When the crew goes for "beans", I don't think this is what they meant... All kidding aside, a soybean train derailed, and the unrelenting frigid cold weather isn't helping reopen the busy Surrey Cutoff. http://www.myndnow.com/news/minot-n...dium=social&utm_source=facebook_KX_News_Minot
They should be able to vacuum up most of the spilled beans. Interesting how so many cars from derailments to are simply scrapped. Back when I was in rail cars, seems like many more were given an attempt to be repaired.
I suppose balancing the costs of labor and material to repair vs. the payment from scrapping (recycling) has everything to do with those decisions. I imagine the price of steel, both to purchase and from recycling must change almost on a monthly basis.
Sometimes scrapping those cars comes down to potential future liability issues. If one of those damaged and derailed cars (no matter how well repaired) ends up in a future derailment, then insurance companies and lawyers have a field day. Guess it's sad that companies have to think about things like this these days but unfortunately they do. I will say that reporter sure looked cold while covering the derailment. Maybe he needs to read Hemi's post about cold weather railfanning.
I also wonder if today's manufacturing doesn't result in cars that are "strong enough" for normal use, whereas in the old days cars were built "extra strong" to handle unusual stresses. Not overbuilding would mean cheaper initial costs, but greater potential for scrapping sooner rather than later.
Looking back on what we built, and today's designs, those were definitely more heavy duty than now. Plus, use of aluminum in some, such as for coal, reduces weight for initial cost and fuel considerations. But also reduces ability to withstand off track situations.
I think the only cars deliberately designed to handle derailment forces are tank cars. After doing significant research in the crashworthiness of tank cars, I found no research conducted to evaluate crashworthiness/design more derailment-resistant box cars, hoppers, etc. And yes, the newscaster looked VERY cold... I wonder if a broken/pull apart rail caused the mess? As for the beans, I guess BNSF spilled them, so they'll have to figure out how to clean them up. Hey, when puns are outlawed, only outlaws will have puns....
At -20 F, flat spots on loaded cars can break rail. The hammering these rails take with modern axle loading is just astonishing. Pull aparts notwithstanding, would not be a complete surprise either.
