Archive for the ‘Industrial’ Category

Sheets of stone were strewn about the road on Route 173 in Antioch, IL. On November 1, 2022 a flatbed truck lost its load of stone and made a mess on the road. The article repeatedly states that it was “sheets of stone” but it does kinda look like sheetrock or drywall.

Via Lake McHenry County Scanner

A truck carrying portable toilets spilled its load when its brakes failed and it ran off the road in Warren County, PA. Unfortunately, the toilets were full and spilled human waste as well. Nobody was injured in the accident.

Via Lehighvalleylive.com

I can’t find a description of what happened here. Obviously the driver decided to stop a little too quickly. If you’re carrying a giant hunk of concrete in the back of your truck, I would think you’d want to drive somewhat carefully. My question is “how did they get that big block of concrete in the truck in the first place?” My next question is “why would you want to truck around a giant hunk of concrete?” Does this still qualify as a spill? It just came out the wrong end.

Scroll down for further information on this incident!

UPDATE 3/8/08:

This photo has caused a bit of controversy (although not quite as much as the Beer Spill. Visitors have said that it is not concrete, but rather, Stone, Limestone, Marble, or Granite. Christian M. even sent a link showing similar blocks of marble being trucked. The only thing I can say with certainty is that the original source said that it was concrete. My vote is for Limestone. One visitor tells me that they use a giant forklift to get them into the truck. Very cool!

UPDATE 4/13/08:

Chris L. says “I load those containers onto trucks and trains for a living. There’s a reason why we load them with the doors facing rearward. Apparently in China they don’t follow that procedure.”

And John M. gave this some serious thought.
“Much more likely to be marble then limestone. Marble is shipped in blocks for sculptures or for further processing – cutting into sheets and polishing.
Marble also has a low friction factor, so would slide under moderate braking. Also the low friction would make it “easy” to push the block into the container.
In Asian countries serious overloading is a part of life – partly helped by low speeds which means tyres will not blow out as readily because less heat is built up in them.
Normally of course containers are loaded with the doors to the rear to facilitate unloading – why this is back the front is a mystery unless that was the only way they could spread the load the way they needed.
In any case the block was obviously not restrained to any degree, so under braking it slid forward, the impact load on the doors caused them to burst open, and it slid out until stopped by the cabin.
Note the other products suggested have high friction factors so would be unlikely to slide – and granite cannot be white.”

 

This lumber spill looks like a pile of matchsticks.

 

 

On July 21, 2006, a Tomahawk Cruise Missile fell off a truck and landed in the middle of the highway near the Bronx.

The truck was carrying the Cruise Missile on I-95 in New York on its way from Rhode Island to Virginia when it broke down and was rear-ended by another tractor-trailer. This knocked the missile off the truck and onto the highway. The missile remained in it’s fiberglass protective box.

The NYC Police Department only stated that it was an “inert ordnance”, but the NYC Fire Department confirmed that it was a Tomahawk missile. The NYPD bomb squad removed the ordnance. It was not armed.

One news account said that it was actually a dummy missile used for training. (“No, no, we didn’t drop an actual missile, it was…er… a dummy missile. Yeah, that’s it. A dummy. In it’s own specially-made fiberglass case. No, really!”)

Thanks to Laurie in Colorado for this Truck Spill.

WCBS Newsradio photos: Tom Kaminski

I can’t find any information on this photo. It would appear that a modular home being delivered, tipped the delivery truck or crane.

UPDATE 4/13/08:

Dave C wrote “The picture is actually of a crane tipped over – onto/into the house. The house is delivered in parts and then placed on the foundation or the other pieces by a crane.”

Close enough for me to include it here.

 

On July 31, 2008, in Bismarck, N.D., an Air Force truck carrying an ICBM Rocket Booster overturned in a ditch.

The truck was on the way from Minot Air Force Base to a launch facility in Northwestern North Dakota, when it somehow “crashed” and overturned. The truck was carrying an unarmed booster rocket for a Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile.

The truck and rocket, weighing 75,000 pounds were still lying in the ditch a few days later under armed guard and an Air Force spokeswoman, Maj. Laurie Arellano, said that it would be there for a few more days while the incident is in the “assessment phase” and the Air Force determines if it is stable.

Local residents were not in the least bit worried about the missile. They are used to the military moving such things around and they trust them to be sure the missile is safe.

Update: Eventually, it cost the military $5.6 million to recover the truck and missile booster from this accident. The truck remained on the side of the road along with the rocket for more than a week until they were removed. The Air Force placed blame for the indicent on the “driver and safety observer error”.

I would point out a few things about this incident.

If the military could be trusted, there wouldn’t be an ICBM rocket lying in a ditch.

If you were the military spokesperson and they crashed an armed rocket booster, would you admit that it was armed, or would you report that it was unarmed?

The only photo I could locate of this incident was apparently taken and released by the Air Force, so the details are limited.

 

Via AP, Photo by the US Air Force

 

Wonder how they cleaned that up? I couldn’t find any further information on this messy spill of glue on the highway.

KRON-TV

On July 23, 2006, a truck spilled glass on the I-5 on-ramp in Washington.

Washington State DOT

 

This is from the town of Jupiter Forida’s Public Works site. They don’t post any details.

Jupiter, FL

 

On the morning of June 24, 2008, a truck loaded with fireworks overturned on I-84 near Pendleton, Oregon. The fireworks spilled on the side of the highway, closing one lane for hours.

The truck struck a guardrail on the Umatilla River Bridge for unknown reasons, then drove off the roadway, overturning on the shoulder. The driver received minor injuries, but claims that he doesn’t remember the crash happening.

KOHD ABC