Old Patagonian Express Rolls in High Wind

tomgears · **Posted:** Fri May 06, 2011 8:32 am

These photos are amazing. I'm glad there were no serious injuries and I hope the old Baldwin lives to steam another day.

http://www.cam111.com/photonews/2011/04/24/92087.html

http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=362497

http://m24digital.com/en/2011/04/23/chu ... a-derails/

daylight4449 · **Posted:** Fri May 06, 2011 8:52 am

Aside from spilt oil and water, I'd put money on her seeing service again. Must have been some serious wind to knock that engine over though...

Trevor Heath · **Posted:** Sat May 07, 2011 9:43 pm

An e-mail from Argentina this evening indicates a high level of skepticism from within the federal rail inspectorate that high winds are the cause of this accident.

TH

daylight4449 · **Posted:** Sat May 07, 2011 10:11 pm

Trevor Heath wrote:

An e-mail from Argentina this evening indicates a high level of skepticism from within the federal rail inspectorate that high winds are the cause of this accident.

TH

Well, from the pics, the track looks in good order, so could something on the underside of the train have got hung up on the roadbed?

Randy Hees · **Posted:** Sun May 08, 2011 2:52 pm

Don't underestimate the winds in Patagonia... They are strong enough to knock a train over.

We visited the area a couple of years ago, and encountered winds that caused a cruise ship company to hire a couple of tugs to hold a moored ship against the dock... they were fearful of the mooring lines parting.

In town some street crossings were closed... As a pedestrian, it was just too difficult to cross the street with the wind blowing.

dinwitty · **Joined:** Wed Oct 22, 2008 8:18 pm **Posts:** 2226

hmm, its like we have snowsheds, well, maybe windsheds would be handy, redirect the draft away...

Bob Davis · **Joined:** Sat Aug 28, 2004 3:25 am **Posts:** 1025

Anyone who reads sea stories will know that the southern tip of South America is one of the windiest places on earth. Even the big ships proceed with caution around Cape Horn.

daylight4449 · **Posted:** Tue May 10, 2011 7:04 am

dinwitty wrote:

hmm, its like we have snowsheds, well, maybe windsheds would be handy, redirect the draft away...

That might not be a bad idea. Maybe use something like jersey barriers?

tomgears · **Posted:** Tue May 10, 2011 8:27 am

It looks like they have made some progress and hope to run her again.

http://www.elchubut.com.ar/despliegue-n ... cia=158570

http://www.bariloche2000.com/comentario ... faga-.html

daylight4449 · **Posted:** Tue May 10, 2011 8:53 am

tomgears wrote:

It looks like they have made some progress and hope to run her again.

http://www.elchubut.com.ar/despliegue-n ... cia=158570

http://www.bariloche2000.com/comentario ... faga-.html

Can someone translate that article? I can't really read spanish-based languages.

tomgears · **Posted:** Tue May 10, 2011 9:33 am

Try this:

http://translate.google.com/

Put the URL in and it will translate the whole website.

Steve Singer · **Posted:** Tue May 10, 2011 10:05 am

The photo of the Esquel station master shows a Henschel behind him. No Henschels have been in service for several years, but one is supposedly being rebuilt for a German tour group scheduled for March 2012.

Bobharbison · **Joined:** Fri Dec 03, 2004 9:42 pm **Posts:** 3011

While it's amazing that the wind could roll a train over like that, it's also hard to imagine another scenario that would roll the cars over in that manner. It will be interesting to see what the investigation finds out.

Trevor Heath · **Posted:** Tue May 17, 2011 12:33 pm

See here for eye witness report and images taken at the time

http://www.internationalsteam.co.uk/trains/argent11.htm

TH