On August 13, 1972, a car of red phosphorus, a car white phosphorus, a car of fertilizer, and a car of ties went on the ground at Huben, Mo. White phosphorus is nasty stuff, and will combust when exposed to air. Government officials, and Frisco officials deemed that it was best to bury the burning wreckage. Crews dug a hole, shoved the the burning wreckage into the hole, and then covered the hole. Approximately 50 tons of unburned phosphorus were buried. The Frisco placed an asphalt cap over site, and set a "DO NOT DIG" marker. Later, the asphalt was replaced with several impermeable membranes and a concrete slab. For several years after the derailment, a "plume" of distressed vegetation existed between the site and an unnamed, intermittent stream.
Karl - Interesting. A bit of background - I was in the phosphorus business at my employer - sales, marketing, manufacturing, logistics, but this wreck was before my time and I don't recall it. Do you know who the producer/shipper was? Since it included red-P, it was likely not us, as we made only white (aka yellow) P4, the big volume product. Red-P is a specialty - useful in matches, etc. We were the biggest phosphorus producer in the US - still are. We had a big fleet of dedicated ACFX and UTLX "battleship" tank cars to ship the stuff in. Very safe - we never lost one during my time, even though our shipper tested us a couple of times! It is shipped only by rail. Phosphorus in its elemental form, P4 (four P atoms to the molecule), is toxic and as you indicated, combusts instantly when it contacts air. It burns quite hot, makes an intense bright white light, and makes a very dense smoke cloud of P2O5, phosphorus pentoxide. It has several military uses as a result - the famous "Willie Pete" - tracer bullets, star shells, smoke shells. But, before everybody gets uptight about it, be aware that phosphorus is a basic building block of all life - be it animal or plant. The human body is 3-4% phosphorus by weight as I recall - bones, teeth, cells, etc. It is in much of our food and drink, and we are all the better for it. I'm surprised nobody ever tried to recover that material as it is quite valuable, and it would be better not to have it down there in such quantity forever. Ken
Karl, Thanks for posting this. In 1990, I was involved in a mentorship program through the WINGS program of the Springfield R-12 school district. My mentor was Mark Kotter, the BN Division Superintendent based in Springfield at the time. We typically spent a couple of hours each week with our Mentor, but one week during the term, we spent a full day following them around. During this full day, I rode the local from Springfield to Lebanon, and then came back in a Hi-rail suburban. On the way back, I certainly remember the large concrete slab on the right side of the suburban, and the story about why the slab was there, but I didn't take any notes about the location (and the camera I was using back then had a bad habit of not advancing the film, so there were no photographs....) Paul
Where is Huben? Anywhere near Phillipsburg? I was at a Frisco wreck near Phillipsburg in the 70's or very late 60's where some of dry material from some covered hoppers was spilled. That stuff was white and the talk was it was some farm chemical with phosphorus in it. The smell was opressive, you couldn't stand very much of it. Tom PS: Ken, Karl--Some other questions: Does that stuff have a "shelf life?" Is it a "forever" thing? Will it eat away the metal of the RR cars?
Time tables list Huben at mile marker 190.5, about half way between Lebanon and Conway.... so yes, it is pretty close to Phillipsburg (Phillipsburg is on the south side of I-44, Huben is on the north side...) Paul
I wonder if that could have been the same wreck?? I have some photos of the one I was at. I'll try to post them later. I may have a date also?? Tom
Tom - o If the wreck you saw involved covered hoppers, that was not phosphorus. P4, a molten liquid which cools to a waxy solid, is shipped only by rail in dedicated, tough-as-nails tankcars. o If the white stuff on the ground was a farm chemical, it was likely some type of fertilizer, and it might have contained phosphate, not elemental phosphorus. Most of the farm fertilizers do smell bad - from the sulfuric acid and organics they contain. Phosphate itself has no odor, and is quite safe. If liquid or waxy elemental phosphorus had been involved and had spilled, there would have been a huge fire you would never forget, and huge billowing clouds of white smoke. o Yes, phosphorus has a shelf life. No matter where it is, oxygen will get to it and it will slowly oxidize to first phosphoric acid, then to a metal phosphate. But, for a car buried underground, that would take decades, or a century or more to make a meaningful difference in the tank contents. o Phosphorus itself is not corrosive to the steel tank car body. But, as it oxidizes to phosphoric acid, there can be some corrosion - but it is not real aggressive like some of the stronger common mineral acids - sulfuric, nitric, hydrochloric, are. Now, everybody go grab a Coke, a Pepsi, a Dr Pepper, a Royal Crown, or some other cola. Take a deep swig to quench your thirst. Feel that bite on your tongue from the cola? That's phosphoric acid at work, made from elemental phosphorus. Without it, the cola would taste flat, even with the carbonation. Take a look at the ingredients label. And if you grab a beer, be advised the brewers yeast is grown using phosphoric acid as a nutrient. The stuff (phosphate, made from phosphorus) is everywhere, in particular in our foods, both natural and man-added, and we are much the better for it. Professor Ken
There were several various cars in the wreck (if it was the same wreck??). The hoppers may have been hauling the fertilizer, there were a couple of tank cars also. I'm trying to locate the photos I took in my "files." TG
Tom - If there was a P4 tank car in the wreck, and if it would have breached, there would have been a fire. 100% odds of that. If there was a P4 tank car in the wreck, and it it did not breach, then there would have been no fire (except perhaps a brief spurt out of the relief valves as the car crashed to a halt). If the tank car was not breached, it was not compromised, and the car would have been recovered, not buried. The emergency response people bury them as a way to put the fire out. Ken
Interesting... I've spent some time in the Huben area (our company has a big substation there), but never knew about this. Is this in a location where it can be seen from one of the dirt roads, without trespassing on railroad or other private property? From Paul's first post, it would seem that it would be on the Northwest side of the track, if my memory serves correct on the track orientation - is that correct? Sounds like a good side trip the next time I ride the motorcycle up to Lebanon! - James
The location of the derailment is SE1/4,SW1/4,SW1/4, SEC12, T33N, R17W. http://msrmaps.com/image.aspx?T=2&S=11&Z=15&X=1302&Y=10399&W=3&qs=|huben|mo| The tank car was breached and a fire ensued. One tank car was completely consumed. I assume that this was the white phosphorus, and half of the other tank car was consumed. The geologic setting where the derailment occurred, is not conducive for isolating the phosphorus. The residuum soil of the Roubidoux Formation which is a stony, sandy clay, does not form a permeable layer over the Roubidoux Formation. The Roubidoux is a sandy dolomite, and it forms a karst terrain, which is characterized by sinkholes, caves, and losing streams. Ground water carried phosphorus would move away from the site with relative ease.
Would the area of entombment be the small light-colored square on the north side of the tracks in the photo below?
True. You put anything in the ground when it is Karst geology, and you can't dig a hole big enough to ever reclaim it. Ken
This is a wonderful thread and a great discussion, but, I am sort of confused. If one car burned and one car half burned, what was the need to bury them? Why didn't they just pick them up after they burned out? The time involved in digging a hole large and deep enough to bury two tank cars didn't just happen in a few hours; it must have taken several days. What about the covered hopper and the tie car?
Sherrel - I've had some emergency response training for elemental phosphorus, but no way am I totally trained as a first responder. But, if you have a breached tank car engulfed in a phosphorus fire, the only way to put such a major fire out is to deny the burning material access to oxygen. Foam helps but the fire is too intense. Water has little or no effect. So, you dig a big trench, let the fire burn down enough so you can get close to the car(s), hook a cable on to the burning car, pull it into the hole, then cover it up. That works. Tough job. Far better that the railroads don't put the car on the ground in the first place. Ken
I believe so. Also, I believe the track leading into the building on the south side of the tracks is labelled, at least in BN era timetables, as the "Show-Me Spur". Paul
Here are my photos from the Phillipsburg wreck I was at. I don't have the exact date, but it was in the 70's and I have no idea if it was even the same derailment in the thread that Karl started. You can see the white substance spilled everywhere in these pictures. In photo #4 it's very hard to make out anything for the white smoke or dust, but it's a light colored boxcar with the door open and torn off to the side. Tom PS: The dust or smoke from the white stuff was everywhere with an overwhelming oppressive odor.
It doesn't look like there is a good way to view this from public property. Still, I'll have to swing by there to see what I can from the road. The siding on the south side leads into the substation, but has not been connected to the mainline for as long as I can remember. Thanks for posting the aerial picture, Keith! - James
Some more photos of the Phillipsburg derailment. Photo #2 here is just before or after #3 in my first sequence. You can see the smoke/dust fills the air and the white material is all over the ground. Tom
Tom - The Stauffer bulk hopper was likely carrying soda ash, i.e., sodium carbonate. Harmless except that it is highly alkaline. That could be the white powder on the ground. It does not look like it was considered a hazardous material as the people are walking around in it. But, soda ash has little or no odor. I wonder what was burning to make the smoke? That might also have been the source of the odor. Ken
