Mississppi River Flooding at Hannibal, MO

[NS145]

Eastbound trains on the Springfield/Hannibal District were running noticably late today.  #272 had to be recrewed at Dawson.  Around 13:00, 33J met 20T at Springfield and the crews were discussing the flooding situation at Hannibal, MO.  According to the National Weather Service, there's already about a half a foot of water over the tracks! (assuming their numbers are correct)  Here's a link to the hydrograph: http://www.crh.noaa.gov/ahps2/hydrograph.php?wfo=lsx&gage=hnnm7&view=1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1

Anyone out there heard anything about this?  NS ran a number of westbounds this afternoon, so the line still must be open.  I'm guessing that the NWS' elevation for the railroad pre-dates the 1993 flood.  I know that the NS raised the track a few feet back in 1993 in a futile attempt to beat the infamous 500-year flood.   

[NS145]

Looks like this may, indeed, be  getting serious.  Here's a photo from the Hannibal Courier-Post's website:
http://www.hannibal.net/photo_pages/raw/21519.html

This morning's hydrograph has the water level now up to 23.17 feet, which is higher than what  they were predicting yesterday.  I recorded the NS channel last night.  Once I get a chance to listen to it, I'll add any more info that I can.   

[nssd70]

What route does the NS use if they can't use their line through Hannibal?

Doug

[Rockin Roller]

What route does the NS use if they can't use their line through Hannibal?

Doug

If they want to stay on the NS, they would have to go through St. Louis.
Both lines meet at Moberly, then go on to Kansas City.

[nssd70]

Forgot about that!

Doug

[NS145]

Update:  Train #272 ran eastbound thru Springfield around 11:40 AM this morning.  He was very late, but he made it.  The NWS is now forecasting the river to crest at 23.3 feet sometime early tomorrow morning. 

Rockin Roller is correct, the NS will detour via St. Louis if forced to.  That's how they ran their trains for about 3 months during the summer of 1993.  That summer really sucked!

[NS145]

More info...

I found out why the trains are running late.  The NS actually "pushes" the trains thru the spot where the water covers the tracks.  NS accumulates extra engines at East Hannibal and at Outer Depot (OD) for this special "flood duty".  For example, westbound trains cut their power off at East Hannibal, then a pusher set couples onto the rear of the train and pushes it west until the far end of the train clears the flooded track.  Then, a second set of engines out of OD will tie onto the train and pull it the rest of the way thru the flood zone and take the train west to Moberly. 

From what I hear, NS only does this until the water gets about 3-4 inches over the rail, then they shut things down for safety reasons.  Floods tend to deposit all kinds of debris on the track that can't be seen thru the murky waters and makes the whole operation dangerous.  NS also has to re-route all their Roadrailer trains, as it is impossible to shove them thru the water like a normal train.  #145, the hot Ford parts train, generally gets re-routed to, as a service failure would jeapordize Ford's operation at Kansas City.  Yesterday, however, #145 ran west on its normal route. http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=234052&nseq=1

Special thanks to my anonymous "inside source"!

[NS145]

NS' Springfield/Hannibal District is now officially shutdown for thru traffic. 

#272 this morning was the last thru train to make it past the flooded area in Hannibal.  Thru traffic is now shutdown, with everything being re-routed via the Brooklyn and St. Louis Districts between Decatur, IL and Moberly, MO.   The #145 I shot last night needed 3 crews to make it thru the flood zone and into Moberly. 

While the Springfield/Hannibal side sits idle, things should be hopping like crazy on the Brooklyn and St. Louis Districts, assuming there's enough crews available to move the trains.  NS will have a crew crunch as it takes 2 crews via St. Louis rather than only one via Springfield.  So even with all the Springfield/Hannibal District crews moving over with their trains, NS will still be short on personnel, especially with the need for pilots.  Fortunately, the shutdown shouldn't last all that long.  The forecast hydrograph indicates that the water should fall below 22.5 feet by 07:00 Tuesday.  We shall see...  So far the NWS has been low-balling their forecasts.

[NS145]

Update...

The river appears to have crested at Hannibal and the water level is now dropping.  The only trains operating today have been the locals: D37, D31, and D33, with one exception: westbound 99E.  It passed thru Springfield just before 2:00 PM.  According to the dispatcher, the train was being sent west for "push-pull" duty at Hannibal.  I assume that it was a lite engine move.  Perhaps NS is entertaining the idea of getting trains running again sometime later today if and when the water level drops enough to safely resume "push-pull" operations.

[NS145]

Thru Service restored (at least partially)! 

Late last night NS resumed thru train service on the Springfield/Hannibal District.  #122 was the first train, passing thru Springfield a little before midnight, followed shortly thereafter by #278.  #315 was the first westbound train.  He had 4 extra engines for the "push-pull" service, but the dispatcher had him set them out en route for #272 to pickup this morning.

Thru noon today NS has ran #272 east, #902 (work train?) west, and 33J west.  The only other action has been the D37 and D31 locals. 

Roadrailers and intermodal trains are still running via St. Louis.  I heard 21T get a warrant on the Brooklyn District side last night and #260 early this morning.   Assuming that the river level continues to fall as predicted, full service should be restored by either late today or early tomorrow.   

[NS145]

Service is now completely restored on the Springfield/Hannibal District! 

NS is now running #145, Roadrailers and Intermodal trains via Springfield again.  Unless anything radically changes within the next few days (e.g., tons of rain), this post should wrap things up.

[Michael Knight]

Excellent reporting! Thanks for keeping the board posted!