Canadian Pacific Train Derails in Illinois

A freight train derailed in Franklin Park, Illinois - in the Chicago area - on Sunday, March 26.
Credit: Melissa Brand via Storyful
Original video: / 1640130472314388489
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[@hifijohn]

very long trains and putting a light weight center beam in the middle and this is what you get.

[@thatoneguy6555]

That could be the reason but honestly this wasn't on a curve this could have easily just been a switch that derailed it not the weight.

[@ov7960]

Ok

[@ov7960]

​@@thatoneguy6555ok

[@jamesdavis5096]

Who died and made you the new train car placement czar?

[@connorthemusicguru690]

Naw, it's putting an empty car in the middle of the train. That's common knowledge not to do.@@uk5671

[@christophern762]

That was painful to watch

[@k1mgy]

my sides are hurting

[@mikelewis963]

What a train wreck of a video. Oh... wait...

[@Bassotronics]

Those darn centerbeams always causing trouble!

[@coldblue9mm]

I responded to a downhill train that a bunch of empty centerbeams derailed. Where this occurred, there was a 12 degree curve (pretty sharp) so I figured there would be cars hanging off the cliff. To my surprise, upon arrival, a hose was hanging too low near the rear of the train and popped apart at a timber road crossing. So the air blew from the rear the brakes set up from there forward. The headend weight pulled on the empty centerbeams and about five were plastered to the low side of the curve against the hillside. No track damage and we used a large endloader to rerail those empty cars.

[@kc4cvh]

The FRA needs a regulation mandating unloaded center-beam cars be at the end of the train.

[@Bassotronics]

@@kc4cvh What I find scary (with freight trains) is when there is a consist of one or two front locomotives, empty railcars in between and a rear locomotive pushing the consist. Depending on the circumstances and especially on curves, yes there is a 50% chance the rear locomotive will want to push the empty railcars off the track. There have been videos of that happening. It all goes down to doing the proper consist depending on weight. Sadly, the majority of rail yards do not take this into consideration and it’s just a “roll the dice” situation. A proper consist should have all the heavy cars on front and the emptier cars at the rear. The DPU (rear locomotive) should always be in synch with the front locomotives because if not, there still will be a chance of “push over” no matter the consist may be.

[@golfberg1]

No Biggie, Happens on my layout all the Time.

[@bozoleclown7671]

LOL I was expecting a huge hand coming down from above, lifting the car up and setting it on the track.

[@Riven55555]

That groaning of the twisting steel at the end was terrifying. Props to the camera-woman but I'd be twice as far back

[@ryans413]

I thought maybe the engineer was stopping because of the derailment. But the they start moving again.

[@eyemadethis4you]

The sheer force is insane

[@niftyjig]

Shear force? Or sheer force?

[@anotherfreediver3639]

Am left wondering why the locomotives didn't detect a sudden increase in rolling resistance that was inconsistent with the gradient?

[@AC-ro6ib]

Unless all of the locomotives were online, the engineer likely wouldn't have noticed the change in amperage or tractive output. Also, we don't know from the video whether the train had a dpu. With only two cars derailed, the change would be very difficult to discern, which is why it is sometimes common for derailed cars to be dragged for miles. Until the airhose separates, and the emergency brakes set, or the crew receives some sort of warning from a wayside detector, it is difficult, if not impossible, for the crew to know anything is wrong.

[@mathuetax]

They were still technically rolling, just not on the rails, what little effort that adds to a long train is likely to be negligible.

[@Mariazellerbahn]

anotherfreedriver3639: AH, so you're a UK team leader.

[@stinkyroadhog1347]

Locomotives have umpteen torque and pulling power. You actually really cant feel a derailment behind you.

[@MaskMcGee]

It has 6 incredibly powerful locomotives that can pull thousands of tons, it wouldn't notice a 20 ton car dragging 5 tons of gravel. The only way the engineer ever knows he's derailed is if the air hose snaps, which it didn't do until the end.

[@ochsj1971]

It's nice to see a video in landscape mode instead of vertical.

[@johnjohnii5849]

I can hear the conversation in the cab now! Conductor: "hey, this thing feel like it's pulling hard?" Engineer: *clicks the throttle up a notch. "Nope".

[@niftyjig]

Second time I watched it, you hear the hopper car rocking. He notches it up, the rocking stops and turns into a strain. Then he notches up three more times 🤣🤣🤣

[@mathuetax]

Quite a catch!

[@KevinRichards-rk3gp]

This is why the railroads have dragging defect detectors nowadays which is why you don't see cabooses on the ends of trains anymore. Not to forget EOTs & defect detectors also replaced the cabooses. The jobs those three things do were all done manually from the caboose by the conductor & brakeman who rode in it back in the day.

[@JRNipper]

I rode them while working locals for the Soo/CP, never had a problem and they're better than riding freight cars I can tell you that.

[@mic8040]

They have defects detector and derailments detector

[@danielhutchinson6604]

@@JRNipper I rode some Soo Line Cabooses after they stopped offering accommodations on Passenger Trains. It looked like they may have had more power than People at this location? The business of providing profits to Stockholders, appears to have become more important than providing transportation to Shippers.

[@coldblue9mm]

@made-in-the80s I went to more than one train taking UDE and they had to peel the conductor and or brakeman off the wall of the caboose. When all that slack runs in, and the rear comes to an abrupt stop, that force is incredible. Cabooses retired quite a few trainmen. But I still tried to keep one around to use as a shoving platform for my work trains. Making reverse moves through tunnels can get a little hairy. It's nice to know you have someone on the rear who could plug the train if necessary. Radio communications weren't the best in the tunnels either. Since PTC came into effect, I'm sure the radio efficiency has improved in the tunnels as well. They were wiring it all up when I pulled the pin 10 years ago.

[@cdavid8139]

@@JRNipper especially in the winter on a long shove

[@KB-gq7ou]

Lol as an engr myself this is hilarious 😂 1. The fact that those cars wouldnt tip and pull the hoses apart is unfortunate 2. Maybe the engr wouldnt of realized it at first but you gotta think when buddy was backing up he felt something off. You feel all the little movements in your seat when you run these trains. So funny, you know mangements gonna freak with all the damage along that stretch 😂

[@mikelewis963]

I'm amazed it all stayed connected and relatively upright.... in both directions!

[@StardewStartup]

Okay, so this happens. What is your day like now when a derailment happens? If it was just the one car derailed do they just call someone to help re-rail it?

[@zigman8550]

Those spine cars! It's always those damn spine cars! 🤣

[@AC-ro6ib]

Yes.

[@chuckgilly]

That was a center-beam lumber car. Spine cars haul truck trailers and containers

[@chrisstromberg6527]

@@chuckgilly Yet we all knew what he meant, thanks captain obvious!

[@chuckgilly]

@@chrisstromberg6527 Why U B Trippin?

[@raylrodr]

I think I worked a couple turns with U.B. Trippin.

[@connorthemusicguru690]

That is why you don't put an empty freight car in the middle of heavier, loaded ones! As soon as you try to stop, it will get pushed off.

[@coldblue9mm]

That's pretty much my thought on the cause, not knowing the whole story. Something, heavy cars behind, shoved that empty centerbeam off the rail.

[@cdavid8139]

oh gawd. Railfans

[@coldblue9mm]

@@cdavid8139 Not a railfan. I'm a actual railroader who knows WTF he's talking about. And your area of expertise is what, exactly?

[@cdavid8139]

@@coldblue9mm 40 years. Engineer. Conductor. Yardmaster. Trainmaster. And if you are a railroader then you know that throughout North/South America countless times a day in switch/industral/yard operations empty cars are moved in the middle of loaded tonnage.

[@coldblue9mm]

@@cdavid8139 Yes, they do. I also stated that I figured there was power on the rear of this train as the couplers/drawbars were compressed while being pulled. That leads me to believe that there was power shoving on the rear of that string of cars. No one has told me any different. I'd love to see the data on this derailment. Without all the pieces of the puzzle, and being there on the ground investigating, we can guess all day long what happened here. And probably all disagree. But I did a very good job of getting it down to the root cause. That car was "Popped" off the track, it didn't fall through on wide gauge. I do know that much.

[@erbewayne6868]

Soo car! Derail CP train . On former Milwaukee rail. Keep it in the family.

[@railfandepotproductions]

The Milwaukee road

[@AnoraJohnson]

SOO line ran along my backyard growing up. As many coins as we kids flattened on the tracks, it's lucky one didn't derail in our yard.

[@comradecaelynproductions8440]

*No Defects*

[@dennisneo1608]

Trains are entirely too long. How does the driver know what the hell is going on, a mile behind him?

[@goose4284]

Derailment is like 8 cars from the headend. Length is not the issue here

[@burdizdawurd1516Official]

Trains have mirrors. It's a straight track. You do the math.

[@kpdvw]

Last Locomotive have a top mounted rear facing camera with display in lead locomotive?

[@nozmoking1]

sIx engines? Holy cow!

[@hunterthelord]

ALL BROKEN IN SOME WAY TEAMED UP TO AT LEAST TWO GOOD ONES!

[@comajoebuck999]

Power move?

[@PercivalFakeman]

I do wonder if the crews had a sense something was wrong and were trying to move cars off a road junction. I have heard railway engineers say that cars will often put themselves back on the tracks.

[@coldblue9mm]

No, no, and no. No train crew would move those cars if they knew they were on the ground (derailed). That doesn't happen in real life.

[@alkennedy1124]

You were at the right spot at the right time to catch that on the vlog, good job, thanks BigAl California…❤

[@ernestorivas2495]

Wow great video!

[@JazznRealHipHop]

Yeah you only need one person to crew a train! Sure.

[@jamessimms415]

Are the shareholders ok?

[@Narpets2112]

You didn't call CP and let them know?

[@jamesjr8784]

Why not drive to the front and warn the engineer a railcar is derailed.

[@austincooper7282]

Train was moving so slowly and engines were so close he should have just ran to them

[@RegebroRepairs]

@@austincooper7282 But the photographer was already in the car.

[@martinpeter1401]

I also not understand why not warn the engine driver 😢

[@anthonygermano9363]

Your right, drive up and warn the engineer.

[@midmichiganemdrailfan.4187]

I was thinking the same @Jamesjr8784.

[@user-pc8tb7hg1lHandlesRDumb]

Why is there a guy on the other side and when the camera sees them they stop filming?

[@djravechild3341]

I guess if I had saw the first part I would have headed to the front of the train and told them to stop.

[@drive9997]

Wow awesome catch

[@FreezerBurn.]

I liked the “oh boy” description! Nice catch!

[@rickvanheerden788]

Very observant. To the casual eye nothing much amiss until one of the cars starts tipping...

[@spaceage1060]

I live by a railroad and they always have a truck running alongside the train for events like this!

[@MusicLoverPearson]

To the person who filmed this in their car should drove down and told them what's going?

[@MikeG42]

Excellent video

[@simonp9075]

Top marks for the fantastic footage, truly first class bit of camera work. Ignore anyone that says you should have called the police it would all of happen long before they did anything and you would have missed the moment to film it and put id on KZbin. Great!!

[@worlds_okayest_pilot]

As a former 911 dispatched, 911 has direct emergency lines to all railroad dispatchers with lines inside of our territory. She could have called at 911 and within 60 seconds, the 911 dispatcher could have had the train dispatcher on the phone relating the emergency to immediately notify the crew. We’ve done it before with stalled vehicles at crossings, literally takes 60 seconds to get work to the train crew. Oh, and by the way… it’s “could have”, not “could of” for future comments like this. “Could of” is what uneducated people interpret when they hear “could’ve”, which is in fact the abbreviation for “could have” 🤡

[@johnbigelson7471]

@@worlds_okayest_pilot I coulda sworn this comment contained unsolicited pedantry.

[@Greenfluent1]

Great footage

[@charleskesner1302]

Great catch.

[@Blaze06]

Well someone actually got the derailment on video after all! I saw the aftermath and I gotta say it was insane!

[@Peter-mt6lg]

Quality in motion

[@SERA52Railfan]

So when did the crew finally find out they were on the ground? Who told them?

[@mccoy79productions66]

Wow amazing video

[@ricksadler797]

Could have gone to front and warned crew if problem

[@whiteknightcat]

@jhughes5844 Attempting to lift an uncoupling lever might be difficult if the couplers are in draft. You have to pick the right ones, the ones where the draft gear are still compressed in buff mode.

[@davidallen6333]

AD Blocker war between KZbin and another preventing this and all videos on YT from being seen right now

[@fhowland]

Great camera work! There should really be a detector that lets the crew know when wheels leave the rails. Could’ve saved a huge cleanup.

[@burdizdawurd1516Official]

Are they switching? That would explain the change of direction and all the power. This is one of those rare moments when I would dare to pull a cut lever, break the train, dump the air, and walk up to the head end to tell them their train is in the ground... or ya know, you could have just walked it's only like 10 car lengths from the head end

[@C3Rl3]

Thankfully this person stood there and didnt do anything.

[@niftyjig]

😆😆😆 I'm sure she expected everything to stop right there and somebody materialize to fix it. The 'big brother' assumptions people make are the main driving force of human destruction 🙄

[@BNSF2012]

How the heck did the train derail this isn't train simulator world

[@robertmason7553]

Probably loaded cars on both sides causing and accordian effect.

[@JrFlexing909]

Great recording, I was waiting for the car to roll on it side. But I guess after the crew bring the train foward and then back. They look down the line and see a car on its side and stop.

[@b1276427]

The engineer kept moving because he didn’t know that the train derailed.

[@Subpowerzero66]

Small problem, turned into "Nah I think we're fine..." to keep going forward, stop- "Hm I wonder if we can correct this" then back up LOL.

[@whatnow9288]

Would you be cited if you go and disconnect the airhose or release the coupler pin?

[@J3scribe]

Picked a switch. The best possible move in this situation would have been to call phone number on the blue sign that identifies the grade crossing (the parking lot is between two streets) and inform the dispatcher what had happened. Word would have reached the engineer within a couple minutes.

[@tremsobretrilhosbahiavli9484]

Não tem o ddt?

[@craigymac5386]

Why did you not try and inform the train crew or the police and have these rail companies not learned their lesson about these light centre beam cars. EG Norfolk southern on the horseshoe curve.

[@RudolfKooijman]

Exactly. The filming guy surely has the Railway Derailment Emergency number readily on his phone desktop. All he had to, was click... 😂

[@michaelharris3296]

The phone number is right below those clanging bells at the intersection.

[@cdavid8139]

light weight center beam cars in the middle of a switching cut is not comparable to horseshoe curve.

[@albertcyphers1532]

Nice job CP you just turned a few thousand dollar fix into hundreds of thousands of dollars

[@baldur193]

Who owns the rail bed?

[@shadeslade2198]

Why does this video fill like 360?

[@RyanWehr]

Empty bulkhead flat cars are so vulnerable.. they get pushed around very easily.

[@fireandcopper]

People are complaining that she was supposed to go up to the train cab and tell the crew it was derailed, but keep in mind not everyone is a foamer. This is kind of a big event and critical thinking goes out the window when adrenaline is involved

[@lindaking9806]

Rails aren’t maintained very well where I live. Especially at the road crossings.

[@ostrich67]

As soon as I saw the empty center beam I just knew...

[@johnstreet797]

A bit of a delay in block.

[@epacm50]

Center beams cause derailments on my HO scale layout.

[@Eljefe915]

Great catch! Can’t find it, grind it. Lol

[@JohnnyCarroll-wi6tx]

another prime example of precision railroading.

[@mrhossola7137]

With that many locos, the head end never wudda felt that first part.

[@jaymorgenthal9479]

Looks like a METRA station parking lot with the spot numbers suspended on overhead wire.

[@MJN260]

Just driving on causing more damage...

[@debwood4298]

Go to crossing and call the phone number in case of emergency

[@louislabouskie8488]

If I was NTSB I would be talking to you about your video

[@dahby2724]

Ouch 😳

[@pierrebelliveau6494]

Instead of just sitting in their car and filming this, maybe they could have driven to the head end of the train and warned them they had derailed " 11 cars" back . Filming a derailment is much more important than the safety of the area of where they're filming. Talk about sensationalism ?

[@aleccoleman9017]

Not the first thing to derail in Illinois 💀

[@kpdvw]

anyone giving a damn or just watching? when was 911 / RR Dispatcher called to STOP the 5 locomotive CP rail train???

[@kpdvw]

It's not my job to run the train, the whistle I cant blow, Its not my job to say how far the train's allowed to go, Its not my job to run the train, nor even clank the bell, but let the damn thing jump the track and see who catches hell...!

[@ItchingToScratch]

Them damn center beam empty flats!

[@rickknight8950]

great catch camera person.

[@Dutch_Pancake]

You had plenty of time and opportunities to make it to the head end and warn the crew. No instead of doing the most sensible thing, you just grabbed your popcorn and kept watching... I hope people will not just keep watching when you've been in an accident and you need help.

[@paul-andrelarose3389]

Obviously, a simple bad track situation was made worse by an apparently clueless head-end crew that did not seem to notice the increased drag that required an unusually large throttle position at low speed. Also, they did not seem to bother to look back on their train for the problem that was only 11 car lengths behind the 6 units head-end. 2024/04/05. Ontario, Canada.

[@65charliemopic]

No matter the cause, management will blame it on poor train handling on the part of the hoghead.

[@MusicLoverPearson]

Ooh he's in big trouble

[@user-cg9ly4wg2s]

That’s what you get when you put an empty center beam in the middle of a heavy long train . When will they learn?

[@ROCKINGMAN]

Instead of just standing there filming. I would have either tried to tell the driver if he were not too far up or find a line side railway phone or contact emergency services.

[@ut000bs]

Think about that for a minute.

[@MusicLoverPearson]

Somebody forgot to tell him that a rail car has derailed

[@DukeCronenwerth]

The Movie derails too

[@S_FanWonderland]

Maybe the wheels got off the track

[@lesterlattig]

That's going to leave a mark

[@caesar_cider2777]

ah, centerbeams, my arch nemesis

[@ffjsb]

Let's just keep filming instead of calling 911 or the railroad, SMH.... stupid.

[@YXLMAR]

Any logical person with brains would go up to the engineer and let him know what's going on. I hate some people with cameras 📷 everything don't have to be recorded

[@flyingfortressrc1794]

Wow talk about a front row seat.

[@e.stoffelzijlstra]

Butiful train!!!!❤

[@jamesa6272]

Scary when you never lose the air

[@erbewayne6868]

Couplers held together so no air line break

[@thebops4180]

So many centre beam derailments :( Amazing more carriages did not derail . . .

[@BRIANumber7-RCandModels]

This is what I worry about when pulling really long trains in my Railroads Online game. Something bad happening in the middle of my train around a corner that I can't see, and won't feel until something solid stops me or I drive off with half a train. At least real trains have air lines throughout the train that when broken, stops the train for you. In this particular derailment, the train air line did not get separated, but since the crew was only 10 railcars and 4 locomotives away from the derailment, they saw the derailment once the hopper car started leaning outwards from the track as they were backing up, so they stopped the train before more stuff got torn up. My opinion of the cause of the derailment: The centerbeam's last truck (wheelset) split the switch, causing the trailing railcars to follow it down the wrong track.

[@BRIANumber7-RCandModels]

@Mrright87 Correct, a game can't exactly simulate the physics in a real train, but some can get you a general idea of how things work

[@BRIANumber7-RCandModels]

@Mrright87 I used to do Run8, but have been playing a new game called "Railroader" which one of my engineer friends play because it's based more on the operations and management aspect. Plus my friend thinks the physics "feel about right" surprisingly, so I'll have to give the game developers kudos on that.

[@BRIANumber7-RCandModels]

@Mrright87 Totally get that, that's the same with me and American Truck Simulator

[@coldblue9mm]

So you video record a car on the ground and do nothing to prevent the railroad from making a bad thing worse? What kind of railfan are you?

[@TheFlappyBusRailfan]

1:44 YOUR TRAIN IS DERAILED!! 2:36 3:43 *_but the driver didn’t care_*

[@christophercarlson5624]

Ok I assume it was a fully loaded freight train but why would u have an empty center beam flat car towards the front of the train that damn center beam car should have been coupled to the locomotive and I assume the grain car was empty also? both empties should have been on the front of the train; the back trucks on the center beam car locked immediately when the train began to move; I am glad no one was injured...very scary...very expensive derailment no doubt about that

[@robertmoir5695]

Strange I know derailments are not a good thing

[@SandyToesDetecting]

what are the chances of being on that spot filming at that time.

[@ut000bs]

a LOT better than there actually being aliens. 👍‍

[@SandyToesDetecting]

@@ut000bs who know, how many aliens have you talked too ?

[@ut000bs]

@@SandyToesDetecting I am the only one. You can trust me on that. 😉🖖‍

[@SandyToesDetecting]

@@ut000bs Cool. watch out for those pesky humans, they are weird.

[@ut000bs]

@@SandyToesDetecting Nah, they're pretty cool and you have a cool channel. I have a worn-out Equinox 800.