derailment,    News,    upper sacramento river

Another Train Ends Up In The Upper Sacramento River

By Tom Chandler 1/28/2014

The Redding Record-Searchlight has reported a train derailment in the Upper Sacramento River canyon, and while it's the kind of news that causes me to suck in a little more air than normal, this time we seem to be OK.

Four boxcars derailed under an I5 overpass just north of Pollard Flat (one of them apparently hit the support pillar). One ended up in the river, but according to the Record-Searchlight, it was carrying scrap paper. The other three cars were empty.

(The Undergrounders who fish the Upper Sac a lot might want to test their memory and place the derailment on the river using these pictures.)

Everybody knows this river was largely sterilized by a derailment and metam sodium spill in 1991, and there have been several derailments since.

I believe this is Union Pacific's major North/South train corridor, so train traffic is heavy. And not to put too fine a point on it, I5 runs up the canyon too.

Lots of traffic. Lots of trains. Lots of risk.

In other words, give the Upper Sac a hug next time you fish it.
AuthorPicture

Tom Chandler

As the author of the decade leading fly fishing blog Trout Underground, Tom believes that fishing is not about measuring the experience but instead of about having fun. As a staunch environmentalist, he brings to the Yobi Community thought leadership on environmental and access issues facing us today.

7 comments
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[…] Trout Under Ground - apparently trains ending up in rivers is a thing….who knew? […]
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Steve Z: I guess that means more people would have to be wired to the incentive program. I think you're onto something. Gives the phrase "Distance Learning" a whole new level of meaning. Steve Z: I also like the guard rail they put at Cantara. Looks like a kid's toy. Right below the trestle there used to be a killer flat. If you could make long casts in the gathering dark, you could sometimes ... more catch some big fish. New trestle changed all that. Safety first my ass...
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I guess that means more people would have to be wired to the incentive program. I also like the guard rail they put at Cantara.
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Steve Z: Alternatively, every time a train car derails it could deliver 10,000 volts to the engineer’s testicles (or other bits for the lady engineers). I’m sure that would alter behavior. Assuming you’re not into that sort of thing.Interesting incentive plan. My understanding is that the trains that derail often do so because they're poorly put together at the train yard, which typically takes ... more place in Roseville (near Sacramento). I'm not an expert, but I've heard a lot of folks who are suggest that putting a couple empty car between two long strings of loaded cards is a recipe for disaster, but that the trains were being put together without much consideration for the downstream problems. Again, just what I've heard.
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UP has replaced all the track using concrete railroad ties, but yeah, it's twisty up the canyon and there are just a lot of places a car of something nasty could fall in the river. And you can imagine what UP would end up paying should a similar accident occur to the one in 1991. I think they got off pretty lucky last time. Not this time.
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Alternatively, every time a train car derails it could deliver 10,000 volts to the engineer's testicles (or other bits for the lady engineers). I'm sure that would alter behavior. Assuming you're not into that sort of thing.
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At this point I'm surprised that signs haven't appeared next to the tracks saying "SLOW DOWN PLEASE," put there by Bigfoot or some ninja. It really seems there is still a real problem.... wow.
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