Ottumwa Iowa USA - A railroad webcam captured dramatic video and audio of a CPKC merchandise train that stalled on a grade in Iowa on Friday, and then began rolling back downgrade toward a BNSF Railway train that was occupying the at-grade junction of the two main lines in Ottumwa.
 
After a few tense minutes, the BNSF train cleared the diamond and the CPKC crew was able to bring Kansas City-St. Paul train 251 to a stop just 20 feet from the diamond.
 
No one was injured and there was not a derailment or a collision.
 
But the close call on the 1.6 percent Rutledge Hill rattled the CPKC crew.
 
After a crew change, the 251 departed CPKC's Ottumwa Yard at milepost 302.8, crossed the Des Moines River, swung across the BNSF diamond at milepost 301.5, and began its climb out of the valley with CP AC4400CWM number 8125 and ES44AC number 8743 on the point.
 
Several inches of fresh snow blanketed the tracks of the Ottumwa Subdivision.
 
In a series of clips posted to Instagram, the Steel Highway webcam at milepost 301.1 showed the train stalled at 15:10.
 
Radio chatter began shortly afterward, with the crew notifying the CPKC dispatcher, "We're stalled. We're sliding back into the BN. You need to get a hold of them, let'em know we're sliding the wrong way down the hill," the crew member said.
 
"We're going back to the yard whether we like it or not, it doesn't look good," a crew member said, noting that the train was in emergency yet was "sliding" backward and gaining speed.
 
At 15:14, some relief, "We're starting to slow down now. But maybe too little, too late," the crewman said.
 
A minute later, good news, "I'm freaking out right now. We're stopped in the clear, everybody's safe," the crewman reported over the radio.
 
The CPKC dispatcher asked the crew to contact the BNSF dispatcher.
 
"We slid back into your interlocking," the crewman said.
 
"I guess my dispatcher made you aware of the situation, over."
 
The BNSF dispatcher asked the crew if they were OK or needed emergency services to respond.
 
"No, just a little freaked out," came the reply.
 
"We heard you had one going through and we thought we were going to kill somebody."
 
"We went into emergency, we could not control the slide. I mean, we're still sliding here. We're just going to put it back in our yard, over," the crewman said.
 
CPKC officials are investigating the incident.
 
Author unknown.