NBMC Shelby, Montana, USA

Wednesday, October 11, 2006

Locomotive Fire

Shortly before 3:30 PM on Friday Oct. 6th, someone spotted large flames and a lot of black smoke coming from the top of a locomotive passing through Shelby. Heading West with another locomotive in front, one behind and a full train of rail cars in tow, this Canadian National engine soon became the focus of the town's attention. When the engineer realized what was happening to his train, he stopped it just short of the I-15 overpass where he was soon meet by fire, sheriff and ambulance personnel. The quick thinking engineer shut down the three engines so that it would be safe for the emergency personnel to spray the burning locomotive with water and foam, then got off the train. The flames on the South side of the engine were put out fast but then a firefighter radioed that there was still fire coming out of the North side. More hose was rolled out so firefighters could climb on top of the engine where they continued extinguishing the fire. The fire was out in about fifteen minutes total.
NBMC Photos
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