My uncle used to clean up wrecks on the old Rock Island Line. He said that the first thing you do when you get to the scene is "roll everything off of the tracks, don't worry about where it lands, just get it off the tracks so the section crew can come in and rebuild the tracks and get the trains moving again. Once the trains were moving again, then the clean up could start."

Its amazing how fast & efficient Corman & the trackworkers get an unfortunate derailment cleaned up and track put back in service. You'd be hard pressed to find highway workers working as efficeintly.

For those who criticize CSX and RJ Corman for how they handle this, you, not them, are wrong. First, how are you going to retail these cars when there is no track there? Second, if you could, you don't know what caused this wreck, maybe one of those cars? Which one? Take a chance on putting it back on track to maybe wreck again down the road somewhere, maybe around a busy area where your family may be? Corman has the best equipment for cleaning ip a wreck, CSX has the knowledge to turn a liability into an asset. Liability is unusable track, asset is getting trains running again. Best to leave railroading to railroaders. I retired from CSX and worked a lot with Corman. For those who know better how to handle this situation, then apply those practices to your toy railroad, this a real live one.

Well said dude. It's amazing how people who have no idea about what is going on will second guess you all day long. This is hard, tough, demanding work. Sometimes dangerous. And not everyone on the job site is completely aware of costs, delays and product value that are part of the entire equation on how to clean up a wreck. Be safe man

Mr Corman would’ve been right there in the thick of it, RIP sir.

Absolutely awesome video!!! Corman and Hulcher do some good work. Watched them on several occasions in the central Alabama area south of Birmingham on CSX and NS. Great catch.

It looks like that new safety cab held up well!

Love the way the hopper car dropped ballast & followed by tamp car.What an operation.

I hate idiots that come up here having no idea of what's going on, never the less, probably don't even know what trains are used for. Great job on the cleanup boys, you all saved the day and got things rolling again!

This happened to my model train set every time it rounded a corner.

Cool video. Amazing how fast they clean up a wreck.

I'm a boom operator for RJ Corman division 360 in billings montana. I can promise you that it's not up to us what happens to the cars lol. There's an EIC from the accompanying railroad and if he/she wants em rerailed....we rerail em. If he/she wants the track cleared to get the line open. That's what we do. In the most efficient way possible without causing any more damage then is already done. Simple as that.

Just saw the RJ Corman video and have the utmost respect for what they do!

Awesome video. Thanks!

I enjoy watching this, thanks for a great job, don’t need any talk over either !👍👍

That is a tamper. Packs the ballast underneath the crosstie and also makes the track level and smooth. There is a laser that basically tells them when the track is level. Don't want any big dips in the rail.

very good video... thanks for posting

Can you imagine working at 20 below Fahrenheit, wind blowing from the west at 18 mph. Working for 13 hrs. with only a few breaks. Been there, done that. These fellas deserve a huge pension for what they are put through.

You should see these guys walk a 6 axle locomotive up a embankment and put it back on the tracks with just 4 sidewinder tractors

I am in the haz-mat emergence response and work a lot with Hulcher and Corman and these people are the best and their job is to clear the tracks and lay pallets down to get the line open because a main line down can cost 100's of thousands a hour and some time a min. These guys are not hacks they do not make a move unless told to by CSX or NorFolk Southern

that radio controlled ballast train was doing a good job they tried it here on the CV sub but because of the mountains they couldn't get a good signal that tamper makes short work of lining everything up as for R.J. Corman they are the best as for lining up there equipment if you have never been around this work you shouldn't comment about it i'm a good dozier operator myself that's what I did before railroading but that doesn't make me a expert on train derailment cleanup I have worked with these guys several times and they are all business when we dog we get to go home these guys work till its done ive seen them go 2 or 3 days without sleeping in any weather day or night

Is RJ Corman, like the AAA or derailed trains. I've seen other video's with Corman on the scene.

Thanks for the vid

I would hazard a guess that tank cars, whether carrying haz-mats or not, once involved in an accident are probably write-offs anyway. The amount of leak-testing and such that would need to happen is probably prohibitively expensive and ends up cheaper to write them off as losses and pull some out of storage tracks (most railroads have hundreds of miles of tracks just storing extra cars)... The contractors were probably TOLD BY THE RAILROAD to destroy them to get the tracks back open ASAP.

Corman had but one job to do and that was get the mainline open ASAP. My guess is once you re-rail them now what do you do with them. The last car was a gondola and it was taken back south with the rest of the train. Probably some FRA things about tankers being "involved" in a derailment.

That one guy, just gets too watch. Must be the boss. Makes its look easy. Thanks from,St. Paul Minnesota.

The derailed tank cars may have been stressed or distorted and may no longer be certified usable. To be re-certified they would have to be inspected. Could inspections miss subtle damage or overstress which could cause other problems? Probably best to just scrap or rebuild. Priority is getting the track open so backed-up trains can proceed. Then later get the cars re-railed, possibly on new trucks, and hauled away on the now open track after backed-up traffic has cleared.

I just walked up and started filming. However, I kept my distance and stayed out of the way but these guys were pretty cool. Even the CSX guys were OK. ;)

Strange procedure... Seems to me that the levering machines are not adapted as normally wagons should be lifted from specific points and not moved like lego using a dozer, unless thay will be scraped definitively ! Second, I checked the danger code on the tanks. It is UN 3082, meaning that the wagons carried material deleterious for the environment. Just hope that it did not spill off the tanks !

Great video

I only have 2 questions about 1 why werent the cars emptied before being dragged and 2 why didnt they load then on to lowboys?

Is this the same derailment at E.Elkhorn Rd. or another one? I don't remember the year. I remember they piled up the derailments east of the tracks on the right side of E. Elkhorn Rd. in the field.

Yep. This line sees 35 to 40 trains a day and is CSX's main artery from Chicago to the south. When it is shut down it is not a good thing. I'll bet there was a gazillion trains waiting once the line opened up. Notice it opened at 8pm, just as it was getting dark of course. Gotta love that ;)

Silverbird58, I don't know where this wreck happened at. I worked on what was the old Clinchfield RR.

wow those were the nice looking procor tankers too :(

Didn't really matter. Line them up close together and get the mainline open ASAP!

Great video! Lots of nice cat iron in action!

this would be interesting to watch also by drone.

Very nice video, great footage, one question, what was that machine doing at 28:15 ?

R.J. Corman.These guys know exactly what to do.

It is a shame to see good rolling stock trashed, but consider the finance options of recovery: 1. Lift wagons to side, repair track, re-rail wagons, return wagons to depot for repair and re-certification. All the time this is going on, rail-road is shut and losing money. Wagons cost money to repair. 2. Move wagons, repair rail-road, earn money from opened rail-road, order new wagons, (insured), scrap old ones, keep momentum going, keep earning money. That is the world of money...

i work for terra. They most likley was told to do that. we did the ellicott city job with hulcher. the coal cars was trashed

Nicely filmed, very interesting to watch. Equipment operators knew their job as a team and anticipated every move. Are they wearing headsets and in communication with each other? Never mind Hollywood, I could watch this stuff for hours.

CSX has a lot of derailment videos on KZfaq. And a few on couplers breaking. I wonder if they are purchasing the cheapest equipment they can? Cheapest means low quality. Also are they not expecting their equipment?

I'm no expert but the tank cars also looked pretty good to me and I couldn't understand why they were not trying to re-rail them. Looks like a waste of perfectly good equipment.

@ustrc88 did you work for corman on this job???

Very interesting to watch . Directv and the others need to have a channel showing this!! These boys look like they have done this before!

I love all these 12 year old experts saying how this should have gone

nah.. Their tasked with getting the line open as fast as possible. Reason: no real alternate routes for southbounders for CSX.

that train picked a switch that wasn't thrown quick enough and when a train derails its more than likely that the flanges on the wheels were worn down to a point where they needed new wheel sets on them. i have heard from a Engineer that worked for Norfolk Southern and he told me that in his 41 years of working for them that he has seen trains pick switches in the yards and train cars derail because of worn down flanges on the wheels. so my point is to put new wheels on the train cars

i hear ya

I wonder what's in those tank cars or are they empty 🤔

Personally I don't care how corman handles it if CSX didn't speed constantly these things might be narrowed down to equipment failure

We need one of those on the line in my town...I swear a derailment will happen soon..

BEAUTIFUL, this gets five stares !!!!!

No wonder is didnt see anything yesterday

Hmm? I stopped at a certain point here. Did you have a pressing need? Lol

It's the bottom line. Surviving railroads have not let nostalgia keep them from the bottom line. Keep your eye on the target. Thanks. I miss the big hook, too, but that's not what it's all about.

When they had that tank car up in the air, all they had to do is get a couple of pins and trucks and that car would have been back in service and some minor touches.

Off course with highest security!

unless you worked for a derailment company you probably shouldn't bring us down if your so good at re railing cars then why don't you work for us

what's the white powder, Lime.?

Good old CSX you think speed might be a factor?

2:20 That looked like a F7 for a split second.

Re railing a model train layout derailment seems soo much more easier than this! Lol

What a great paying, fantastic job this is!

Actually, it was a broken rail.

That's Crash Slam Xplode for ya.

The german DB 20000000 people at day and the french SNCF 14000000 people at day

I still lack the knowledge ,after many CSX derailments I heard of, of how they actually come to accomplish these wrecks... LOL

nice CSX. nice. well done.

....and you guys were working in 105 degree heat!!! Job well done!

I'm thinking all the derailed rolling stock are written off. Just a guess....

This looks expensive

HazMat Experts and Firefighters petition Dow Chemical and Union Pacific for safe rail tank cars transporting gas chlorine. Secondary containment is a necessary improvement that must be implemented. See--PETITION C KIT for First Responders Comments.

I also find that the collateral damage is higher than that of the actual accident. There is a lot of technology at work but it is not the most effective. It seems to me all a bit ,,coarse''. regards

Those guys are professionals..

16:15 be the crane

I see, thanks! I lived by Rock Island's 'Houston / Teague' line@ M.P. 79 and miss it very much. Of course its now BNSF owned.

Who cares what they think. You did what you had to do and you got the job done. Let the 12 year old think they know more than you

This is how RJCorman made his millions. RJs crews would have a supervisor truck in the lead then the sideboom then the support trucks. All with beacons in the hammer lane. We all just moved to the right and let them ride.

Bet those kind of contractor's make big huge monster dollars

THIS IS A GOOD EXAMPLE OF WHAT NEGLECT CAN DO THIS IS THE WAY IT WILL WIND UP WELL PREVENTIVE MAINTAINCE NOW THE TRAACK WILL GAT A REAL GOING OVER.SO NO MORE DERAILMENT HERE BUT OTHET PLACES.A SAD EXAMPLE

CSX...... C-rash S-mash X-plode

Red trucks pull up and you know you're safe.

tyiscool you don't know how a derailment could happen are you serious everything is metal on metal and everything can break their is all kinds of ways to derail we have trouble in the winter with broke rails take a rail that is exposed to freezing weather and a car with flat spots and its like hitting it with a sledgehammer it breaks the rail and if you are in dtc territory you have know way of knowing it and if its bad enough it will derail a train

Rj Corman derailment services.

How is this an epic fail?

Excavators and bulldozers handsome. But, it is easier, faster and cheaper would be to cut all these cars for scrap without moving from place :-)))

HUMAN FAILURE!!!!!!

Looks like to me they are making a big mess out these cars, i wonder if any one of these cars can ever be used again?

AMATTER OF A DERAILMENT ITS THE SHAPE OF THE RAIL ROAD THEY ARE SUPPOSED TO RUN OVER THE TIES ON SOME ROADS WONT HOLD A SPIKE SPLIT ROTTEN WOOD TIES. TO EXPECT THE RAIL ROADS TO LAST FOR EVER THEY WONT;

I HAVE USED TE COMPUTER THAT GIVE THE KID OF INFORMATION AS TO THE SHAPE OF A R0QD LINE AND O=WHAT IS BEING DONE ON SOME RAILROADS NAMLY NORFOLK SOUTHERN THEY HAVE CREWS OUT REPLACINNG TIES AND THE BALLEST ON SOME OF THEIR DIVISIUNS AMTRACK IS SUPPOSED TO HAVE SPEED OVER A POOR ROAD LIKE THIS' THERE SHOULD BE A JUDGEMRNT SOME WHERE SOME KIND.

2:00 Why are they tearing up that car worse than it is? Wheres the BOOM-CRANE!?

If you owned the railroad you'd be doing nothing more than writing off damaged cars and pulling spares into service. Those huge dents on the cars are just visible evidence of damage, you would have to, at a very high cost, test every weld for cracks, check frame integrity, and more just to get those cars usable again. Cosmetic damage MEANS structural damage on cars like that...

The fact that the Trucks came "off" of the frame says alot...poor maintenance or other factors can cause things like this to happen, i would soley lay blame on CSX..

you know that no railroad owns any tank cars, they are all privately owned.

.

If this happened in my town I would not allow the railroad to move out of their easement, much less dump their tank cars on property they don't own. This was a haphazard and sloppy clean up. Each derailed car should have been trucked off when it was pulled away from the line. The railroad certainly knows how to make a mess with their careless maintenance of the rails, but they sure don't know how to clean up after themselves. If the line was blocked because of their carelessness so be it. It would be nice if they learned from their mistakes and incompetence.

thanks for the vid. like this r hard to find. I would fire the excavator operator. give him a job at a scrap yard somewhere. like India.