Train versus Tornado!

Published on July 10th, 2009

26 users responded in " Train versus Tornado! "

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# 1 Patrick said, on July 10th, 2009 at 7:12 am

Snow during a tornado? I don’t think so.

# 2 #2 said, on July 10th, 2009 at 7:16 am

Random thought: That kind of video footage could have been recorded going back as early as the 1980’s. But perhaps nobody had the forethought… or the steadfast determination to capture such stuff. Then again, for all we know it was recorded but hasn’t been made public. Surely there are film buffs & film students in the Midwest to whom it occurred to capture anything and everything to do with twisters.

# 3 orangetiki said, on July 10th, 2009 at 7:22 am

For the first minute I wondered “who would put a camera there on a train?” Ten seconds later I found out why.

# 4 don'tfightitjake said, on July 10th, 2009 at 7:32 am

Aww, I wanted the train to win.

# 5 Nate said, on July 10th, 2009 at 7:45 am

#1, it wasn’t snow, it was hail and is common with tornadoes.

It was too bad it wasn’t a Hollywood movie, because I was expecting an amazing explosion when that tanker car came sliding into view. Isn’t that what tanker cars all really do?

# 6 Mr. Fusion said, on July 10th, 2009 at 8:03 am

WOW !!!

Watching that tanker sliding towards the engine with sparks flying from it? Now that was scary.

# 7 Patrick said, on July 10th, 2009 at 8:09 am

# 5 Nate said, “it wasn’t snow, it was hail and is common with tornadoes.”

Look at 1:05 – 1:06. That is snow sticking to the car…

# 8 Macbandit said, on July 10th, 2009 at 8:35 am

No it’s hail getting crushed on the car.

# 9 Olo Baggins of Bywater said, on July 10th, 2009 at 8:51 am

Boring, until 1:10. Wow!

# 10 Patrick said, on July 10th, 2009 at 8:55 am

#8 Maybe, but look at the trees as the car goes off the rails. They are swaying in about 35 mph wind. It wasn’t a tornado that caused the wreck…

Look here: http://www.marinewaypoints.com/marine/wind.shtml

Force 7 isn’t enough to topple those cars. Force 10, maybe but look at what happens to those trees in that case…

# 11 AdmFubar said, on July 10th, 2009 at 8:56 am

the freight train crew said it sounded like a tornado to them……

hhmmmmm

# 12 Mr. Fusion said, on July 10th, 2009 at 9:23 am

#11, Adm,

It just occurred to me how everyone comments that a tornado sounds like a freight train. Can we be sure the crew didn’t just hear themselves?

# 13 chuck said, on July 10th, 2009 at 10:12 am

Was the driver texting during the tornado?

# 14 cfk said, on July 10th, 2009 at 10:18 am

Thanks to #10 for the link which also includes the “Dvorak Current Intensity Scale.” I assume this is a scientific method for measuring posts/replies on this blog?

# 15 cfk said, on July 10th, 2009 at 10:19 am

Thanks to #10 for the link which also includes the “Dvorak Current Intensity Chart.” I assume this is a scientific method for measuring posts/replies on this blog?

# 16 SimonSez said, on July 10th, 2009 at 10:20 am

It doesn’t seem like a tornado. The trees aren’t moving much and I have seen a couple tornadoes here in the Midwest and usually with a tornado that strong the trees will be moving all over the place and branches would be flying off. It could have just been a really weak tornado and the train car wasn’t balanced (maybe top heavy) and it turned over.

Also that white stuff that looks like snow could be frozen rain from the storm. I have seen stuff like that come down even mid-summer during a weak tornado.

# 17 killer duck said, on July 10th, 2009 at 10:29 am

Funny, every time there is a tornado, the people say it sounded like a freight train.

# 18 WmDE said, on July 10th, 2009 at 12:47 pm

http://www.crh.noaa.gov/lot/?n=20080107tor

You WILLhave tohave the www on this one so cut and paste!

# 19 nobody said, on July 10th, 2009 at 1:06 pm

@Mr. Fusion
They are safe – it was in black and white. TV has taught us that things only explode in a ball of flames in color.

# 20 bbjester said, on July 10th, 2009 at 2:25 pm

Actually I live near where this happened last year. Oddly enough that was not hail it was in fact snow. Sounds strange but this F2 tornado occurred in January, 2008. The first time I saw this vid was this year on a local network’s news. Here is a link to the local newspaper archive as proof. http://www.rrstar.com/news/x546810637

# 21 jescott418 said, on July 10th, 2009 at 2:42 pm

I mad sense because the tree’s were blowing over the same as the train cars. Could have been straight line winds. Center of gravity cold have ben high on some cars and once you get a couple to go over the rest will follow.

# 22 Patrick said, on July 10th, 2009 at 3:05 pm

# 20 bbjester said, “Actually I live near where this happened last year. Oddly enough that was not hail it was in fact snow.”

I knew it was snow. January, wow, now it makes sense.

# 23 Mark T. said, on July 10th, 2009 at 5:06 pm

I suppose that hopper car had to be empty. I started to wonder what it would take to topple a hopper car this heavy. I did a little research and found that a hopper car is probably about 63,000 pounds empty and measures somewhere around 15′ by 60′ on the side. That would make the side surface area 900 sq. ft. or around 130,000 sq. in.

If the track width is 4′ 8.5″ wide (standard in the States) then I figure that it would take 1,779,750 in-lbs (i.e. 28.25″ x 63,000 lbs) of torque to flip an empty hopper car.

Since the air load is going to create a focal point at half the height of the car (i.e. 7.5′ or 90″), you would divide the 1,779,750 in-lbs torque by 90 inches.

That means it would take a combined side air load need to overturn the car is 19,775 lbs. Finally, 130,000 sq. in. divided by 19,775 lbs means an average pressure of only 0.15 PSI.

0.15 PSI sure doesn’t sound like much. I hope I did that right. Anybody want to check my math?

Don’t f*** around with Mother Nature.

# 24 Toxic Asshead said, on July 10th, 2009 at 8:18 pm

Nothing is cooler than a tornado, except maybe a volcano.

# 25 TrainDude said, on July 11th, 2009 at 9:59 am

Much more information about the Train / Tornado event here …

http://centexrails.blogspot.com/2009/07/stormy-rails.html

Enjoy.

# 26 HoboKelley said, on July 12th, 2009 at 7:01 am

Welcome to Hobo Junction

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