AURORA — Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad got some coal in its stocking this Christmas. And on the ground, and on the road, and on the …
Forty-seven cars from a BNSF coal train derailed around 10:40 p.m. on December 23 northeast of the Iams plant at 1055 W. Highway 34 west of Aurora, the Grand Island Independent reported.
Hamilton County sheriff’s Chief Deputy Bob Holloway responded to the scene and said no injuries were reported — just one big mess.
“An Iams employee called it in after they heard the loud noise and saw sparks shooting all over the place,” Holloway said.
Steve Forsberg, BNSF general director of public affairs, said the suspected cause for the derailment was an overheated bearing on the wheel set of the 65th car. Cars No. 64 through 96 were confirmed as derailing, Forsberg said. The train was between 100 and 120 cars long.
Law enforcement was on the scene for several hours, and local crews contracted by BNSF were still working on Tuesday to clean up the cars and coal spilled as a result of the derailment. They arrived around midnight Monday and planned to have the job done around midnight Tuesday, a worker who didn’t want to be identified said on Tuesday.
Several cranes and lifts were on the scene Tuesday morning moving trains and piling coal in a nearby cornfield east of the Iams building.
An employee at the Iams plant said he didn’t know who had made the initial call but that it was probably someone who worked the night shift. Those employees were not available on Tuesday.
Forsberg said the derailment closed Main Track 1 and spilled over onto Main Track 2, closing both of them on Tuesday. He said the plan was to have Main Track 1 up and running by 6 p.m. Tuesday and to have Main Track 2 running by 9 p.m.