"Train Derailment in Mojave Desert: 55 Cars!"

[Side-Oilers]

I got all excited, thinking maybe it's a new shipment of Shelby cars, but...all we can hope is the crash unearthed some others from 1968. 

Kinda, sorta, similar desert area.

Check out the video.  Man, that's some brutal physics in action.

https://abc7.com/train-derailment-mojave-desert-iron-ore-cargo/13028912/

[FL SAAC]

Very sad event

[98SVT - was 06GT]

You can probably lay the cause to the recent rains. All that desert track is laid on soft unstable soil - mostly sand. When it rains it gets sink areas if one side sinks a lot more than the other the train tips over when it gets to that spot. A friend was an engineer and did a lot of runs across the desert he said the track can look fine - until you roll a train over it an if falls out from under you. And yes he doesn't know where the Shelbys derailed.

[Side-Oilers]

^^^ Brett: Very valid point about the recent rains. 

Most of those tracks were laid in the old, old, old days...like 1920s-50s.

Yes, they've been replaced over the decades, but the underlaying sand/ground can be very unstable. 

[deathsled]

One never wants to build their foundations on sand.  But given it's desert, I suppose there isn't a cost effective alternative.

[98SVT - was 06GT]

One never wants to build their foundations on sand.  But given it's desert, I suppose there isn't a cost effective alternative.

A guy in the Model A club wants to put a trip together following this route.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Plank_Road

[Side-Oilers]

^^ Brett: That sounds like your next adventure.

My grandparents came west from Texas in the '20s.  Grandpa had a job in Yuma working on the engineering for the future aqueduct and dam system that corralled the Colorado River. 

Later, they moved to SoCal.

My mom (as a very little kid) remembered driving across the plank roads, from Yuma...and the rough ride of it all, due to the ever-shifting sands.

The planks weren't great, but got you across the otherwise impassable (in a car) dunes. There were turnouts every 1/4 mile or so, to let opposing traffic by, on the single-lane planking.