Cleanup continues in Shiner after Friday coal train derailment

(The story version that published in the print paper that week.) 

What was ending as rather hot and lazy Friday quickly turned into a moment several locals won’t soon forget when the Union Pacific rail line downtown Shiner violently derailed several open top coal cars, flinging their heavy steel-axled wheels airborne as some 17 rail cars came hurling off the tracks and dumping their loads of black coal rock wherever they fell.

It was a harrowing experience for those stuck tracks, waiting the slow-moving train to pass and equally terrifying for those around town who reporting hearing the “thunderous boom” following by the unmistakable “dynamiting of train brakes” from as far away as Shiner’s 16th Street, to borrow some the descriptions Shiner’s residents used.

Through it all, however, no injuries were reported. Amazingly, too, most of damages done were sustained, primarily, by the railroad itself.

The city may have lost a couple of planters and will likely need to replacer a few paving stones. But that was about it.

‘It could’ve been so much worse’

The words go repeated again and again Friday and Saturday, but Lavaca County Emergency Management Coordinator and recently elected Shiner city councilman Egon Barthels probably summed it best. "We've been extremely fortunate so far in that there were no injuries associated with this derailment,” he said.

That said, he reminded drivers that it was still an active worksite.

"All the crossings are open now, though we will likely see intermittent street closures along Sixth Street, as remediation crews remove the twisted rail cars and the piles of coal that remain,” he said. “We ask everyone to be cautious around the work going on there still and we thank you for your continued patience. We’d hate to make it this far and have to deal with them now when it’s almost over.”

Barthels was among just a handful of local first responders who were still on scene at 3:30 p.m. Saturday, when Union Pacific’s remediation crews had cleared enough of the wreckage and debris away to partially reopen the main thoroughfare in town, which meant they could finally get some rest.

All who remained had worked a full day Friday before the incident occurred. Most hadn’t slept a wink for more the 36 hours straight already.

Several of those tied to the state agencies on scene tore off at about noontime Saturday, having likewise arrived after a long day Friday, after reports of a triple fatality accident in Gonzales County went out over the many emergency radios on scene.

It was a stark reminder, Barthels said, of just how much worse the Shiner incident could have been.

A word from corporate

“We understand the impact this derailment had on the community of Shiner, and we apologize for any inconvenience,” said Robynn Tysver, corporate communications manager for Union Pacific Railroad out of Omaha, Neb.

Tysver contacted the newspaper on Monday morning, the second Union Pacific official to make contact since the derailment took place. Neither of them did so, however, 8until after the emergency scene was cleared for more than a day already.

 “The cleanup of the derailment is underway,” Tysver told us. “The derailed cars have been removed from the right-of-way, and the track was repaired and reopened to traffic early Sunday morning.”

Crews were working to remove the damaged cars and spilt coal from the city of Shiner, she said, though wouldn’t gander at a timeframe.

“Union Pacific works diligently to prevent derailments and other accidents,” Tysver said. “We continuously inspect our tracks, locomotives and other equipment, and we utilize a variety of technology to inspect locomotives and railcar wheels. We also comply with all federal rules and regulations in working toward ensuring our trains operate safely.”

The cause of the derailment is under investigation, she said, adding that Union Pacific would not speculate as to a cause until the investigation was complete. She also urged the newspaper to check her company’s derailment statistics on the Federal Railroad Administration’s web site.

Scary business

It appeared that the problem began on the city's north side, coming into Shiner from Moulton. Large gouges were evident in the in the cross timbers of the tracks from about 16th Street crossing, looking down the tracks from where they pass behind the Spoetzl Brewery.

Local police shared on Saturday afternoon that one of the massive steel axles, which keep the cars on their rails, was still lodged in the back fence behind brewery.

"The wheel of the train was smoking when it came around the corner," Ashley Burns shared, who says she witnessed the derailment from that very same 16th Street crossing. "Then the wheel came off and everything unfolded from there."

Unfold, it indeed did. By the time that damaged car like made the downtown area, roughly a dozen or so rail cars had left the tracks at various angles, folding at least one of the cars in half before train was able to bring everything to a stop, slinging cars off both sides of the tracks and spilling their contents where they came to rest.

"I was the first car on the Palace Saloon/Bank side of (the U.S. 90 crossing)," Kelly Chandler shared to the Gazette's Facebook page. "It was very scary! Thank God I never pull right up to the white line."

Mimi Schaefer was another who had a front row seat to the derailment. She said she was about a car away from it all on Avenue E, between the Palace Saloon and First National Bank Buildings. "It was the most unbelievable thing I’ve ever seen," she said. "The axles were just snapping right off. I'm so very grateful that no one was injured and even more happy that these weren’t chemical cars. A lot of us wouldn’t be here in that case.

"I had an angel with me," Schaefer added. "I was going so slow, and I didn’t go up close like I normally do. It was like something held me back — like don’t go up there — Crazy!"

Judy Wallek Stridde said she was there, too. "We watched right at the tracks on the east side. We were the first car at the tracks. I think I’ve finally stopped shaking," she posted to the Gazette's page midmorning Saturday.

"We were in the pool when it happened," shared Caig Fric. "We thought it was coming through the property. It was crazy, and a great example of why not to park close to the train tracks."

Larissa and Andy Blaschke said they "thought a plane was falling from the sky," she posted. "We live several blocks from the railroad, and the sound was so loud. Terrifying!"

Cleaning up

While the amount of work the Union Pacific crews and cleanup contractors pulled off in just 12 hours was simply amazing — especially considering much of it got done while it was still dark — crews reportedly hit a snag in the early afternoon as it appeared they might be ready to set up a new safety signal and crossarm. The old one was ripped to pieces when the train derailed Friday.

One of the crew supervisors said the problem came when they saw the condition of the electrical lines that run beneath the highway. The line, which includes dozens of finger width cables all massed together in much larger line — roughly the width of a grown man's leg — looked like a bird's nest from where each of those separate smaller cables were literally torn apart.

It would need to be replaced, the railroad man told firemen, and despite the fact a boring machine had just arrived on scene, it could be hours before the specialists arrived to locate what all might exist in the few feet that was the boring machine's path.

It could be hours before those crews arrived, the railroad man told firemen. Then, they'd still have to do the work. That part alone could carry on over into Monday or Tuesday, he said. As far as hauling off all the coal and the twisted remains of those rail cars, he said that might be another week or more still.

That was when the responders still on scene — whittled down to just a handful by midafternoon Saturday, including Shiner Fire Chief Billy Petru, fireman and school board member Brandon Siegel, fireman Jason Shows, and Barthels — asked about reopening the road.

Assistant fire chief/EMS director Michael Furrh, although among the last of the initial first responders still standing, departed just moments before the final traffic plan was decided.

But it swiftly afterward, allowing responders to finally clear the scene at about 3:30 p.m. Saturday, and by Sunday, all roads were back to normal, thew remediation crews working round the clock to get the local cleanup job done as soon as possible.