Train Conductor Finds Himself Caught In Tornado's Path
"I am a 27-year conductor with the same railroad company. This is the first time anything like this has happened to me while on a train. This happened while sitting stationary waiting for signal to continue westward. This happened during the afternoon hours on May 26th 2024. The Nebraska tornado outbreak. The tornado blew over and derailed 31 cars. The engineer and I were unharmed."
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Last edited Mon Apr 29, 2024, 04:53 AM - Edit history (1)
This one was only an F1 or F2.
There's more involved than only weight. How many square feet of surface area of the building were facing the winds?
I can't guess how much a brick church weighs, but it's still going to contain a lot of empty space. With its broad outer walls, it acts like an airfoil.
Locomotives are dense, low to the ground, and don't present as much surface area as either a one- or two-story building. The cars in the train are more easily blown over, as they are lighter. Box cars and covered hoppers especially present a big flat area to oncoming winds. F2 tornado winds are something like 100 to 150 mph; I'm not sure.
A double-stack container train, with its big broad area, sticking way up higher than locomotives, would go over in a stiff breeze.
A BNSF double-stack train passing through Cajon Pass in California, with a mix of 20-foot and 40-foot containers
I'm not saying that a locomotive can't be blown over, but it's going to take some effort.
Here are drone pictures of the scene. The cars were easily derailed. I believe 31 of them went over.
By Trains Staff | April 26, 2024 | Last updated on April 27, 2024
BNSF locomotives show the effects of a storm that saw some of the train’s freight cars derailed by a tornado. Sam Brodersen
WAVERLY, Neb. — A BNSF train was derailed this afternoon when it was struck by a tornado between Waverly and Lincoln, Neb.. The tornado was one of a series in an outbreak across the Midwest today (Friday, April 26).
KSBN-TV reports the incident occurred about 3:25 p.m., according to a BNSF representative. There were no injuries to the crew and no hazardous materials were released.
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The overturned cars of the train struck by the tornado. Sam Brodersen
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It's like this: if there were a tornado headed right at me, and a building and a locomotive were at an equal distance from me, I'd head for the locomotive.
And good afternoon to you too.
Not a single thing that could be done to stop it nor prevent it. 
