Well, TBX3401 arrived in Altoona earlier. It went straight to the machine shop for metallurgical testing. Some guy in Shop 2, which is right next to the machine shop, kept whining about the smell coming from the gondola. I have to admit, it was somewhat pungent.
The power went out this afternoon and I got called into work. I got to the shops and found one of the worst disasters I've ever seen. TBX3401 was involved, and I don't know what the damage is yet. Will post photos later after the cleanup.
Well, here's the scoop. I had just woken up for a graveyard shift at the shops this afternoon when the power went out. Within a few minutes, the phone rang, and the dayshift supervisor was on the line screaming for me to come in immediately. I knew something was wrong, so I grabbed my camera as I ran out the door. As I got closer to the shops, I started to see smoke. When I finally arrived at the shops, this is what greeted my eyes: The roundhouse was totally engulfed. After several hours of fighting the flames, the roundhouse roof was completely destroyed. Thanks to a bit of luck (most of the locomotives were out at the time) and some quick work by the hostlers, all of the roundhouse inhabitants were spared. Although there was little to no structural damage, the roof was a total loss. I began surveying the damage to the shops and the cars that were in for service. Fortunately, there were only three at the time. I spoke with the shop workers who were on dayshift, and they told me what happened. All three cars, NSNX2010, NSNX2011, and TBX3401 had been puled out of the buildings on the roundhouse side. They were trying to air out the gondola, which had developed quite a stink. When that didn't work, they went after it with a newly developed cleaning agent. When they hit one of the corners, it began making a strange sound. The workers described it as a hiss that got louder and turned into a high-pitched whine. They decided that they wanted nothing to do with it, so they bailed and ran. Within seconds, there was a massive explosion from TBX3401. The resulting shockwave blew out all the windows on that side of the roundhouse, knocking them inside the building. The fireball came down on the roundhouse roof, setting it on fire. When I went to inspect the cars, I was amazed at what I saw. (I had to climb up to the roof of the coaling tower to get this one.) The ground was untouched, and there were no burn marks anywhere outside of the roundhouse. The fireball must have erupted in the air. TBX3401 was in almost exactly the same state as when it arrived. NSNX 2010 looked alright, although it derailed and might have some unseen damage. NSNX2011 got the worst of it. It was pushed over onto its side, and the trucks look pretty badly torqued. It's going to be a long night. Hang on, there's a guy in a black suit here.
Holy cow!! That was one raging fire (with one extremely lucky result to have only got the roof)! Hehehehehe I like how the TrainBoard car got to "bully" the other forum cars.
I hope the rum is OK. NSNX was carrying kegs of rum. It was also carrying okra. Well those were what was loaded when it left here. Could have blown okra eevery where.
Going to hope that the loads were unloaded [rior to the cars being shopped. Otherwise. the vodka is going to be flat. At least that didn't ignite, or we'd have a 40ft boxcar of molitov cocktail...
Sorry that I've been absent for a few days. I thoroughly believe that it is in my best interest not to talk about where I've been. I returned to the shops earlier today to find that most of the smoke damage was cleaned up. Damage mitigation crews wound up removing the rear wall of stall 6, but apart from the roof, that seemed to be the extent of it. In talking with crews, I discovered that PRR employees had only been allowed back into the shops that morning. I found that they had rerailed NSN2010, and it was headed into the shops for touchup repairs. TBX 3401 had been moved into an isolated section of track near the Master Mechanics Building. I immediately noticed that it was no longer emanating a horrific odor. A few guys who were not... uh... sequestered... said that it was immediately moved there after the explosion, and a tent was erected around it. Guys in black suits guarded it while guys in white suits took shifts going into the tent. NSNX2011 had been hoisted onto a flatcar, and was awaiting a move into the shops. I inspected the car, and apart from some cosmetic damage and loss of its trucks, it seemed to be alright. The trucks had already been moved to the machine shop, where there was hope that they could be resurrected. While I was inspecting NSNX2011, the drunk guy that was in the car when it arrived walked up to me. He introduced himself as "Hubert" and asked me what I did around here. I replied that I was a shift supervisor, and he struck up a conversation. "Oh ya are, are ya? Any ide-er what happened 'ere?" "Your guess is as god as mine." "I donnna need to guess. Them fellers in the black suits slipped up when they were talkin' to me." I looked around quickly for any black suits and replied, "Are you sure we should be talking about this?" "Aw, ain't nothing to worry about. Lemme ask you, you know what those guys were usin' to clean TBX3401?" "No." "It was somethin' those guys called methyl... methylethyl... uh... oh yeah. methylethylshurto... uh... somethin'." I shuddered as I thought about a report that I had seen from the labs recently talking about a cleaning agent that they developed using a chemical called methylethylshurtodianal. The report concluded that the cleaning agent was effective at releasing severe toxins that had bonded with metal, but was dangerously unstable and should only be used in specific severe circumstances. I thanked Hubert for his insight and excused myself. I went to the labs and found our chief chemist, Dr. Alan Hardenburg. "What can I do for you this afternoon?" "I was wondering about that agent you guys developed based on methylethylshurtodianal. Could it have caused that explosion?" "Oh no, that solution was extremely corrosive, but it would never BLEVE. Well, almost never." "What's the 'almost'?" "Well, there's one theoretical substance that could react violently with that solution, but even with that substance (which doesn't exist except in theoretical models) an exceedingly rare and unlikely chain of events would have to occur before it would become reactive." "Humor me. What is it?" "Well, first of all, let me remind you that this stuff doesn't exist. Some guys in Colorado were close to developing the techniques to make it, but they abandoned their research last year and destroyed their test materials. In order for it to react violently with methylethylshurtodianol, it would have to be bonded with steel, and then exposed to iron oxide, creosote, and rubber, in that order. After that, it would have to be exposed to ammonia and specific carbon compounds, such as those found in organic waste. At that point, (and let me stress that this is highly theoretical) it would begin alternately emitting and absorbing chronoton particles, possibly resulting in distortions in time, but only in the presence of additional creosote. If left untreated for several (as in 20 or more) years, it would begin emitting alpha particles that would penetrate deep in to space. Only after sufficient levels of alpha particles had been released would the substance become reactive. Only if all of these things had happened would I be concerned about using our solution on it. Since TBX3401 was built just last year, it couldn't be a concern." "OK. Is that 'theoretical' substance the only thing that would react explosively with your solution?" "Well, I said, 'violently' not 'explosively', but yes." "And what is that substance?" "Pure, weapons-grade balonium." I'm off to check TBX3401's movement history.
Oh Man!! I have tons of balonium at work! It seems to just appear every time we have a management meeting. I am not sure if it is weapons grade though. It must be a naturally occurring element in Colorado! It has got to be something to do with the high altitude and the UV rays.
Balonium is everywhere. The bigger the organization the more it concentrates. I don't think that it is FATAL, but you better save your watch because it is to late for your shoes. Gary
So despite the explosion that occured, is it safe to say that TBX3401 is now completely free of any and all hazardous materials?
Who'da thunk elephant poo was THAT potentially hazardous?!?!? This thread is turning into a Douglas Adams book......biggrin:biggrin:
Dr. Hardenburg assured me that (in theory) the methylethylshurtodianol would have neutralized any of the remaining balonium.
The last 10 days have been quite busy. TBX3401 and NSNX2010 have had a thorough going-over, and were declared road-worthy. TBX3401 was loaded with scrap from the damaged roundhouse and headed off to interchange with the ATSF at Kansas City. I caught NSNX2010 being cupeled onto the end of a westbound mixed. I understand it is headed to Cincinnati empty. Soon afterward, TBX3401 was added to the consist behind NSNX2010, the cabin car was added, and the train pulled out. As the cabin car disappeared around the curve and I watched the PL's change to "approach", (note to self: one of the lamps is out on LH281) I heard the sound of running feet. Dr. Hardenburg ran up to me sweating heavily and out of breath. The look on his face reminded me of the way I felt the time I was in the woods and came face-to-face with a snarling bear. "Doc, you feelin' OK?" "Quick, did TBX3401 go out? Has it left yet?" "It just went out to the west, bound for Kansas City and points west." Dr. Hardenburg gazed past me to the west, as though to will the train back to the shops. He asked, "What was she carrying?" "Just a load of scrap from the roundhouse." I never would have believed that is could happen, but Dr. Hardenburg's pallor grew worse. "Did the scrap include asphalt from the roof?" "Yeah, I think so." Dr. Hardenburg continued staring for several seconds and swallowed hard before saying, "After consulting with my colleagues, I realized that I… miscalculated. The methylethylshurtodianol may not have completely neutralized the balonium…. uh… if that's… uh, what it was… I mean, that stuff's just theoretical… oh forget it, if there's any balonium left, the asphalt might reactivate it. What do we do now?" I looked to the west as the PL changed to "clear". "Anyone else know about this?" "No." "Well then, looks like it's going to be Santa Fe's problem, now doesn't it?" I left Dr. Hardenburg to his vein attempt to will the car back to Juniata, and went back to work as the shadows started to grow long. NSNX2011 still had work left. The trucks were reassembled, but needed to be mounted, and I heard something about a "little surprise".
