Yep, this isn't a streak of bad luck. Training is lacking and a professional railroader needs to be hired on as an instructor. Until then, if I were NS, I'd issue a temporary slow order in the area. It being just several miles south of the yard, it wouldn't impact train schedules that much.
I was cruising through Columbia this afternoon and happened to see the three locomotives involved in the wreck, probably being readied for movement to Altoona, PA for heavy repair after near 2-1/2 months. I had no idea they were still around; they'd been stored elsewhere in the yard out of view. I was able to shoot the 8130 from public property. The other two units were obscured by tall grass. The crew was hospitalized and released several days later.
Dang, that's gotta' be a borderline totaled unit! Gonna' be a lot to fix that one, frame look's a little bent under the cab!
With what a new unit costs, and the capabilities of Altoona or Juniata Shop, they might just repair it, unless insurance says it's too risky to straighten it.
I was wondering if NS has a surplus of power and might choose to not repair it until needed. It's a GE ES44AC built just ten years ago. I don't think damaged SOU Heritage Unit 8099 has ever been repaired. It too is an ES44AC.
