Wreck of the Sunset Limited: The 1993 Big Bayou Canot Train Wreck
Wreck of the Sunset Limited:
The 1993 Big Bayou Canot Train Wreck
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The 1993 Big Bayou Canot train wreck was the derailing of an Amtrak train on the CSXT Big Bayou Canot bridge in southwestern Alabama, United States, on September 22, 1993.
Date: September 22, 1993
Operator: Amtrak
Incident type: Derailment
Cause: Pilot of tugboat gets lost in fog; collides with railroad bridge; rails on bridge severely kinked
Killed: 47
Injured: 103
It was caused by displacement of a span and deformation of the rails when a tow of 6 heavy barges collided with the Bayou Canot Railroad bridge .
To date, it is both the deadliest train wreck in Amtrak's history and the worst rail disaster in the United States.
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Willie Odom was piloting the tugboat Mauvilla as it pushed 6 barges away from a wharf in Mobile and up the winding Mobile River. The journey would take the boat northward into the Mobile-Tensaw Delta.
Odom, was not properly trained on how to read his radar and thus, owing to the very poor visibility in the fog and his lack of experience, did not realize that he was off course.
The boat also lacked a compass and a chart of the waters.
With the landscape shrouded in fog, a confused Odom unknowingly turned off the river into Big Bayou Canot, a narrow, non-navigable waterway that snakes through the delta and is crossed by a railroad bridge that lacked lights. He believed that he was still on the Mobile River and had identified the blip on the radar as another tug boat (it was the Railroad Bridge).
As Odom tried to find a tree to tie up until the fog lifted, records show, The lead barge struck a bridge support, bending the rail tracks more than 3 feet out of line and severely kinked the track.
The lead locomotive #819 (3 total); traveling at 72 mph (116 kph), reached the bridge and slammed into the displaced span, causing that part of the bridge to collapse
Locomotive #819 - The 3,000-horsepower, 240-ton engine flew 270 feet across the bayou, embedding itself nose-first into the opposite bank, in 46 feet of mud.
The 2 other locomotives followed it into the water, along with
The locomotives' fuel tanks, each of which held several thousand gallons of diesel fuel, ruptured upon impact, resulting in a massive fuel spill and a fire.
Here's a great video of the Rescue and Salvage Operation. Includes close-ups of damage to the Sunset Limited and bridge parts that did not fall into the Canot.
The tugboat's 4 crew members were not injured.
Amtrak never restored service between New Orleans and Florida.
A court ruled that Willie Odom was not at fault.
National Geographic Series
Seconds from Disaster (2004–2012)
Season 1, Episode 6: Wreck of the Sunset Limited
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The 1993 Big Bayou Canot train wreck was the derailing of an Amtrak train on the CSXT Big Bayou Canot bridge in southwestern Alabama, United States, on September 22, 1993.
Date: September 22, 1993
Location: near Mobile, Alabama,
Line: CSX TransportationOperator: Amtrak
Incident type: Derailment
Cause: Pilot of tugboat gets lost in fog; collides with railroad bridge; rails on bridge severely kinked
Killed: 47
Injured: 103
It was caused by displacement of a span and deformation of the rails when a tow of 6 heavy barges collided with the Bayou Canot Railroad bridge .
To date, it is both the deadliest train wreck in Amtrak's history and the worst rail disaster in the United States.
~~~~
Willie Odom was piloting the tugboat Mauvilla as it pushed 6 barges away from a wharf in Mobile and up the winding Mobile River. The journey would take the boat northward into the Mobile-Tensaw Delta.
Odom, was not properly trained on how to read his radar and thus, owing to the very poor visibility in the fog and his lack of experience, did not realize that he was off course.
The boat also lacked a compass and a chart of the waters.
With the landscape shrouded in fog, a confused Odom unknowingly turned off the river into Big Bayou Canot, a narrow, non-navigable waterway that snakes through the delta and is crossed by a railroad bridge that lacked lights. He believed that he was still on the Mobile River and had identified the blip on the radar as another tug boat (it was the Railroad Bridge).
As Odom tried to find a tree to tie up until the fog lifted, records show, The lead barge struck a bridge support, bending the rail tracks more than 3 feet out of line and severely kinked the track.
The lead locomotive #819 (3 total); traveling at 72 mph (116 kph), reached the bridge and slammed into the displaced span, causing that part of the bridge to collapse
Locomotive #819 - The 3,000-horsepower, 240-ton engine flew 270 feet across the bayou, embedding itself nose-first into the opposite bank, in 46 feet of mud.
The 2 other locomotives followed it into the water, along with
- 1 baggage car
- 1 crew dorm car and
- 2 passenger coaches
The locomotives' fuel tanks, each of which held several thousand gallons of diesel fuel, ruptured upon impact, resulting in a massive fuel spill and a fire.
Here's a great video of the Rescue and Salvage Operation. Includes close-ups of damage to the Sunset Limited and bridge parts that did not fall into the Canot.
Amtrak never restored service between New Orleans and Florida.
A court ruled that Willie Odom was not at fault.
National Geographic Series
Seconds from Disaster (2004–2012)
Season 1, Episode 6: Wreck of the Sunset Limited
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