Did some google searching; Found a thread on derailed trains.
NON-BELIEVERS, this has happened several times back in the day.
They used to bury all kinds of stuff following a derail cleanup.
https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?1,3082713
They used to drag them out of the autoracks with winch lines and run over them with bulldozers to make sure none could leave the site.
I was once told that once the claims are settled they are sometimes parted out,but never sold intact. Back in the early 70's the Mop at a derailment around Kenneth, KS on the Missouri / KS Border. One of the causalities was a load of 1972 Corvettes, this was before the days of enclosed auto racks. The car remained up right and the Vetts didn't have scratch on them. Some of us inquired about them and were told they would either smashed or parted out ; might guess they were smashed. What a waste.
I remember the Southern Pacific buried a number of Caddilacs along the right-of-way just west of Gaviota on the Coast Line after a 1960's derailment.
Just east of Buford, WY on UP is a pile of buried Mopar products from a derailment circa 1976, I could not believe my Dad, who was a Signalman, when he told me they were burned and buried. Then in the summer of 1977, there were a spate of derailments east and west of Green River, WY that was so bad that UP President Kenefick was doing flybys in the corporate jet, wondering what was wrong with the railroad. At Verne, WY, west of Granger, I was still a newbie Assistant Signalman on UP's Signal Department who had to help lay in a temporary multi-conductor cable to replace several torn-out poles and line wire on the signal line and connect it to the remaining pole lines on each end. A big steel gang was there, hurriedly hand-setting rail, ties and spikes, and we would follow behind to do the rail bonding so the rail was a continuous circuit for signals. Easily 100-plus workers toiling in the sun.
During the course of this, the big D-9 Cats righted the 4 auto racks, built up successive dirt mounds at the end of each car so the automobiles could be driven or pulled off. Most were totally driveable, and they parked all the Camaros, Firebirds and Trans-Ams in a long gleaming line on the prairie, instant new GM car lot. All the while other Cats were busy digging a hole near the cars. At one point, a D-9 clattered up to the cars and jerked in place perpendicular to the line. All work stopped by everybody and it was eerily silent as the D-9 Cat climbed the first automobile, and proceeded to chew through all of the rest of them and above the sound of crumpling metal and smashing glass was a long, low moan from all the workers as it was doing so. Then the Cat made a loop, and with the other two made quick work out of shoving them all into the hole they had dug. It was hard to keep working knowing the piece of junk I had to drive to work in, and here these were all just being destroyed! The whole pile was set on fire after wrecked carloads of splintered lumber were added on top, and some time before we arrived back at the site the next day with the first two of many poles we had to re-set, the whole wasted mess of tangled cars was buried. And the trains were running through again. To this day I think about all the fresh Chevy 350 V-8's buried out there under the Wyoming prairie. I do not know if this is still done today, but that is what I witnessed then. Future fossils? === === = === JLH
Back in early 90's around 93-94 when I first got started in Fire service and was in process of training. I got sent down around College Station area for week long auto extrication class. After couple days of class room work the class headed out to training ground for the hands on part. When we arrived everyone's jawed drop in line to be cut up by us were brand new Chevy trucks one guys in the class asked how they get these truck and we were told from a train derailment few miles outside of town. Also in class for next couple of days was a rep.from GM to make everyone was destroyed. Turned out be very good class didn't mind cutting up damage trucks but the dozen or more that didn't have so much as a mark on the paint sure was hard.