(The following article by Jody Neal was posted on the Bluefield Daily Telegraph website on December 11.)
PRINCETON, W.Va. — Norfolk Southern officials were called to the scene at the Princeton rail yard Wednesday after witnesses said a break in the track caused nine cars to jump the tracks.
Susan Bland, NS spokesperson, said the derailment occurred at approximately 4 p.m. and involved a 100-car, loaded coal train that originated from a mine in Surveyor and was bound for a power plant in Hico, N.C.
No injuries occurred in the accident, and no streams were affected by the spilled coal, Bland said. She said that a cause of the accident hadn’t been determined, but division crews were heading to the scene.
Witnesses said they saw a break in the track that caused the derailment. “I saw the end of the wreck,” Jim Wolfe, owner of a business located across the street from the rail yard. “It looks like the train broke the rail. When I heard it, I thought the train sounded a lot louder than normal.”
Princeton resident Raymond Snapp was also across the street at the time. “It sounded like a diesel whistle,” he said, describing the train’s brakes. “Then, when it wrecked, it felt like an earthquake.”
Jerome Walker, who lives across the street, saw the accident happen. “There was this big, loud pop. Then I saw the train cars flipping through the air.”
Vernon Smith, who was watching from across the street, said, “That train was moving! There were cars jumping everywhere.”