No scratch & dent sales, but they're not being crushed either.
I'm not sure how much is public record yet so I won't go into too much detail. There were a LOT of Jeeps on board and just about as many F-150's, in addition to the other cargo.
That said though, they're "salvaging" the vehicles. They can't/won't be sold as new vehicles or even repaired and sold as complete vehicles.
The company that won the contract to recover the vehicles went to great lengths to assure they didn't do more damage than necessary when removing them from the rail cars. They used a special truck to lift some of the vehicles out. If you were crushing them, you'd just drag them out of the rail car and not worry about damaging them.
I also know the company that got the salvage. Like the tow company, they're also located in northeast Ohio. They don't have any parts listed on their website yet so I don't know if the railroad has released who got them or not. I do know though, that it is a place that will absolutely part them out.
Lots of essentially new Wrangler and F-150 parts are about to hit the market in Ohio. Hopefully at a great price too, because I'll add a few parts to my Jeep if they do.
3rd Generation RR'er.
Class 1, Double Mainline, Transcontinental Railroad, Locomotive Engineer, Retired.
I DO know. seen this far too often.
The company that is contracted to clear the derailment will toss that stuff around, like its wet tissue, without regard for saving anything. They got one concern and one concern only, get that line cleared so it can be repaired, as fast as possible and if, at the end of their contract, the Carrier deems they were too slow, someone else will get the next contract.
Once the line is clear, then the Salvage operation can begin, if and only if, such salvage efforts will not affect repairing and re-opening the line.
If some rinky dink line, both operations may be allowed to work, concurrently.
If small case 'Mainline' or, God Forbid, true, dyed in the wool, this is our original super highway, MAINLINE, then that junk could sit there until the Eternity.
Once salvage does begin, yes, those folks will do everything , in their Power ,to insure they maximize Profits.
None of those cars will be sold as complete units.
Not even Salvage Complete units.
Buff forces of a derailment are going to flat out ruin most of that stuff.
Probably save the Interiors, most of the drive trains, but not all.
Some of those drive trains are going to have busted loose from their mounts damaging themselves beyond saving.
Problem with Aluminum Transmission housing and engine blocks versus Iron. That **** tears. Great big chunks.,
Quite a bit of the body metal will be too far gone. Not all of it but a bunch. Save fender here, trunk lid there kind of thing.
#1 reason RR's switched from chains, to straps, for vehicle securement in auto racks, was due to twisted cars from normal train handling buff forces.
Derailments, at speed, are infinitely worse and would cause severe damage to the car, whether it busted lose or not.
Regarding getting the line open quickly.
Per Diem.
Every car, on every train, that is affected by this derailment has a dollar amount, per hour, that is being accessed.
Factor in the congestion caused by having to stall, park, yard trains which were due to go over the affected track but now cannot, o ne begins to realize the importance of getting things up and running again. Can take weeks to achieve fluidity, after a Mainline derailment.
Even fixed, there is going to be a monster slow order on that stretch, until repaired properly, which itself will cause reduction in fluidity and increase Carrier Congestion.
There's that nasty per diem, again.
Oh yeah, the RR can only have a slow order, for so many days or it will incur fines and could lose its class 1 designation. Now, they can change the speed, which buys them time and they will defintely do but, een still, they got to get it fixed because other crap is gong to pop up at other crappy places.