Rail's one of those things there's many variables to consider, older rails can be easily torn apart, modern rail can't....I think the Chapman rail damage was exacerbated by the gas tank that got slammed against and likely some large equipment could have helped in the deformation as well.
Railway was very close to the ground, only several inches above the ground. Gas tank can't even have a cross section with the railway and the railway had been moved by Chapman was close to the acutal width of the tornado itself. There was no such large tank nearby or downwind, let alone the upwind of the railway was complete open field. I think the debris impact theory there was unreasonable just like Vilonia's debris hitting theory. We can't classify all unthinkable damage simply into debris hitting with no obvious reason, especially in the open field.
This white tank was on the upwind direction of the railway so It play no role in the damage downwind of it. Besides, the railway that had been moved was far far longer than the length of this small tank. It was completely unreasonable to assume this small tank caused the railway damage.
Lol I'm not trying to start any arguments (or partake in any arguments, we've been there on this thread and quite frankly I'm not going back) but I totally get what you're saying.
Should've asked you this sooner but where did you come across these color photos from Bakersfield Valley? I've only been able to find poor quality black and white Storm Data photos. Also, why are so many Storm Data photos of poor quality?Once upon a time, I was planning on writing a short article on the 6/1/90 Bakersfield Valley tornado. I still might eventually, but in the meantime I don't think I've ever posted most of the photos I collected for it. So first and foremost, part of the 300-ft section of Co-Op Road that was scoured:
As most of y'all probably know, it was reported that the tornado scoured out a huge swath of land (variously reported at anywhere from half a mile to a mile wide), leaving "nothing but dirt and rocks." The super poor quality Storm Data photos appeared to back that up, but it seemed implausible to me that any tornado could produce scouring that intense and widespread. It still does tbh, and yet..
Assorted mangled vehicle parts:
A truck that was thrown by the tornado, killing the driver:
Snapped utility pole:
Assorted wreckage (including the remains of some sort of large truck):
Some sort of tank that was torn apart?:
A very dead cow:
Assorted oilfield equipment:
I got them from a guy who worked in the oil field there. Somewhere I've got a list of a bunch of other people I either talked to or wanted to talk to from when I was planning on doing an article on it - there are actually a lot of folks who were either in the area or remember accounts from people who were. I'm sure at least a few of them have pictures somewhere.
I'm wondering if forward speed played a part here; Hackleburg was moving up to 75 mph and perhaps there wasn't enough time for a suction vortex or the tornado's core didn't pass over the rail, whereas with Chapman it's slow forward speed would have provided more time for a suction vortex to make contact with the rail; you'll notice how the shredded/debarked vegetation is right next to bright green, untouched vegetation and you can see a rail sign that is still standing (if slightly bent) next to the rail.
There are none besides some very distant photos.
It's very likely that forward speed took part in this, but wind speed have to reach the lowest threshold for the damage like this, or else the railway wouldn't be damaged no matter how slow the tornado was. The rail sign standing was something quite common in violent tornados. I've noticed a batch of high end tornados had some signs or poles still standing in worst damage area.The railway damage was less than 100 yards upwind of the EF4 rating house. I am still more convinced that It was main vortex damage based on the overall damage pattern in this area. All DIs matched quite well in this place.
For some reason I thought Hackleburg moved up to 75 mph in places; I guess the Tri-State Tornado still holds the record for fastest recorded forward speed?
The oil tanks being thrown/rolled up to 3 miles is what make these thing incredible to me; how much of a factor do you think the highly rural/remote nature of the area was a factor in this (lack of structures to stop the tanks from going any further)?
Yeah, that sort of thing is really only possible in a (mostly) flat, featureless landscape. I've read a handful of similar things from other tornadoes (though probably not quite that impressive) and they were all in similarly flat/empty areas. There's actually an example from 5/31/85 - the Grand Valley F4 destroyed some sort of ranch or machine shop or something (not clear exactly what it was) over near Cedarville and blew an oil tank about a mile and a half. I couldn't find the exact size of the tank so I'm assuming it was probably a lot smaller than Bakersfield Valley, but it was able to throw/roll/tumble it so far because the area around it is basically farmland that's flat as a pancake.
