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Joined: Jul 2006
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Some of you may have noticed that Dave (DIED) has been real busy lately and not posting as much as he normally does. What you don't know is that our very own Dave is the man in charge of site clean up at the Baxter train derailment in Northern California. Modest Dave was unwilling to toot his own horn so I'm gonna spill the beans (with his permission of course). Here is a photo...  Here is the story...BAXTER, Calif. - The bodies of two workers were recovered Friday from the smoldering wreckage of a derailed train, and investigators said the dead crew members had tried to stop the locomotive with emergency brakes as it barreled down a Sierra Nevada slope.
Thursday’s derailment spilled thousands of gallons of fuel near a thick forest and sparked a fire that sent plumes of dense, black smoke into the air for several hours. The eight other crew members aboard the maintenance train suffered minor injuries.
Crew members told authorities that the men who died had been working together to apply the train’s brakes when it ran off the tracks in a ravine about 60 miles east of Sacramento.Here's what you probably don't know...Dave has been getting up at 4:00am to be at the site by 7:00am and then getting home at 7:00pm almost every day, and working at least one weekend day to boot. This derailment is a major mess, fuel spill, fire damage and train wreckage, not to mention loss of life, all in a pristine forest area... and our very own Dave is the point man on damage assessment and clean up recommendations and oversite. Impressive huh? And you thought Dave was just another pond nut. ....and now you've heard the rest of the story.
JHAP
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"My mind is a raging torrent, flooded with rivulets of thought cascading into a waterfall of creative alternatives."
...Hedley Lamarr (that's Hedley not Hedy)
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Watago, DIED! Very inspirational to be a good Samaritan.
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i'll bet jeff is the modest one, he probably does the books for all those movie stars down san diego way, including shamu.
what's a train wreck without a geo? i dont know. nor do i know how much of a good samaritan i am, i do charge for the work when i remember to make an invoice....and jeff, bless his heart, makes me sound alot more important than i am.
there's been a alot of folks involved, heavy equipment crews, emergency response crews, and thanks to our regulatory laws....a biologist, an archaeologist, a botanist, a forester, and an aquatic survey dude. my main resp. is i get to plan and point and say dig here, and assist the client (who owned the train) with the immensely bureaucratic regulatory agencies out here.....basically it was a tragic incident that resulted in a long aftermath of impacted soil clean up.
i'd rather be ________..............y'all can fill in the blank.
GSF are people too!  
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Moderator Ambassador Field Correspondent  Lunker
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That's amazing! DIED is cool. Big thumbs up!!!
Holding a redear sunfish is like running with scissors.
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The ingredients in this train wreck are known in the state of California to cause cancer....
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Dave, this might be your job, and yes, someone has to do it. That being said, this looks like a major mess! Coordinating the clean up looks like it is as difficult as the mess itself is. Thank you for being one of the people willing to take on a mess like this.
Norm Kopecky
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Does the name Pavlov ring a bell?
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that's what i said DJT. trying to help this client get the dirty dirt out as fast as possible yet under the CA State Historic Preservation Law such sites have to be surveyed before any digging can begin. blow yer mind? a darn near 45 degree slope for a couple thousand feet and what did they find?? an old miners ditch from the 1800's. once its mapped we can probably begin the dig. yup, an archaeologist :rolleyes:
GSF are people too!
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Originally posted by dave in el dorado ca:
i'll bet jeff is the modest one, he probably does the books for all those movie stars down san diego way, including shamu. Naw, Shamu is such a mega-star star that only a large CPA firm can handle that account. I think Billem, Tillthey, Bleed and Company are the CPAs for Shamu. I'm such small potatoes that I can only had returns for some of the lesser penguins and an insignificant seal or two. 
JHAP
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"My mind is a raging torrent, flooded with rivulets of thought cascading into a waterfall of creative alternatives."
...Hedley Lamarr (that's Hedley not Hedy)
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GSF are people too!
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You could get sweaty doing that stuff.
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Chris
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Originally posted by new_water_ways:
WOW! What more can I say. Incredible.
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I wish my office look like that. 
 The road goes on forever and the party nevers end...............................................
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Great photos Dave. Thanks for the follow up.
JHAP
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"My mind is a raging torrent, flooded with rivulets of thought cascading into a waterfall of creative alternatives."
...Hedley Lamarr (that's Hedley not Hedy)
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for those that followed this story, i just got this via e-mail. congratulations if you've never read a NTSB report, but it is a pretty interesting read.... baxter derailment, NTSB report it only took em three years to complete and publish the investigation results  BTW, the site was in monitoring all of this year (and last year) and we are finally in closure negotiations.
GSF are people too!
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About 10:35 a.m., the grade decreased, and, the crew estimated, the grinder’s speed slowed to 12 or 13 mph. At that time, the operator and the conductor-pilot discussed whether they were at an appropriate place to release the air brakes in order to recharge them. After consulting the supervisor, they decided they were. While the grinder was still moving, the operator released the air brakes for recharging. Shortly thereafter, the grade became steeper, and the grinder began to accelerate again. Neither the operator nor the conductor-pilot had ever been over the territory before, and neither they nor the supervisor were aware of the UP operating requirement that after any air brake reduction of 18 psi or more, the train must be fully stopped and the air brakes recharged.( 
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Both locomotives and three cars were then transported to a UP facility and tested. The remaining cars were too badly damaged to transport to the testing location. The initial testing consisted of placing the air brakes in emergency and attempting to force the brake shoes away from the wheels with a pry bar. At all locations on the locomotives, the brake shoes either did not touch the wheels when in emergency or could be pulled back by hand or easily pried back with a small bar, indicating that there was little or no brake shoe force on the wheels when the brakes were applied. Of the three cars, two failed individual single car tests of the braking system. Both cars failed the emergency portion of the tests. Of the two, one also failed the service portion of the test; the other could not have a service test because of brake pipe leakage. Neither car had been capable of providing effective braking. The third car passed a single car brake leakage test, and the car’s brake shoes showed signs of significant overheating.
Brake shoe force was measured at all locations on both locomotives, using a calibrated brake shoe force measurement device. The initial measurements ranged from 0 to 100 psi. After the readings were taken, manual adjustments were made to decrease the piston travel, and new brake shoes were applied. Measurements taken after these adjustments ranged around 10,000 psi.
Based on the postaccident condition of the brake system components, the results of the postaccident air brake testing, and the other evidence, investigators decided that the air brake system on the grinder most likely had been incapable of providing adequate braking before the accident trip and that the poor condition of the braking system components should have been apparent from a visual inspection or brake test.
Hmmmmmmmm......... Lets go for a drive and not worry about the brakes! Who needs brakes anyway? Yikes is right!
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So, Dave, how much did these clowns end up costing the company?
BTW, thanks for the followup pics and the impressive supervisory skills.
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BTW, the site was in monitoring all of this year (and last year) and we are finally in closure negotiations. Dave is a master of understatement. He's dern near wore out his 4wd truck going back and forth to this site. Keep in mind this site is up in the mountains in the middle of nowhere. I forget how many hours it is one-way but it's a trip. When he says "the site was in monitoring" that means HE was driving up there and "monitoring" it and the preparing reports.
JHAP
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"My mind is a raging torrent, flooded with rivulets of thought cascading into a waterfall of creative alternatives."
...Hedley Lamarr (that's Hedley not Hedy)
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burger, the clean up has exceeded $2M, which to my knowledge does not include the $3.3 mentioned in the NTSB report. and no, dang it, i didnt get much of that, most went to heavy equipment operations and soil transport and disposal.
i'll miss running up there to sample things, but its time to close it out, we done cleaned it up.
GSF are people too!
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