Tag Archives: cause

Did Global Warming Cause The Deadly ‘Amtrak’ Derailment In Montana Rather Than A ‘Misaligned’ Switch?

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by Anura Guruge
on September 27, 2021

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The switch continues to be eyed with suspicion.
Refer to my post from yesterday.

Click to ENLARGE & read here. Annotation is mine. Here is the link to ‘NPR‘ original.
Click to ENLARGE & read here. Highlighting is mine. Link to original.

Base image below from ‘AP‘ via this ‘Fox59’ post.
Annotation is mine.

Click to ENLARGE & read here. From the new ‘Wikipedia‘ entry (link).

I am NOT at the scene. I am working off 3rd pictures & data. So, of course, I don’t claim to be an authority on this matter.

As two of the posts above show there is a growing body that suspect a switch. Yes, that could very well have been the case — per what I posted yesterday.

From yesterday’s post.

I am, however, bothered by the three carriages that are on their side PRIOR to the switch.

Yes, a derailment at the switch could have had a TORQUE effect down the train that TWISTED those three carriages on their side. Yes, there is physics there that could make sense.

But, I also noticed a distortion — i.e., a bulging — of the tracks ahead of where those three carriages are. I circled it on the ‘AP’ photo.

Is that unusual track expansion caused by global heating, i.e., exceptional heat?

There is a new camp that thinks that it WASN’T the switch, BUT the rails getting bent from the heat.

OK? I am trying to keep you updated — as I promised, yesterday.

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Was The Deadly ‘Amtrak’ Derailment In Montana Really Caused By A ‘Misaligned’ Switch?

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by Anura Guruge
on September 26, 2021

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Click to ENLARGE. From ‘Twitter‘ — highlights & annotation are mine.
Click to ENLARGE. Again from ‘Twitter‘ — & again, highlights & annotation are mine.

As an avowed & ‘lifelong’ railway nut anything & everything about trains catch my interest — train accidents high up on the list.

Though the media, so far, as remained mum about possible causes for the derailment I detected subtle clues that some folks ‘out there’ already had some solid suspicions or facts. So, I did some sleuthing. As I had suspected, ‘Twitter‘ proved to be the most fertile field.

The above two ‘Tweets’ capture a prevailing notion — though as is always the case in matters such as this, there are those that are equally adamant that a ‘railway switch‘ was NOT the cause of the derailment. I will confess that based on the photographs I have seen I would NOT rule out a switch.

As most model railroaders will gladly attest, a switch can lead to a multi-truck (or multi-bogie) carriage or wagon straddling parallel tracks. At least one picture appears to show this.

Early days. We don’t have all the facts. But, it is possible that a switch rather than speed or an object placed across the tracks was the cause of this deadly derailment. I will, of course, stay of top of this. It intrigues I. Smile.

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