Local media say city fire crews reported to the historic Third Ward area of Milwaukee for the engine fire shortly after noon on Thursday. The engine was Amtrak locomotive No. 24, a P42 locomotive that powers daily trips on Amtrak’s Hiawatha between Milwaukee and Chicago. It is unclear how long the engine had been burning, but the train stopped on elevated tracks it routinely operates over. The tracks are owned by Canadian Pacific.
While railroaders and rail fans might be unsurprised by the fire, the heightened attention paid to passenger railroading comes less than 48 hours after an Amtrak Northeast Regional train sped through a curve and derailed in Philadelphia, killing at least eight people.
Milwaukee media outlets involved ran headlines that included, “Amtrak locomotive fire sparks evacuation in Milwaukee,” and “Breaking News: Amtrak train catches fire in downtown Milwaukee.” A reporter from WTMJ-TV, the Milwaukee NBC affiliate, referred to the Philadelphia tragedy and also graphically relayed a passenger’s description of smoke and evacuation of the train after it had stopped in Milwaukee.
“All of us in the railroad community know that locomotive fires are relatively routine, and relatively insignificant in the larger scheme of things,” says Keefe. “But this incident with train No. 333 was bound to get covered all out of proportion, and not only because of the NEC wreck. The news media here had worked itself up into breathless coverage of the oil trains coming though Milwaukee, and usually pictured those trains going past the very site of today’s fire. So the fire became instant red meat.”
Amtrak’s remaining daily schedule includes eight additional trains. Magliari did not give specifics on which trains’ schedules will be altered, though.
