# Derailment near Casselton ND (West of Fargo)



## Railfan (Dec 30, 2013)

Just occured recently: Oil train derailment and then hit by another train.

http://www.inforum.com/event/article/id/422351/

Wonder if this will cause problems for the Empire Builder.


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## oregon pioneer (Dec 30, 2013)

I am sure that it will cause problems. I am greatly relieved that there are no Empire Builder trainsets in ND at all right now. But I am sure they have to go through there.


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## The Davy Crockett (Dec 30, 2013)

Mods - (Yep, y'all with the thankless jobs, but who do a great job) -

Could this be moved to the correct place?

THANKS!


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## berkyo (Dec 30, 2013)

But where is it being discussed?


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## jis (Dec 30, 2013)

Accident is on the Surrey Cutoff which is not used by the EB.


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## jphjaxfl (Dec 30, 2013)

Casselton is west of Fargo on the former Northern Pacific route to Bismark and Southern Montana. This should not impact the Empire Builder even if it was rerouted via the former Great Northern Surrey cutoff from Fargo to Minot via New Rockford.


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## Just-Thinking-51 (Dec 30, 2013)

Sure no direct impact to Empire Builder but those frieght train will be detour for a few days, that will cause problems for the Empire Builder. More freight trains less space to run them.

Side note heard on the radio down here in CO that the fire cause some "bad air issues" and people were advised to relocate.

.


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## CHamilton (Dec 30, 2013)

Partial Evacuation for City of Casselton Following Train Derailment


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## roomette (Dec 30, 2013)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CxkUhVswF5U


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## oregon pioneer (Dec 30, 2013)

jphjaxfl said:


> Casselton is west of Fargo on the former Northern Pacific route to Bismark and Southern Montana. This should not impact the Empire Builder even if it was rerouted via the former Great Northern Surrey cutoff from Fargo to Minot via New Rockford.


Ah, I wondered exactly where that separated from the route Amtrak takes. A few weeks ago, I was on an EB that lost our lead engine (due to an electrical fire) in sight of Fargo. We blocked the main line for over three hours while they tried to get it going, failed, and then brought in a BNSF engine to replace it and take us in. They said the freights were on another track at that point, and we would not impact them. Looking at where Casselton is on the map, I see that the lines must split quite close to Fargo.


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## Bob Dylan (Dec 30, 2013)

roomette said:


> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CxkUhVswF5U


 WOW!!! Looks like an Atomic Explosion! Hope No-One was Killed or Seriously Injured, Railroaders or Civilians!


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## NW cannonball (Dec 30, 2013)

The Forum article was reporting no injuries. But the forecast is for -23F tonight and wind chill below -30 tonight and tomorrow. The firefighters and cleanup and repair crews will have a difficult time.


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## montana mike (Dec 31, 2013)

Footnote: According to BNSF sources it was a grain train that actually derailed first, causing several of the oil train's cars to derail. what a mess....Ah, if the pipeline had been in place perhaps we wouldn't be talking about this.

:-((


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## jamesontheroad (Dec 31, 2013)

Glad to hear no injuries or deaths reported. Compare to the recent disaster in Quebec - at the very least we can be thankful this happened in a very sparsely populated area.

I'm writing this from across the state line in Northern Minnesota. Although normally a resident of a England, I'm back in Mn. visiting my wife's family for the holidays. We traveled to Fargo on Sunday and were returning around the time of the accident. One striking impression of how America has changed since our last visit (four years ago) is the remarkable increase in the number of freight trains. Driving north on MN-10 on Christmas Eve I was astonished by the number of BNSF oil trains heading in the opposite direction on the tracks parallel to us. I hadn't appreciated what the fracking industry (and oilsands?) are contributing to railroad freight.


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## jebr (Dec 31, 2013)

Looks like residents of Casselton are being urged to evacuate.

MPR News



jamesbrownontheroad said:


> Glad to hear no injuries or deaths reported. Compare to the recent disaster in Quebec - at the very least we can be thankful this happened in a very sparsely populated area.
> 
> I'm writing this from across the state line in Northern Minnesota. Although normally a resident of a England, I'm back in Mn. visiting my wife's family for the holidays. We traveled to Fargo on Sunday and were returning around the time of the accident. One striking impression of how America has changed since our last visit (four years ago) is the remarkable increase in the number of freight trains. Driving north on MN-10 on Christmas Eve I was astonished by the number of BNSF oil trains heading in the opposite direction on the tracks parallel to us. I hadn't appreciated what the fracking industry (and oilsands?) are contributing to railroad freight.


Welcome to Minnesota! The oil coming out of North Dakota has really brought a boom to that line, that's for sure. Got some family living along that line as well.


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## NW cannonball (Dec 31, 2013)

Evacuation ends


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## Glenn L (Jan 3, 2014)

montana mike said:


> Footnote: According to BNSF sources it was a grain train that actually derailed first, causing several of the oil train's cars to derail. what a mess....Ah, if the pipeline had been in place perhaps we wouldn't be talking about this.
> 
> :-((


Not sure about that. The thing with Crude By Rail (the industry is calling it CBR now) is that they can go anywhere they need to. The biggest demand for oil right now is Asia, and there are at least four oil terminal expansion projects planned just for western Washington for exporting crude there (Vancouver (the one by Portland), March's Point (by Anacortes), Aberdeen, and another just north of Bellingham are the four I know about). Except for natural gas, there isn't really a national pipeline network like there is railroad transportation. The proposed KBR pipeline would have moved the crude to the gulf coast. They have refineries there, but those already have access to gulf coast oil, and access to Asia is limited by the size of ships that can fit through the Panama Canal (even an expanded Panama Canal). The pipeline might have removed some of the oil traffic from some lines, but it would have only served one possible route.

Also, having lived in the Pacific Northwest for the vast majority of my life, I can remember several huge explosions that happened on the Olympic Pipeline. One of them might have taken out the entire city of Bellingham had conditions been a little different. The number of pipeline disasters over the years doesn't speak too favorably of movement of oil by that industry either, as it isn't not that much different (and some accident statistics indicate it may be less safe) than moving it by rail.


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