Eldridge, ND: Grain Elevator Construction Accident

(Satellite)

We have seen examples of grain elevators having fire and explosions. We have also seen the danger of bridged grain breaking and the person that broke through the grain bridge being suffocated. This reminds us that workers have the danger of significant heights as well.

John Dunne Robinson IV shared a Video: 1 Man Killed And Another Injured In Construction Accident At Eldridge, ND
John Dunne Robinson IV Grove 9000E. They pulled the spring loaded pivot pin for the jib before they pinned the jib to the head and it fell on them.
Jeff Corrie John Dunne Robinson IV wow

I saw a link to that video in several Facebook groups I follow. But this is the only one that explained what happened. I don't understand the details, but I gather it was human error. There are professions such as crane riggers and train engineers where the loss of focus can have dire consequences. As a programmer, I never faced that danger. As the driver of a car, I do.

Rango Olson, Aug 2017, cropped
[Satellite location of the cute little elevator.]

By the time this Flickr photo was taken on Oct 10, 2019, they had added "Country Grain" to this former BSNF SD40-2 that they are leasing from Independent Locomotive Service. It looks like it has a modern engine house. The Flickr comment verifies that the north track is BNSF's mainline. I don't know if this was NP or GN because either way it gets labelled rrBN. The long siding is over a mile long, which would hold a unit train. A second siding is about half that long. I'm speculating that BNSF pulls an empty train into the long siding and leaves. ILSX pulls a few cars off the long siding and shoves them onto the short siding where they get loaded. It repeats the pull-push cycle until the short siding is full of loaded cars. But by this time, the empty cars have been pulled east of the turnout so that loaded cars can now go on the west side of the long siding.

I include a satellite image to note that this elevator also has a conveyor over a mainline. In this case, a Class I mainline. In fact, it appears to be two conveyors. I wonder what they were planning to do with the Grove 9000 crane. Note that they appear to have two unloading pits for trucks and that the pits are busy.

Satellite