Railroad Forums 

  • B&P derails in East Aurora Here are some pics- 5-19-2020

  • Pertaining to all railroading subjects, past and present, in New York State.
Pertaining to all railroading subjects, past and present, in New York State.

Moderator: Otto Vondrak

 #1543316  by MarkT
 
I've got a drone pic from someone's FB page, the train for sure took the switch and the lead engine went down the hill between Subway & Rileys. From engine south all the cars are on the siding until the switch where the cars go further south.

The video above is excellent! If MOW is in that area, did they leave switch open. To SST's point, ties are all over West Seneca
 #1543329  by ctclark1
 
I'm more inclined to agree that there are some anxious kids somewhere in the village, but it is possible there was some MOW equipment tied down there that was moved earlier in the day. Its all speculation at this point. Also, unless SST knows that the ties were recently put there... Ties have been known to sit for months before being installed, it's not always an immediate thing.

This stub was the only connected switch left between CP GRAVITY and the north end of the passing siding at CP WALES (MP 22). All others have been removed, including the spur into Steuben Foods and the Team Track near Pound Rd, so it makes sense that they'd keep one intact for MOW tie-down and bad car setouts. This particular siding used to be connected at both ends with a stub to the north and spur into the Fisher-Price plant, but was stub ended to the Main St bridge between 2011 and 2014.

I brought up the question about the relay box at the switch above because, were the signal system still in service, there was a set of Auto signals a little over a mile south, would these have indicated the open switch in advance? (I don't know a lot about PRR signal aspects, so I don't know if they would even be capable of doing so)

PS, I know it's likely with the signal system out of service that CP WALES, it's counterpart at the siding's south end CP PERRY, and even CP MACHIAS are probably no longer considered control points, but they make convenient naming points from the track charts. I'm not even sure if GRAVITY is still considered a CP or just a "station" in the sense of a location along the line.
 #1543342  by TrainDetainer
 
If the signal system were still in service the next signals in both directions would have been at stop and proceed (or stop if a CP) and the train would have been at restricted speed through the block, looking out for switches not properly lined. That assuming the vandals weren't sophisticated enough to know how to defeat the signal system or threw the switch after the train passed the nearest favorable signal, which would have had the train still hitting the switch at speed.
 #1543345  by RMB357
 
Remaining tank cars that took siding were re railed on siding track which they patched up and reconnected to main line. They are going to pull those out and then remove the siding switch forever. Engines were lumped back to Buffalo earlier today. Rest of train will be taken to Buffalo at 5mph. They are currently trying to re rail one of the center beams from secondary derailment. The one center beam is giving them issues right now
 #1543685  by SST
 
It has been a good year since I've traveled down the 400 expressway especially during daylight. I have no idea when those bundles were dropped. But what I did notice on these new bundles, is the color. They look like untreated wood. They are not the traditional black ties that I usually see. I wonder where they got them. There is a plant in Dubois that specializes in pressure treated wood including ties. The track goes right past it.

https://www.stella-jones.com/en/products/railway-ties
 #1547057  by SST
 
SST wrote: Sun May 24, 2020 2:03 pm It has been a good year since I've traveled down the 400 expressway especially during daylight. I have no idea when those bundles were dropped. But what I did notice on these new bundles, is the color. They look like untreated wood. They are not the traditional black ties that I usually see. I wonder where they got them. There is a plant in Dubois that specializes in pressure treated wood including ties. The track goes right past it.

https://www.stella-jones.com/en/products/railway-ties
While traveling on the I-190 westbound, I've also noticed that the new bundles of RR Ties are also along the row into the City of Buffalo. Same odd color. No evidence of any row work yet. I have seen NS single units delivering tank cars to the area which is viewable from the expressway. Its not a lot of traffic but its better than nothing.
 #1547166  by jurtz
 
While I am sure the efficacy of pressure treatment has improved over the years, pressure treated ties did not last long when used for the rehab of the Adirondack division in the late 1970s. Most all of them had to be removed when the state rehabbed the line in the mid 1990s.