Derailment At Portlock Yard Jan 10, 2003

Very unusual for for NS to have a derailment on their main line.  The pictures below were shot on the morning of Saturday, Jan 11 2003 after 4 auto-racks derailed at the 8 track grade crossing at Portlock Road.  Crews from several NS shops including M.O.W and Signal Maintenance along with the commercial contractor Cranemasters quickly had the cars back on the track.  A single
GP40-2 eased the righted cars into undamaged track further in the yard.

The damage appeared to be confined to the 4 auto rack cars and right of way including a badly damaged switch.

An NS M.O.W. supervisor speculated that once the track was clear of the damaged cars, they would have the track serviceable in about 8 hours.

The Cranemasters crews wasted no time getting their equipment heading north.  An inbound  train derailed another 15 Auto Racks plus other cars on the NS double track main between MP96 and MP100 between Poole Siding and Church Road west of Petersburg, VA.

You can "Supersize" each of the pictures by clicking on them.

Crane & Damaged Autoracks One of the 2 cranes used to put the cars back on the tracks.	NS and Cranemasters Begin their Work With the cars fully loaded, it took 2 cranes on each end to put the cars back on the track. The crane at the left was located on the access road to the yard right-of-way while the Crane Masters equipment on the left was brought in VIA High Rail.	Cranes set one end of an Autorack on the Track With NS crews guiding, the 2 cranes pick up the derailed car with slings, move it to the right and place it back on the rails.	Track Damage Example A snapped of section of rail can be clearly seen in the switch.
Cars Righted - Repairs Begin Looking east from the grade crossing at Portlock Road gives an overview of the damage crews would have to repair. The switch is the forground was badly damaged.	Derailed Cars moved carefully into Portlock Yard With the last car now back on the tracks, a single GP40-2 moves the first damaged cars off the damaged section of track and into Portlock Yard.