Re: derailment at Phantom curve

The area around Phantom Curve has had problems with "soft track," especially in wet conditions, probably since the railroad was built. It's just the geology of that area. Some "old heads" I know from the Grande days mentioned long-standing problems there. I think the C&TS has wrestled with that trackage since Day 1, as well.
When I rode the C&TS one day last season, the train derailed in that area. Like the derailment described yesterday, it was a minor affair that was handled (albeit with lugging of re-railing frogs from the engine back to the derailed rear car) with relative ease. The crew knew exactly what to do and accomplished the re-railing very professionally without outside assistance.
As I have posted before, some people think, because the C&TS is a narrow-gauge tourist hauling railroad, that it is more of an amusement park ride than a "real" railroad. The truth is that the C&TS is probably one of the most operationally challenging railroads to be found in the U.S. That it safely hauls thousands of passengers every year is a credit to the highly professional railroaders that run the trains and maintain the track under those difficult operating conditions. They are true mountain railroaders. Just one more reason that the C&TS is a national treasure.