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Patagonia Express Derails
http://www.rypn.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=47732
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Author:  whodom [ Sat Nov 11, 2023 8:08 pm ]
Post subject:  Patagonia Express Derails

https://www-infobae-com.translate.goog/ ... n-heridos/

It appears all the cars and locomotive fell over, but they claim there were no serious injuries.

Image

Author:  nedsn3 [ Sat Nov 11, 2023 9:38 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Patagonia Express Derails

You can see what appears to be a buckle or kink in the track where those people are walking. It may have been the cause of the accident.

Author:  Alexander D. Mitchell IV [ Sat Nov 11, 2023 10:14 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Patagonia Express Derails

Eyewitness James Fetchero on the scene: It was a washout, and there WERE "serious" injuries.

https://www.facebook.com/cass.fan.5872/ ... fyyTQtUbal

Quote:
What a day! At about 11:15 this morning as we were going about 17 KPH we hit a washout on the line. The locomotive #104, rolled over and took the entire train down the embankment. It is pretty scary to be trapped in a wooden coach as it rolls down the hill. Our wood stove was burning and the danger of fire was immediate. We had to kick out doors and crawl out and through the remains of the vestibule. I was lucky with only bruised ribs and hip, but others were seriously injured. It took hours to be rescued from out in the middle of nowhere. The passengers and crew remained calm and worked together to help the injured. An experience I will never forget.


Mr. Fetchero has photos from previous days' operation of the apparent multiple-day charter on his personal FB page.

The derailed loco is apparently a Henschel 750mm (2' 6") gauge 2-8-2 built in 1923; the line has supposedly, according to other Facebook posts, only been reactivated two months ago for such charters after four years of dormancy, and little use in a decade or more........

Author:  philip.marshall [ Sat Nov 11, 2023 10:41 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Patagonia Express Derails

What I immediately noticed in the picture are the axe-cut ends on the ties. Holy cow.

-Philip Marshall

Author:  Alexander D. Mitchell IV [ Sun Nov 12, 2023 12:26 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Patagonia Express Derails

Philosophically speaking..................

This would have been like the East Broad Top running a trip back to Woodvale/Alvan and Mount Union in 1963. Times a dozen in mileage.

Or some of those very first trips on the Durbin Line once the D&GV got the Climax running out of Durbin but hadn't done any trackwork (If you know, you know......).

Author:  whodom [ Sun Nov 12, 2023 10:59 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Patagonia Express Derails

I wonder what kind of recovery equipment is available? Let’s hope this doesn’t wind up like that Ottoman Empire train in the desert Lawrence of Arabia derailed ~100 years ago.

Author:  met1533 [ Sun Nov 12, 2023 11:39 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Patagonia Express Derails

Don’t know much about Patagonia. No regulations? Lax regulation? For revenue passenger trains? Track standards appear non existent.

Author:  Daylight25 [ Sun Nov 12, 2023 1:47 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Patagonia Express Derails

Any chance the locomotive will get repaired?

Author:  484Mike [ Sun Nov 12, 2023 2:33 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Patagonia Express Derails

Wasn't there a similar accident on that line a few years ago?

Cheers,
Mike

Author:  softwerkslex [ Sun Nov 12, 2023 5:43 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Patagonia Express Derails

I am curious why they don't send a speeder ahead of the train to look for these surprises.

Author:  QJdriver [ Sun Nov 12, 2023 8:13 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Patagonia Express Derails

softwerkslex wrote:
I am curious why they don't send a speeder ahead of the train to look for these surprises.


BULLSEYE !!!!

Author:  mmi16 [ Sun Nov 12, 2023 9:51 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Patagonia Express Derails

softwerkslex wrote:
I am curious why they don't send a speeder ahead of the train to look for these surprises.

Were there any weather events that would have created a washout condition, thus warranting a 'prerunner'? Or was this a 'clear sky' type event?

Author:  Alexander D. Mitchell IV [ Mon Nov 13, 2023 12:15 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Patagonia Express Derails

softwerkslex wrote:
I am curious why they don't send a speeder ahead of the train to look for these surprises.


You're pretty much talking "the middle of nowhere" much more so than any North American deserts or tundras, and you're presuming they HAVE a track speeder or hi-rail vehicle capable of running the distances involved--on 750mm track (2' 6" gauge), no less. Plus the manpower to run it.

I recently watched the speeders that now follow the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic RR trains over the line as fire-prevention control, and spoke with their crews. I was struck between the concept of "such a cool experience you could probably charge riders for it" and "that has to get mind-numbingly boring after the first fifteen miles, no matter how scenic it is......" And watching those guys having to do fire patrol made me feel a bit better about the $155 per coach ticket my wife and I spent.......

Author:  Randy Gustafson [ Mon Nov 13, 2023 12:57 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Patagonia Express Derails

OK, just in that one shot.....

Track settlement 'dip' obvious. No tie plates. No evidence of any tie replacement. Kink at the bolted joint LH rail. Missing interior spike on at least one tie LH rail.

Next time anybody whines at me about US track standards, I think I'll save this photo.

Wow, so scratch this one off my bucket list.

Author:  Ed Kapuscinski [ Mon Nov 13, 2023 2:29 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Patagonia Express Derails

It seems like a wonderfully faithful recreation of what railroading was like in the past.

And why we don't do things that way anymore.

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