).

 

All supposition on flimsy evidence, I realise.

 

B nasty stuff to get into water courses, so one hopes that any leakage is very small.

 

Kevin

 

Another picture, from a different angle http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-35188125....... Looks like pretty clear evidence of a washout to me, with a "flash" watercourse have crossed the line, flowing towards the camera position, taking all the ballast out with it.

[Edwin_m]

Not an expert but I'd guess the track has been increasingly undermined from around the resting place of wagon 6 up to that of the loco.  When the amount of undermining went beyond the centreline of the track the loco and the track beneath it toppled to the right, and the tipping over of the track combined with the sideways pull of the couplings caused the six wagons to go over almost simultaneously.  The rest of the train started piling up against the wreckage until the brakes brought it to a stand. 

 

However I'm not sure if this theory can account for what appears to be a detached rail rising into the air alongside the wagons. 

 

At least sulphuric acid dilutes down to a concentration that is fairly harmless, so if the leak was small and there was a flood at the time then perhaps not too serious. 

[Nearholmer]

My reading would be:

 

- low embankment holds back "flash" for a bit, but quickly gets breached and swept away over about 30m length;

 

- track left unsupported for about a wagon length, so rails and sleepers in air or water;

 

- along comes train, heavy loco crosses chasm, begins to topple as its weight pushes down the side that was most scoured by the attacking water;

 

- loco flops over, with first few wagons going down through a combination of lack of support and the tug on the (excellent) couplings.

 

K