A Disaster Recovery Operation

This is the general scene of the accident. The two locos have plowed through the earth for more than one hundred meters until they were stopped dead in their tracks by a tree, or, maybe I should say stopped dead in no tracks. The two locos and the wagon

You can see the bogies of the freight wagons as they lie in the trench dug up by the twin WDG-2 locos.

This is the second of the twin WDG-2 locos bearing No. 14699 lying
helplessly inside the trench just next to the tree, which was up-rooted by the lead loco. The zig-zag shape of the whole freight train, as it came to halt, can be clearly seen.

This shows the lead loco bearing No. 14788 of Gooty shed badly damaged after hitting the tree. The tree's stump is lying below this loco. If it were not for this tree, the whole freight train would have proceeded for another 200 or so meters where there

The poor dead tree lying next to the lead loco and the second loco.

The recovery effort. The crane has been placed on the main line as it lifts one of the crippled wagons from the trench and places it on the other side of the main line. There was a row of trees on the other side of the main line and the crane operator v

This shows the green coloured freight wagon placed between the row of trees and the crane being readied for further recovery efforts. The crane has a capacity of 140 tonnes if the load is within the tracks. When it takes a swing outside, the lifting cap

The recovery of the next wagon shell. The green coloured wagon shell recovered earlier can be seen on the right hand side of the crane partially hidden by the red coloured wagon forming part of the accident relief rake.

The scene after all the wagons have been recovered and only the two WDG-2 locos were left for retrieval. The canal-like trench dug by the locos can be clearly seen in this picture. The axles of the freight wagons entangled in the earth are also seen.

The scene after recovery of all the wagons but before the recovery of the two locos. Gangmen have filled up the trench dug up by the twin WDG-2 locos and a temporary track has been laid right up to the trailing loco to enable the crane to reach the locos.

The temporary railway track laid up to the trailing loco is clearly visible here. The crane has been brought up on this track with the help of a WDM-2 for retrieving the WDG-2 loco and putting it back on rails. The loco is being readied for lifting on o

This shows the general scene when the loco has been lifted at one end to make the monster hang in mid-air at about thirty to forty degrees with respect to the ground. In the foreground, you can see the main line, which was not affected by this derailment

The view of the bottom side of the loco after it has been lifted up. We can clearly see the diesel fuel tank, which got damaged and almost 4000 liters of diesel ran out. The workers are trying to fill up the trench below the loco. This manual effort pro

The earth-mover equipment was brought in, which did a neat and fast job of filling up the trench below the loco. In this picture, you can see this earth-moving equipment in action while the loco has been kept suspended at about forty-five degrees. The r

No sooner had the earth-moving equipment filled up the trench and leveled the earth below the loco than the track construction group moved in quickly -- men carrying wooden sleepers, some dragging the new rail, yet others nailing the rail holders on to th

The gangmen dragging the rail to be laid under the loco.

This shows the extension of the temporary track right under the loco as it hangs in mid-air. The earth-moving equipment is seen waiting on one side to be brought into action when the retrieval of the second loco (the lead loco) will have to be done. I s

This photograph shows the temporary track constructed under the hanging (or dangling loco) now almost complete. The PWI and other people are busy fixing the track properly to the wooden sleepers. There was one man carrying the gauge for ensuring that th

Once the temporary track was completed to reach the four axles of this loco, the loco was lowered slowly on to the freshly laid track. The skill and expertise of the crane operator is paramount here, who has to give the right amount of swing to align the

This shows the loco being lowered further with anxious railway men closely monitoring the operations and giving feed back to the crane operator. The crane operator sits inside the driving cab of the crane. There was a crane supervisor holding a walkie-t

The loco is now properly aligned and almost fully lowered on to the tracks. You can see the last axle and its two wheels just before it came to rest on to the tracks. You can also see the rails fastened together with the help of a fish-plate with only on

After the four axles of the loco were lowered on to the newly laid set of tracks, the crane was pushed further by the WDM-2 until the crane was able to couple to the WDG-2. Now, the brute force of the WDM-2 was used to forcibly drag the crippled WDG-2 on

This photograph shows the commencement of the recovery operations for the lead loco No. 14788. It is sunset time and the rest of the recovery operations were carried out under floodlights.

This photograph shows the lead loco hoisted up at an angle of forty-five degrees. The earthmover was already in action to fill up the trench or ditch and level the ground under this loco. It was dusk at this moment and, in a few more minutes, the floodl