I just got this news from a friend: "Did you see the news about the NS wreck in SC? 8 dead and a whole bunch injured by a chlorine gas from a ruptured tanker. Nobody knows what happened yet but from the grainy news pics, it looks like a guy on the mainline went into a siding on top of a local. You can bet they'll blame the crew first, especially the deceased engineer since he won't be able to appear at an investigation. It makes me sick to look at it." My heart goes out to the engineer and those others who died, but who left the switch set for the siding?
Almost sounds like that CP disaster with a train on the ground west of Minot, ND in '01 with Anhydrous Ammonia cars rupturif everywhere...
I'm certain there is going to be a very intense investigation. I'd imagine that regulators and lawyers will be going crazy about this horrible incident. Boxcab E50
From another board a fellow found this article, brought over here: News Article on Wreck Found another: Yahoo News Article Another fella' on the board saw some local news. He put in this: "Latest news is that it was an open switch. They are trying to find out how it happened now, doing interviews and such. The mainline train was diverted onto the siding and into a parked engine and cars. I read that the siding train crew was off around 7:00 pm and the accident didn't happen till about 2:30 am. I'd be surprised if there was only one train passing this siding in 7 hours so i suspect there is more to the story. The local authorities are saying folks won't get to return to their homes till Wednesday. They are worried about another container starting to leak. The press seems to be saying that NS is doing the right things so far. Good for them. All the folks who have died so far did so from Chlorine inhalation."
If there were other trains through, then the whole thing gets uglier. And if deliberate, ....... Boxcab E50