Posted on 02/09/2003 10:18:27 AM PST by JustPiper
I could use some help here...Fox news had a blurb in its ticker and then showed a train derailed on its side leaking some type of vinyl (?) chloride in a downstate town in Illinois of 700 who have been evacuated.
Now a story of this magnitude and I cannot find a blessed thing on all local channels, news radio, net etc, si I'm putting it to Freepers.
I also called CLTV which is our local cable news and she checked the wires and intended to call Foxc about it. Anyone picking up on anything, I'd appreciate it, my daughter and grandkids live downstate.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Thank you, they are far enough away, talked to my daughter. How about you whats the update?
My interest has nothing to do with prophecy, the earth has been in a 500+ year 'quiet' period. We're due for something, comet, meteorite, major volcano, earthquake, tsunami, you name it. (BTW, I am a catastrophist, so...)
TAMAROA, Ill. (AP) - A freight train carrying hazardous chemicals derailed in the middle of town Sunday and authorities evacuated 500 of the town's 800 residents. One chemical leaked and caught fire.
No injuries were reported after 16 to 21 cars of a northbound Illinois Central-Canadian National train derailed during the morning, authorities said.
Residents up to a mile from the scene were evacuated because the train was carrying vinyl chloride, formaldehyde and hydrochloric acid, Perry County Sheriff Keith Kellerman said.
``Those are the three chemicals we can identify now,'' he said.
All three chemicals are hazardous to breathe and could cause death in high concentrations, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Many emergency workers were kept away from the trains because of the danger, Kellerman said.
Vinyl chloride leaked from one or two cars and caught fire, said Kellerman and Canadian National spokesman Jack Burke. The fire was nearly under control within about three hours, Kellerman said.
The train, operated by a two-person crew, likely had 100 or more cars, Burke said. He said chemical-hauling trains typically roll north from Louisiana to Chicago or to a switching point in Effingham for movement elsewhere.
Each car carried 24,000 pounds of chemicals, Kellerman said.
Tamaroa is 28 miles north of Carbondale in southern Illinois.
Actually, as of last July, the rate was actually lower.
Howdy, neighbor. I'm in Murphsyboro (and I didn't hear about this till just now.) Guess it's under control...?
Daley doesn't live in Bridgeport anymo' ;)
Shoot see, this post may have brought two lost kin together ;)
Wheel bearings on railcars used to be simply the outer part of the axle resting in a cylindrical "pillow block" which was lubricated by heavy oil and packing material, and this was covered at the outside by an access lid. This led to the "box" terminology.
A "hotbox" referred to a bearing that had lost its lubrication or developed high friction for other reasons. Considering that the motive power of the locomotive could then dump hundreds of horsepower into this bearing which would get converted to heat, you could actually melt things, including the end of the axle off the wheel. What's more, this would be taking only a fraction of the locomotive's total power output, and so the engineer might not even notice what was happening until the hotbox caused a derailment.
Earlier in the 20th century, two companies, Timken and Hyatt, showed railroads a superior bearing design, using rollers, that drastically reduced rolling friction. The adoption of roller bearings on cars had two advantages: First, locomotives used less fuel to pull a train of equivalent capacity. Second, the incidence of over-temp bearings was dramatically reduced.
However, not eliminated. Even roller bearings can develop develop problems, and this is why large railroads now have robotic trackside 'hotbox detectors' that speak to the engineer (in synthesized voice) through the radio in his cab.
Some decades ago, the Federal Railway Administration outlawed the old-style journal bearings on regular freight and passenger cars, making roller bearings mandatory. (Diesels had them essentially from the beginning.) It causes difficulties for historical groups who need to transport old equipment from one place to another using rail mainlines.
So you can outlaw journal bearings but not 'hotboxes,' even though they're not really boxes at all anymore. <)B^)
And you're right about derailments; they happen all the time. And every one of 'em is a pain in the a55.
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