Derailment near Glenvar, VA 10-30-2020

[NW Mailing List]

As one who spent several years representing the Motive Power Department 
in the early 1980s on the three-man derailment investigation team (aka 
go team) for the Northern Region of the NS (remember when the former N&W 
was designated the Northern Region and the former Southern was 
designated the Southern Region?)  I will be interested from my arm chair 
to see what the determination of the cause of this accident will be.  I 
am not familiar of the particular bridge that collapsed, but with some 
knowledge of the sturdiness of the former Virginia bridges, I find it 
hard to believe that the bridge collapsed under the weight of the train, 
unless a pier or an abutment was somehow subject to excessive erosion 
from the river (doubtful).  Rather, it seems more likely that the train 
was derailed in advance of the bridge, and the derailed cars brought 
down the bridge.  I think this could be indicated by the aerial view of 
the derailment site published in the Roanoke Times which shows the 
crossties in approach to the bridge (bottom right in the image below) in 
great disarray as though one or more cars were derailed in approach to 
the bridge.

10312020-roa-va-roanokecotrainderail-p01

This is the view from my arm chair (no more calls at 2:00 a.m. to drive 
a couple of hundred miles to a derailment site), and I'll be interested 
to know what the investigation shows to be the cause of the bridge collapse.

Incidentally, this picture was taken for the Roanoke Times by David 
Hungate, the son-in-law of my friend Andy Stone.

Gordon Hamilton

On 11/1/2020 11:13 AM, NW Mailing List wrote:
>
> The road that went under this span is Barley Road.  I have a friend 
> who lives west of this site on Barley Road.  Last year he and I 
> visited this bridge and noted that it was built at the beginning of 
> the last century as were many other viaducts and spans nearby on  the 
> old VGN.  I wonder what NS will do concerning the others (like the one 
> east of the Yateman Viaduct} which seem to be in similar condition?
>
> Skip Salmon
>
>> On November 1, 2020 at 9:33 AM NW Mailing List 
>> <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org> wrote:
>>
>> The Roanoke Times has four photos taken later in the day. In one, it 
>> can be seen where one of the bridge piers was snapped off near the base.
>>
>> See 
>> https://roanoke.com/news/local/norfolk-southern-train-derails-spills-coal-into-roanoke-river-in-western-roanoke-county/article_223cbbd6-1ba7-11eb-acc8-b332c9eaa349.html#tracking-source=home-top-story-1 
>> <https://roanoke.com/news/local/norfolk-southern-train-derails-spills-coal-into-roanoke-river-in-western-roanoke-county/article_223cbbd6-1ba7-11eb-acc8-b332c9eaa349.html#tracking-source=home-top-story-1> 
>>
>>
>> Bruce in Blacksburg
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>
>
>
> SKIP SALMON
>
>
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