Re: Derail and how common? *PIC*

There are any number of things that can cause derailments, rangeing from worn or broken rail heads and rocks in the wrong places, to gauge irragularities from tie and spike wear to changes in temperature (sun kinks), incompatible couplers that will lift a car off the rails in turns and the list goes on and on. Another thign that can cause it is if the tracks in a tight curve are not properly greased now and again, causeing sufficient friction to make the flanges ride up over the rail heads.
I suspect that the casue in this instance was the wideneing of the gauge becasue of heating of the rails from sunlight. I wasnt there to see the track conditions, but since that is one of the only places on the entire line that gets direct light all day long, it is a pretty good bet.
As far as getting thigns back on the rails, the ease or big pain in the ass, all depends on the causes and how badly the car or engine has gone daisy picking. if the wheel set is fairly close to the track, a re-railing frog, which looks like a flanged speed bump can be placed next to the rail and the car is then backed over it, riding up and over the rail head and back onto the tracks. That is a text book re-railing......nobody ever told railroad equiptment that this book exsists. In my time in passenger service I have seen rerailings go anywhere from 5 minutes start to finish to several hours. On a curve like the high fill I would wager it was leaning toward the big pain in the ass catagory.
this is a more modern frog, but the design idea is pretty much the same.