The East Palestine Rail Disaster
By Micahel Shrimpton
At 2055 Eastern Time on February 3 Norfolk Southern Train 32N, an 18,000 ton freight train with 20 cars containing hazardous chemicals derailed near East Palestine Ohio. Thousands of people had to be evacuated and there are ongoing concerns about air and water safety.
The fire burnt for two days.
Unaware that Germany is waging a quasi-war against the United States and the United Kingdom, Norfolk Southern were operating the train in peacetime conditions, with no precautions against sabotage, which was absurd. There’s even been some reporting that some of the hazardous chemicals were on the way to the Ukraine! The federal government has of course been astute to conceal knowledge of the DVD from the American electorate and business community, preferring exposing US citizens to danger to standing up to Germany. Sadly the disaster will not change Administration policy, which is offer innocent American civilians up to Germany as a human sacrifice, hoping thereby to appease the monster. (Put another way the Biden Administration are about as sophisticated as Aztec high priests.)
The proximate cause of the disaster was a hot box, that is to say an overheating roller bearing on a car bogie (or truck) – flames were seen coming from under the train before the derailment. Heat had been building up for miles, indeed the train had passed two rail side infra-red hotbox detectors, which failed to trigger an alert as Norfolk Southern, contentedly ignorant of the huge risks posed in moving hazardous chemicals around the continental United States in the face of the DVD’s powerful Sabotage Section, set the alert temperature far too high.
By the time the burning train passed a third detector it was too late to prevent the derailment. Fifty-one cars of the 150 car consist came off the tracks.
It could have been much worse however. Although probably unaware that he had a burning train behind him the engineer kept his head and responded promptly to the hotbox warning with an emergency brake application. High praise is due to both the engineer and the conductor. Their prompt actions may have saved an entire community, given the consequences of a high-speed derailment.
I sincerely hope that they are commended. There is no point in saying that I am mildly to the right of center politically (now in the Reform Party, having despaired of the feeble-minded Tories) and should not therefore be praising workers. I give praise where it is due. Moreover I come from a working class background on my mother’s side.
My grandfather was a coalminer, a pit deputy in fact, responsible for safety. I am also a strong supporter of rail and have known many railwaymen and women in my time. I also have a greater working knowledge of US railroads than most in the UK, having ridden AMTRAK from coast to coast, not to mention right down to Florida on the mighty Silver Meteor and along the Pacific coast on the Coast Starliner. I have travelled thousands of miles by train in America, including in Alaska.
READ THE WHOLE REPORT BY MICHAEL SHRIMPTON
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