Train wreck in the Burg

[Maggie-Doodle]

http://www.hattiesburgamerican.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080211/NEWS01/80211006

Yet another train wreck in the Burg...thank goodness no one got hurt!

[Fire Extinguisher]

I guess it will take a really bad one with injuries or worse for them to fix those old tracks. We were lucky that the one that did have chemicals last year was not in a congested area.... bad enough for the folks that did have to move out for a few days but at least there were no major injuries to citizens.

[Dixie Tree Slayer]

Thank goodness no one was hurt! Having said that...The first car that derailed is upright and on the road, so the intersection will remain closed to automobile traffic at least until noon today, officials said.

The train was headed south when it derailed just before 5 a.m. today. While officials are investigating the cause of the derailment, they said it may be a few days before the cause is determined.

More information will be posted as it becomes available.
Whatchall think? Blowout? never seen a steel tire blow out but what could it have been? Maybe someone needing a bunch of coal for a school project and they got it this way? hmmmmm

[Conveyor Belt]

Free Coal!!! YEAH!!!

[SueScribe]

I guess it will take a really bad one with injuries or worse for them to fix those old tracks. We were lucky that the one that did have chemicals last year was not in a congested area.... bad enough for the folks that did have to move out for a few days but at least there were no major injuries to citizens.

Was it Brooke Benton that did that tune, "It's Just A Matter Of Time" ??

No one is going to fix the tracks. That cuts into revenues.

Deregulation, under The Staggers Act (1982), sealed not only the fate of American railroading, but the fates of millions more.

NOTE my avatar.

[SueScribe]

P. S. Chemicals?? That's the least of it. "Candy-Strippers" they're called. Next time you see a large white UTLX tank car with a red stripe running vertically and horizontally over the dome - FLEE.

[Fire Extinguisher]

Flee?

Nah, as a HazMat Tech and former Chief of a HazMat Team I think I know what to do.

[Fish-Bait]

P. S. Chemicals?? That's the least of it. "Candy-Strippers" they're called. Next time you see a large white UTLX tank car with a red stripe running vertically and horizontally over the dome - FLEE.

What's in the tank? Republicans lol....:bowrofl:

[Conveyor Belt]

P. S. Chemicals?? That's the least of it. "Candy-Strippers" they're called. Next time you see a large white UTLX tank car with a red stripe running vertically and horizontally over the dome - FLEE.

What's in the tank? Republicans lol....:bowrofl:

pg 57, 2nd to last paragraph in left column.

http://books.google.com/books?id=rhjmxiUQLI4C&pg=PA57&lpg=PA57&dq=candy+stripper+rail+cars&source=web&ots=s5qgx4rgTg&sig=Ieu_qTNvUYqc1i46_8qLjffygKE#PPA57,M1

Looks like it was a way to mark cars with hydrogen cyanide.

[Fish-Bait]

hydrogen cyanide=republicans lol....

[Conveyor Belt]

hydrogen cyanide=republicans lol....

Do democrats = cotton candy?

[Conveyor Belt]

or bagels.

[Fish-Bait]

or bagels.

No, no........they = ATARI!!!!!

[SueScribe]

Well, HazMat Tech/Chief, what would you do with an X Car loaded with Hydrocyanic Acid, venting from the dome, at Hercules Crossing in semi-downtown Burg, with a stiff, south-southwesterly wind?

[SueScribe]

http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x251/MagnoliaMoon47/Livingston.jpg

I can't recall if there were Republicans in those hopper cars . . or bagels, but my-oh-my, did they burn.:smt023

[Conveyor Belt]

Well, HazMat Tech/Chief, what would you do with an X Car loaded with Hydrocyanic Acid, venting from the dome, at Hercules Crossing in semi-downtown Burg, with a stiff, south-southwesterly wind?

From what I was reading on the internets, these cars are supposed to vent.

hydrocyanic Acid has a boilding point of just under 79F. If it was hot out, then the car would have to vent some of the stuff out to keep the pressure in the tank safe.

While it is deadly, it's only deadly in certain concentrations, and from what I've read, a tanker leaking it out into the open air wouldn't be enough to kill anyone.

[SueScribe]

Before you act upon any tendency to be a wise-acre, ask me what a thermally-induced explosion looks like, once you get back on your feet, and what a marvel it is to witness aged ponderosa pines swaying in a fireball that tops them byy 100 feet and sets them to swaying, to and fro, like so many toothpicks stacked up for a Cub Scout emolition demonstration.

[Conveyor Belt]

Before you act upon any tendency to be a wise-acre, ask me what a thermally-induced explosion looks like, once you get back on your feet, and what a marvel it is to witness aged ponderosa pines swaying in a fireball that tops them byy 100 feet and sets them to swaying, to and fro, like so many toothpicks stacked up for a Cub Scout emolition demonstration.

What does a thermally-induced explosion, once you get back on your feet, and what a marvel it is to witness aged ponderosa pines swaying in a fireball that tops them byy 100 feet and sets them to swaying, to and fro, like so many toothpicks stacked up for a Cub Scout emolition demonstration, look like?

[SueScribe]

From what I was reading on the internets, these cars are supposed to vent.

hydrocyanic Acid has a boilding point of just under 79F. If it was hot out, then the car would have to vent some of the stuff out to keep the pressure in the tank safe.

While it is deadly, it's only deadly in certain concentrations, and from what I've read, a tanker leaking it out into the open air wouldn't be enough to kill anyone.

No, these cars do not "vent" If they did . . well . . read on:

Pure, un-tainted by vendor use, HCN, according to the HazMat training we received, and the little (or not so little) book they handed out, once released by a breach or vent will kill all forms of human and animal life in a 5-mile radius, or more, downwind of the release.

First, one would detect the scent of bitter almond. Then: "Instantaneous death."

Had there an HCN car in the consist of the photo you see . . the loss of life would have been into the tens of thousands. One good thing, though. I wouldn't be here yanking on you guys' chains, huh?:-D

[SueScribe]

What does a thermally-induced explosion, once you get back on your feet, and what a marvel it is to witness aged ponderosa pines swaying in a fireball that tops them byy 100 feet and sets them to swaying, to and fro, like so many toothpicks stacked up for a Cub Scout emolition demonstration, look like?

A preview of hell with a clear understanding of Acts that God can allow to be wrought in the blink of an insignificant human eye.

[Conveyor Belt]

No, these cars do not "vent" If they did . . well . . read on:



How do they keep the cars from exploding if they don't vent?

[Conveyor Belt]

A preview of hell with a clear understanding of Acts that God can allow to be wrought in the blink of an insignificant human eye.

That doesn't tell me anything... I'm agnostic.

[Fish-Bait]

good grief.....I am dizzy...

[SueScribe]

How do they keep the cars from exploding if they don't vent?

(NOTE: 39 of 42 tank cars DID explode):

HCN is a liquid that, once released, becomes gaseous. Union Tank Car Co., General Tank Car Co., et al., go to great lengths to build tank cars to hold - not vent or release or otherwise escape into the atmosphere - all chemicals pumped into them by the likes of BASF-Wyandotte, CIBA-Geigy (a producer of HCN), Shell Chemicals, Vulcan Chemicals, Borden Chemicals, and all other producers of such (and more lethal), lethal commodities.

In the case of a derailment, where the cars collide and come to rest in a neat little truck stop special sausage breakfast, and ONCE there is a breach of these massive containers and, lo and behold, a fire breaks out in the wreckage, a car loaded with LP Gas can blow an end cap and rocket 200 yards. For example. Like an otherworldly fireworks show.

That doesn't tell me anything... I'm agnostic.

I really don't think if you had been there, your agnosticism would have stayed around too long. Either you would have wiped the blood off your face, like I did, and instantaneously KNOWN that God was there, somewhere, and you were powerless otherwise, . . or, you would have hoofed it down the highway in the opposite direction, still wondering if agnosticism was a wise choice, after all.

[SueScribe]

Oh, yes. I almost forgot to mention, regarding what you think and feel. I recall teo things:

"My God, my God, there are children dead in their beds . . ." followed quickly by . .

"Oh, Dear God, what will happen to my children now? I can't die like this . . . . ."

[Fire Extinguisher]

To answer MS sharpshooter.

Gather what info you can.. start making required notifications... enter know info into the CAMEO program to get evacuation info based on the chemical along with weather conditions and population density. In other words take care of the situation and how you would take care of it is based on way to many factors to really be able to answer a question such as you have a HCN tanker leaking....what would you do.

Actually I always hated the what would you do if questions because the only way to answer correctly is to consider it as the worst case. Also its not something I ever sat and worried about to start with because I knew that with what I know to do along with the support that would be there and would come when called whatever it was would be handled.... even if it was to evac citizens and wait it out.

[SueScribe]

To answer MS sharpshooter.

:smt107 . . who? You mean yet another post fell through the cracks? tsk-tsk.

Gather what info you can.. start making required notifications... enter know info into the CAMEO program to get evacuation info based on the chemical along with weather conditions and population density. In other words take care of the situation and how you would take care of it is based on way to many factors to really be able to answer a question such as you have a HCN tanker leaking....what would you do.

Actually I always hated the what would you do if questions because the only way to answer correctly is to consider it as the worst case. Also its not something I ever sat and worried about to start with because I knew that with what I know to do along with the support that would be there and would come when called whatever it was would be handled.... even if it was to evac citizens and wait it out.

Perhaps we can agree that a leaking HCN car, downtown Berg, would fall into that "worst case" category of which you speak? If you so agree, then you'll also know that evacuations would be a simple process, i.e. once the volunteers from Jackson put on the spacecraft gear, all they'd really need to do is go from house to house, car to car, sidewalk to sidewalk, office to office, collect the dead, and pile their bulging-eyed, blue bodies onto flatbed trucks.

[Fire Extinguisher]

Chlorine would also fall into that category and would be a much more likely thing to happen. All based on to many factors such as wind, humidity ambient temp, time of day...etc to discuss in an online forum...

Don't you know you ain't supposed to scare the citizens poopless?

[SueScribe]

Chlorine would also fall into that category and would be a much more likely thing to happen. All based on to many factors such as wind, humidity ambient temp, time of day...etc to discuss in an online forum...

Don't you know you ain't supposed to scare the citizens poopless?

FE, they need to be scared, as in "infrastructure scared."

I'm with you on the chlorine! Vulcan Chemicals used to set off an air-raid siren. (First time I heard the thing, I started looking UP. The guys thought that was so funny. We worked 11/7, so I figured the Russians were launching a daring night raid on the River Road).

One time, the siren didn't go off.

We just happened to notice the neon-green, low-to-the-ground cloud rolling across the field between us and Vulcan's south gate. We had hazmat masks, but . . no filters. I notified dispatch in Chicago that we'd be signin' off, and all of us ran for our vehicles. The junk makes you nauseous, then . . but . . we lived to work another day, and Vulcan fixed the air-raid siren problem.:smt009

[Conveyor Belt]

I really don't think if you had been there, your agnosticism would have stayed around too long. Either you would have wiped the blood off your face, like I did, and instantaneously KNOWN that God was there, somewhere, and you were powerless otherwise, . . or, you would have hoofed it down the highway in the opposite direction, still wondering if agnosticism was a wise choice, after all.

You're wrong, because my agnosticism is my core... just as your belief in a higher being may be at yours.

I know that I am powerless. That's a given. We can't do sh!t about anything, and neither can 'God'. If he can, then he makes some weird and ****ed up choices about what happens to people.

Anyhow, my faith is unshakeable.

Nothing more can be said on this topic between us that is going to bridge any gaps... so I'll try to leave it be.

[SueScribe]

CB, I ain't on any missions from God. He leaves that to politicians seeking higher office.

[noway]

HA Video (http://www.hattiesburgamerican.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080211/VIDEO/80211023):smt103 :smt102 :smt023

[Conveyor Belt]

HA Video (http://www.hattiesburgamerican.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080211/VIDEO/80211023):smt103 :smt102 :smt023

wow. I mean, whoa... er... wow.

yeah.

[sunnycorral]

Do democrats = cotton candy?



But of course :) Mmmmmmm

[countrygirl]

Youngest daughter graduated from USM in Polymers and has told me numerous times aboutt the stuff they send through here late at night...she understands all the symbols on the sides of the trains.