Nemo's Closed

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jynx

jynx

Turd Herder
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Just FYI to anyone interested. N&S closed Nemo as of July 3, 2022. Guy stalled over the rails and truck got hit. Occupants are ok, but truck is totalled. Just roll it back off the tracks, but nope.

Hate it for the guy, but if it wasn't him, it would have been someone. Too many folks rippin' around there in recent years.



Amazing that the guy had just set up when the train popped thru the tunnel.
 
What was that guy thinking? Still holding on to the end. It would have taken 10 seconds to roll if back off the tracks, gravity was working for him.
 
Yep. I can't imagine why you don't just kick it into neutral and let it roll back.
 
Thanks for the update and what a shame. I have been meaning to take my wife and daughter there to show them the tunnel. I guess I waited too long.
 
Any updates? It was on my list of places to see
 
I called the local nps.gov in wartburg last week because I was wondering the same thing. The guy said it’s still closed but to call the Catoosa wildlife management area office to be sure. the tunnel is their jurisdiction. I did not call.
 
ERG80 said:
I called the local nps.gov in wartburg last week because I was wondering the same thing. The guy said it’s still closed but to call the Catoosa wildlife management area office to be sure. the tunnel is their jurisdiction. I did not call.
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I did call and they confirmed that Nemo Tunnel is indeed closed. ☹️
 
My suspicion is that it is likely closed indefinitely. The old tunnel is technically still RxR property, so since that dumb@ss couldn't kick it into neutral and get out of the way, Nemo is gonna stay closed to traffic. Unfortunately it had gotten too popular and the stupid was bound to show up eventually ending in the same result. You can still hike it because of the park land it adjoins.

Screenshot_20230720_203930_Chrome.jpg
 
jynx said:
My suspicion is that it is likely closed indefinitely. The old tunnel is technically still RxR property, so since that dumb@ss couldn't kick it into neutral and get out of the way, Nemo is gonna stay closed to traffic. Unfortunately it had gotten too popular and the stupid was bound to show up eventually ending in the same result. You can still hike it because of the park land it adjoins.

View attachment 3379049
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It’s a real shame. It was one of the sights we looked forward to seeing during the annual 70 Series Meet & Greet. 😩
 
Shame is an inadequate description here. Original Nemo tunnel is closed due to new Nemo and a cascade of stupidity.

Elements at play in this accident
1) The mensa president that drove his Chevy pickup onto the active rail line was looking for friends to meet that were down along the river.
2) The train watchers that video recorded every thing were there entirely for the new Nemo traffic. From their vantage, they heard the train coming and elected to talk amongst themselves about the looming disaster. They delayed providing a warning to the mensa president until the train was emerging and they concluded it too high a risk to help, so the sat watched/recorded.

Post accident corrective action is to stop non-railroad access to new Nemo. Makes sense, but it was done in the cheapest manner ... close access close to the public roadway where a shorter fence could be used. This resulted in closing access to original Nemo too.

Open question that the railroad should have considered- But doesn't continued access to original Nemo foster appreciation for railroad history and appreciation of how it positively shaped development of this nation.
Isn't that kind of publicity of value to the railroads, especially in light of their negative press due to derailment disasters.

The cascading impact of short-sighted self-centered stupidity is how I view the closing of Nemo and such impacts are common place in our society/our nation.

My apology for the vent because I added nothing new ... just restated the intuitively obvious.
 
"Mensa president" :lol:
In the account that was posted by the train spotters in their blog they claimed to have warned the guy and offered to help him push the truck (which was broken down) backwards to a safe distance before rolling camera. He refused their help. Then as the train approached, we see him on the video feverishly asking for help but the spotters knew it was too late and dangerous to do so at that point. I certainly agree with them.

I did some research about all this for the GSMTR article last year. The tunnel is owned by the lines and they can do as they wish. It is too bad as it was a really neat spot. I am just happy I got to explore it. Most of those old tunnels have been sealed up. I suspect this one will be eventually too.
 
Hugh Heifer said:
"Mensa president" :lol:
In the account that was posted by the train spotters in their blog they claimed to have warned the guy and offered to help him push the truck (which was broken down) backwards to a safe distance before rolling camera. He refused their help. Then as the train approached, we see him on the video feverishly asking for help but the spotters knew it was too late and dangerous to do so at that point. I certainly agree with them.

I did some research about all this for the GSMTR article last year. The tunnel is owned by the lines and they can do as they wish. It is too bad as it was a really neat spot. I am just happy I got to explore it. Most of those old tunnels have been sealed up. I suspect this one will be eventually too.
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As my uncle once said, “it only takes one bad peanut to ruin a mouthful of good peanuts”. In this case the guy in the old Chevy was the bad peanut. ☹️
 
This really sucks. My buddy lives maybe 20-25 mins away and I really wanted to see Nemo in the LC and my KLR. 🤷🏻‍♂️
Should I remain hopeful it might reopen? 2 years since stupid happened.
 
duece71 said:
This really sucks. My buddy lives maybe 20-25 mins away and I really wanted to see Nemo in the LC and my KLR. 🤷🏻‍♂️
Should I remain hopeful it might reopen? 2 years since stupid happened.
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Since the RR went to the effort and expense to fence everyone out, 2 years probably will not alter their assessment/position. My guess is it will take a grass roots effort to secure access to a local historic site and preservation effort to get the RR to notice. I have not heard of any such efforts/activity, so I have no hope of seeing it again.

Sorry to project that closure will continue.
 
Based on my experience with the RR, I would not count on it ever opening again. Most RR take their track safety to a whole different level. My guess, they tolerated the vehicle traffic because it had not caused an issue. Now that an issue has presented, it is a perfect opportunity to close it off permanently in the name of safety. The RR are quasi-government entities and act with an autonomy that seems to be above reproach, so I don't anticipate that it will open back up to vehicle traffic ever. You would need N&S executive level movement, or federal government intervention, and there are enough other things to worry about that would put access to an old tunnel pretty much at the bottom of any list they might make. If I'm wrong, I'm wrong, but given past experience, I don't think I'm wrong...
 
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