San Bernardino Train Disaster (1989)

[Culican]

Yes, this happened a while back; I remember seeing it in the news.

Just came across this documentary about it. I think it was done very well. It's 50min long but the f-ups of the railroad, and the f-ups of the petroleum pipeline company make it good tutorial on the functioning of society. They sort of imply that the casino interests in Las Vegas were responsible for opening the pipeline too soon while mentioning in passing that Nellis Air Force Base also got fuel from that pipeline. I'll bet the Feds pressed harder than we will ever know to open it to early. (Prior to 2012, the pipeline was the only source of fuel in the Las Vegas area.)

If you have ever driven on I-15 through the same pass, it is just as they say, it's like falling off of a cliff when you reach the summit.



Edit: Spoiler, it is in no way the engineer's fault. They explain the whole thing near the end. I hope they don't run airlines the same way they run railroads.

[mbasic]

Yes, this happened a while back; I remember seeing it in the news.

Just came across this documentary about it. I think it was done very well. It's 50min long but the f-ups of the railroad, and the f-ups of the petroleum pipeline company make it good tutorial on the functioning of society. They sort of imply that the casino interests in Las Vegas were responsible for opening the pipeline too soon while mentioning in passing that Nellis Air Force Base also got fuel from that pipeline. I'll bet the Feds pressed harder than we will ever know to open it to early. (Prior to 2012, the pipeline was the only source of fuel in the Las Vegas area.)

If you have ever driven on I-15 through the same pass, it is just as they say, it's like falling off of a cliff when you reach the summit.



Edit: Spoiler, it is in no way the engineer's fault. They explain the whole thing near the end. I hope they don't run airlines the same way they run railroads.

IS this the 'thing' when .... where cleaning up the mess, the heavy excavators and dozers struck the shallow pipeline underground that ran along the RxR right-of-way.....?

[Culican]

IS this the 'thing' when .... where cleaning up the mess, the heavy excavators and dozers struck the shallow pipeline underground that ran along the RxR right-of-way.....?

They nicked the pipe and less than two weeks after the train crash, the pipe ruptured spraying gasoline all over the place and boom!