Welcome to the Trainscapes segment! Each week here on Geek Alabama, Trainscapes will feature train content including videos of trains and behind the scenes action of trains and locomotives. Some people have an interest in seeing trains, and we here at Geek Alabama aim to please the train lovers!
At 2:16 pm on Thursday October 1st 2026 a northbound NS freight collided with a tractor-trailer at a private crossing derailing 34 rail cars and two locomotives. The locomotives and 13 cars remained upright and were quickly put back on the rails. Moving cars and debris off the tracks proceeded overnight and was completed at 3:30 am. New track was put down in the morning.
I have not been able to travel much these days due to health issues but I decided to take a chance and make a trip over to Alabama to record not one but two derailment cleanups. Both happened on Thursday. I work on Thursdays so no way I could get over there before dark. And since it’s supposed to be cloudy or rainy this weekend I decided to make the 6 hour drive to the two crash sites.
On the way to Alabama I was chasing Amtrak 19 and eventually got ahead of it around Heflin, AL. I picked a spot I’d marked on my map as an interesting location and caught it coming around this bend in the tracks going into Heflin. Two Siemens units for power this day. I could have caught it again further down but time was a factor. Every minute I delayed means less to see at the crash site, so back on the road we go.
On site we see the mess. A long string of tank cars lying on their sides. I could see one of the tank cars said INEDIBLE so I assume it’s some kind of raw unprocessed protein or food of low grade not meant for human consumption. Crews were pumping the sludge out of one of the containers that was leaking.
Piles of wheels and destroyed trucks were scattered around, some truck trailers that were parked on scene for the local business were hit by the tank cars and were being unloaded and taken apart by construction equipment. Trucks were pouring gravel on the freshly laid track and moving debris out of the ditch and over to the road for pickup. The field next to the wreck was full of flatbed trailers for all the equipment, which is where I parked. Not the worst wreck I’ve seen and not the worst one of the day.
Categories: Trainscapes Stuff
