August 10, 2002 - While Suleski Transportations' Industrial Switcher ST20 was working cars at the Ryan & Kelly Concrete Company (R&KCC) the engineer shoved a little too hard and derailed the first truck on the string of three covered hoppers loaded with concrete mix. This incident was probably due to the fact that this is a new siding and crews are just getting used to it. Had the cars been empty the crew would have used rerailers to get the wheels back on the rail, but since they were full they had to swallow their pride and call the dispatcher to request help from the maintenance-of-way (MOW) Work Train.
Suleski Transportation #1993 an ex UP F unit is seen here backing the work train into the double siding at the R&KCC.
First off they cut off the work caboose on the main siding and then pulled forward to back the crane into secondary siding. This gave the crane crew good access to lift the derailed truck onto the rails.
Suleski Transportation Railroad Police came to assist in their new Ford Expedition that was purchased at the ECLSTS in York, PA. Additional work crews came in the new Chevy Suburban.
It may have seemed like there were a lot of people on the scene, but as it turned out experienced MOW crewmembers used this as a training exercise for newer crewmembers because it was off on a siding and not blocking the mainline. This allowed crews more time to work without worrying about a blocked main line.
After the car was put back on the rails and the freight truck, wheels and surrounding right-of-way of the siding was checked and inspected, crews headed back to their regularly scheduled tasks. Some with additional paper work to do…
Copyright 1993-2008