DITCHED, part 1: THE AFTERMATH. On Wednesday, February 9, 2011, a southbound New England Southern light engine struck a patch of ice and toppled a full 130 degrees off the tracks and down an embankment. The accident happened in Concord, New Hampshire, just a few yards south of the truss bridge that carries the railroad across the Merrimack River. Engineer Peter Dearness, 71, who is also the railroad's owner and president, went to the hospital on a stretcher after rescue crews from the Concord Fire Department pulled him from the locomotive. He has since recovered. NEGS GP39-2 #2370 lost about 100 gallons of diesel fuel, triggering an environmental response. The conductor's side of the locomotive sustained moderate structural damage. The Federal Railroad Administration has named ice and snow buildup, much of it caused by illegal snowmobile activity along the right-of-way, as the preliminary cause of the derailment. Winter's Rigging, a derailment contractor from New York State, pulled the locomotive from the ditch and placed it back on the tracks shortly after noon on February 11th. Digital photo. Taken from a controlled scene with the explicit permission of local law enforcement and first responders. Click here to view my next photo of the cleanup.
