Locomotive fire (MEC 382) in Monmouth 12-20-2014

WCSH-6 (Portland NBC affiliate) posted this on Twitter:

@WCSH6 wrote:A locomotive caught fire this morning in Monmouth. Crews are cleaning up now. Took them 20 minutes to knock the fire down

Dan Nelson reports it was the 382 that burned, his picture shows the electrial boxes under the cab open. They are stopped with the power split over Berry Rd and have been for a while now.

Crap. I hope the damage wasn't too severe. 382 is one of my favorites.

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Photo and blurb from WCSH-6:

http://www.wcsh6.com/story/news/local/2 ... /20687341/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I transposed, it is WAPO not POWA.

Just saw a Waterville cab going down Berry Rd, so the road crew is out of there. Maintainer is there as well. And a Hyandai had just showed up, which is I imagine a reporter.

Either minor enough that they will repair it, or major enough that they will send it to Pauducah as the next GMTX sell and lease back deal. Either way, seems nothing is scrap anymore.

And I thought it was smoking a bit on POWA the other day. Hopefully the damage isn't too severe, at any rate.

382 is buttoned up, the maintainer gone, and a new crew on the ground getting outta the cab. Should be back together and on the roll soon.

POWA is at Leeds Jct, waiting for them. Externally, the 382 doesn't look too bad, although it's obviously an internal problem, just some soot around the cab.

More maintainers looking at the 382.

The fire chief thinks it's a total loss, according to this article on CentralMaine.com:

http://www.centralmaine.com/2014/12/20/ ... -monmouth/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Apparently whomever wrote the article didn't bother counting the other two engines that were on the train (518/504/319/382/313).

Here's a pic of the 382, engineer side. The other side isn't as bad.

Heres what it looks like tonight.
382 is dead on the W/E of Right at Leeds Jct.
343 lhf is tied onto what appears to be the rear end of POWA on the No. 2 Tk. at Roy. The train is split over the Leeds Jct. Rd. crossing. There is another unit pumping between Leeds Junction Rd. and Cressey Rd, but too far from either road to get a number. I'd say POWA is 70ish cars and is all on the No. 2 Tk at Leeds.

518 and at least 4 units is tied onto WAPO which is still sitting just east of Berry Rd. The crossing flashers are on as they have been ALL DAY.

It looks like POWA's power was borrowed and combined with what was left of WAPO's power to get WAPO up the hill. But they most likely exhausted the crews or borrowed them for something else.

POWA had the 343e/514e/354w, so it sounds like they ran the 343 down to Roy, probably grabbed the 514 off POWA, split the train, and left the 354 pumping the other half.

Edit: Here's a pic of POWA at Leeds, taken from Cressey.

690 wrote:POWA had the 343e/514e/354w, so it sounds like they ran the 343 down to Roy, probably grabbed the 514 off POWA, split the train, and left the 354 pumping the other half.

Edit: Here's a pic of POWA at Leeds, taken from Cressey.

That would get them back to 6 units, which is what they had this morning, despite the BDN saying 3...Makes sense.

That is an AMAZING shot! Stunning!

Very nice shot, 690.

Here's a few shots from when the fire department was finishing up:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/dnelsonrail/15882979600/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
https://www.flickr.com/photos/dnelsonrail/15450592603/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Both firefighters and railroaders at the scene sounded confident the unit was done. I was told that 518 and 504 were sent from Leeds Jct. after the fire started, meaning WAPO was in fact just three units as reported by the papers. I was also told that the fire was noticed when WAPO stopped for a crew change at Berry Rd. and the new crew saw the fire, but I haven't heard that anywhere else and so it could be inaccurate.

Definitely a sad scene, though very glad no one was hurt, and it sounds like the Monmouth FD did an excellent job.