23 years ago today [12/22/22]...this happened (about 100,000 gallons of jet fuel spilled)! It was 36 miles from the nearest road access and because of a freezing rain after a cold spell, only a few of us even made it to the access point (120 miles north of Anchorage) that morning. ADOT sanding trucks had went into the ditch in several locations along the Parks Highway, until they got smart and started backing up at slow speeds...sanding in front of them. I had a Mitsu Eclipse GSX (AWD) with studded snow tires all the way around and all I could do, was try to stay in the middle of the road so the crown didn't send me in the ditch...and idle along in second gear. The other person who made it, before the road got sanded, had a Dodge pickup with studded snow tires and didn't have to travel as far as I did. We finally got into the derailment site mid-morning of the 23rd, then took Christmas Day off (Saturday)...and were right back at it on Sunday. HO, HO, HO...Merry Freaking Christmas! Gee, I wonder why I don't miss those days? LOL

By the time we got back on Sunday, the temps were back down around -25F for the next few days that it took to open the mainline again (had to build track and a turnout on frozen ground). It was also the very first time we used our two new sidebooms and watching them rerail the locomotives, at barely above idle, compared to how many times we only had the Hoesch hydraulic system or the Pettibone hirail crane...warmed me right up! We also had a 'Big Hook,' but they are (like the Pettibone) pretty much useless...once one end is rerailed.

By the time we got there the next day, it had already soaked through the snow and into the ground...so no puddles of fuel sitting around. As far as what was left in the cars, that we had to transfer, this was right next to a major river and Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation (ADEC) flew in by helicopter.

Between this one and a much smaller derailment/fuel spill a couple of months earlier (October)...about $13M! Including 5+ years of monitoring with wells, so neither one migrated to the Big Susitna River.

Once we were established at the derailment site, we were using a Budd car (plus some hirails) to get in and out from Talkeetna. It gave everyone a place to warm up/eat their lunches/store their grips, dry clothes/Etc., when the temps dropped to the -25F on Sunday.

The cause was actually pretty easy to determine. After clearing a northbound in the siding, the southbound train backed out of Gold Creek siding instead of pulling down to the south end (no caboose) and because of the super high precip of the snow coming down (snow/rain mix), it turned to ice. When the switch was finally cleaned again to head south on the main (it took about an hour because of all the snow drug into the switch by the NB and the SB), an ice ramp set up like concrete just ahead of the first set of trucks on the second engine...and the lead axle on the second unit derailed. They gained speed headed down the main with the derailed axle and when it got to the south end of the mile long siding...it all piled up at the south turnout.