Sun kinks

The Waxhaw Exchange has the story; sun kinks are to blame.

The record-breaking summer heat instigated the Waxhaw train derailment on July 8.

“The cause was identified as a sun kink. This occurs most commonly during periods of high temperatures, which can cause track to kink or buckle, (shift),” according to Carla Groleau, CSX director of corporate communications.

A Google search yields many hits including a nice bit of soothsaying from WBTV and a bunch of images of sun-kinked tracks, some more noticeable than others.

Read the whole story.

Per this earlier WBTV article, Harry Hopes, manager of hazardous materials with CSX out of Charlotte, said a camera at the front of the train would be able to see what the engineer saw.

CSX says the locomotive pulling the trains had a camera attached to it.

"We'll be able to see exactly what the locomotive engineer saw before the train derailed," said Harry Hopes, manager of hazardous materials with CSX out of Charlotte.

No word on if the camera footage from the train, which common sense suggests should show the sun kink in Waxhaw's case, will be made available.