POLK COUNTY, Fla. — No injuries were reported, and no personal dwellings were affected when 16 cars from a freight train derailed between Seventh and Eighth Streets Southwest in Fort Meade Tuesday night, the Polk County Democrat reported.
The cars left Cargill with wet rock phosphate in a 50-car train and headed north to phosphate-producing plants in Bartow, when the train derailed about 9 p.m.
On Wednesday morning, earth-moving equipment began smoothing out the high piles of wet rock ore that spilled out of the cars as they overturned.
Cars that overturned will be cut into scrap at the site and hauled away on trucks, according to Chuck McBride, chief operating officer with CSX Transportation.
Some 450 feet of rail which will need to be replaced may be completed as early as this morning, so that railroad traffic can resume. Jerry Kangas, mechanical superintendent, and Jim Howell, assistant division engineer, also were at the scene.
At this time, no one knows the reason for the derailment, but an investigation is taking place. McBride said they could have an answer as soon as two weeks. R. J. Corman Derailment Service is in charge of the clean-up.