Amtrak Derails Near Joplin, MT, Earlier This Evening -- September 25, 2021

147 passengers on the train.

About 50 were injured; at least three dead. 

Joplin is about midway between Havre to the east and Shelby to the west. On the east side of the Rockies; on the flat plains of Montana.

The train would have been moving at 70 mph to 80 mph, one would assume.

Photo shows almost exact location, East Buelow, MT: https://www.the-sun.com/news/3734525/amtrak-train-derails-in-montana-trapped/

Fact (?):  near the East Buelow switch.

Thought: a malfunctioning switch? Not fully open / closed? Misaligned?

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Memories: The Broadsheets

Newspapers: it is amazing to see how incredible the British newspapers are ...

From wiki:

UK newspapers can generally be split into two distinct categories: the more serious and intellectual newspapers, usually referred to as the broadsheets, and sometimes known collectively as 'the quality press', and others, generally known as tabloids, and collectively as 'the popular press', which have tended to focus ...

The best "immediate" reporting on the remote -- very, very remote -- Montana Amtrak derailment was provided by The Sun, a British tabloid, and The Daily Mail, a British up-scale tabloid, one of which, by the way quoted Al Jazeera who was also among the first to report on the derailment. 

 

Reporting from local, regional, and US national press was embarrassingly poor. As usual. 

 

Photos of the derailment posted by local, regional, and US national press in the first two hours after the derailment: zero. Or thereabouts.

Meanwhile, The Sun, as is typical, had a full page (and more) photo spread of the derailment.

Years ago, I spent a lot of time at a remote military-intelligence complex in northern England, one of the best assignments ever given Athe time, when first notified of another overseas assignment, wow, was I upset. I was tired of traveling and being away from home.

Over time, it became the best assignment ever for personal, not professional reasons, and I came closer than ever to leaving everything, dropping off the grid, and retiring in northern England. 

One of the highlights of that extended tour were the Sunday mornings. I would wake up early, and run down the hill -- literally run down the hill -- to the little mom-and-pop convenience store and buy eggs and real bacon and three Sunday newspapers. They would have been The Daily Mail, The [London] Guardian, and The [London] Times. 

I don't recall but perhaps I spent $10 for everything -- the eggs, the bacon, and the newspapers. 

On Saturdays I would hike the northern English countryside, leaving about 8:00 a.m. and returning about twelve hours later. I generally had to pack whatever I needed to eat along the way; there weren't many tea shops where I would be hiking.

So on Sundays, I relaxed, reading the newspapers until about 1:00 p.m. when I go back out hiking. 

Two days earlier, on Fridays, I would attend Friday nigh "evensong" -- church service in a nearby cathedral. I don't recall attending a religious service in a church, it was always in a cathedral and it was a most awesome experience. But I do recall, hiking well after dark, starting about 10:00 p.m. and then entering a local church about 11:00 p.m. and listening to religious music (think Te Deum) by Arvo Pärt. I have no less than twenty of his CDs and they remain a prize collection of mine. For me, Arvo Pärt is to religious music what the Beatles were to music.