Deep canyon had rock fall that landed on track causing Union Pacific 5734, ES44ACH, and UP 7198, to derail into the nearby Gunnison River. Tough location to reach. Grand Junction Fire Department did a fantastic job-!



Re: Pictures of UP Derailment in Gunnison River
by hotrail
Posted: Today
More extensive photo gallery at this new site.
Train Derailment & River Rescue, Hwy 50 Mesa County - JunctionNow.com

That was certainly a terrifying ride for the crew. Glad they are safe. Seems like being out that far in the river, and in cold weather, it could have easily been much worse.

Re: Pictures of UP Derailment in Gunnison River
by WW
Posted: Today
Most people are totally unfamiliar with the Gunnison River canyon between Robidoux and Whitewater on what is now the Montrose/North Fork Branch of the UP. Much of it is pretty isolated, with just a few often primitive roads going down to the canyon from U.S. 50. The railroad was originally part of the D&RG narrow-gauge mainline and was standard-gauged in the early 1900's. The North Fork Branch itself from Delta to the coal mines at Somerset, Colorado, etc. was originally built narrow-gauge, but laid on standard gauge ties in anticipation of quick conversion to standard gauge. Photos of narrow-gauge trains on the North Fork Branch and in the Gunnison River canyon between Robidoux and Whitewater are exceedingly rare. Even after standard-gauging, the railroad through the canyon has very sharp curvature, with close clearances to the canyon walls at multiple locations. Rockslides are common, and train crews often have limited sight ahead of the train due to the sharp curvature. By the way, station (now just a siding) name of Robidoux was named after the famous (and infamous) trapper/explorer Robidoux brothers, Joseph and Antoine (St. Joseph, Missouri was founded and named for Joseph, but Joseph was no Saint). The name has been spelled several different ways over the years, including by the railroad--I use the actual family name spelling here. Many D&RGW railroaders pronounced the station name with an Anglicized phonetic pronunciation of "Ruby-doo." One other piece of trivia--until after the UP takeover of the SP, the North Fork Branch and the Grand Junction-Montrose Branch still carried their milepost numbers from Denver via the long-abandoned narrow-gauge line from Salida, over Marshall Pass through Gunnison, the Black Canyon, Cerro Summit, and Montrose to Grand Junction. Strangely, the North Fork Branch, which runs from west to east from Delta to Oliver (just above Somerset), carried timetable westbound mileposts eastward from the Delta to Oliver. The UP resurveyed and renumbered the mileposts from Grand Junction to Somerset, with Grand Junction being MP 0. As for the Montrose Branch, it now exists only as the Montrose Industrial Lead, essentially all within Yard Limits from Delta to Montrose--I believe it may still have the original D&RG mileposts, but I'm not certain of that. One other interesting side-note, during the D&RGW days, after the narrow gauge lines east and south of Montrose were abandoned, the Montrose and North Fork Branches, while wholly in the State of Colorado, were part of the Utah Division of the D&RGW, as was the mainline from Grand Junction clear to Salt Lake City. In those days, the Utah Division and Colorado Division meeting point at Grand Junction was called the "Iron Curtain," as the two Divisions were operated distinctly separate from one another in many respects--likely a holdover from the long-ago days with the Denver &Rio Grande operated the lines from Grand Junction eastward and the Rio Grande Western operated the lines from Grand Junction westward.

Finally, I'm glad that there were no serious injuries to the crew--I actually knew quite a few of the train and engine crew people out of Grand Junction some years back, a few of which I believe have not yet retired.