I'd nearly say that that joint was oxy cut/gas axed,see what looks to be slag below the break,plus the way the break looks,just doesn't look right for a "shear break". Either way sad to see it didnt work.
here's a link to another picture of the trough train running. http://www.rockymtnrrclub.org/pbnsf9990.htm from news at depotnews.com "The former BN Trough Train is being eliminated. The Trough Train has spent most of the last five years in storage in various places. It was stored on the former Rock Island main line east of Amarillo, TX that was abandoned only a few miles east of the trough train cars for over a year. This was a storage track for Progress Rail Car Shops. On August 22nd, a train of 21 of the trough cars was seen passing through Lincoln, NE on its way to Birmingham, AL as BNSF train U-GUEBIR1-18. The cars had most recently been in storage at Guernsey, WY where they were moving empty from to the CSX at Birmingham listed as condemned cars. Power for the empty Trough train was BNSF SD40-2 7903, KCS AC4400CW 2046 and EMD SD60 9092 as it departed Lincoln. The train arrived in Birmingham on August 26th at 11:41 and was interchanged to CSX at 11:42. The only car missing of the original 23 cars built in late 1994 was the BN 552006 that had previously been separated and probably scrapped. One of the units of that car is still at Progress Rail in Amarillo. The Aluminum cars were 278’ 4” long per 13 unit car. The 23 cars could carry the equivalent of 146 standard coal hoppers at a reduced tonnage due to the light weight of the cars. The Car numbers for these cars were BN 552000 – 552022. None were ever renumbered as BNSF cars."
