(The following story by Brad Turner appeared on The Daily Times-Call website on August 6.)
BOULDER, Colo. — A train hauling molten sulfur through east Boulder derailed Friday afternoon, backing up traffic for 2 1/2 hours after it blocked crossings at two major thoroughfares.
Three of four engines on the southbound train skipped the tracks as they passed over a “soft spot” beneath the rail line south of Pearl Street between 30th Street and Foothills Parkway at around 1 p.m., Boulder Police spokeswoman Julie Brooks said.
Recent rains likely caused the soft spot beneath the tracks, Brooks said. No one was injured, and none of the cars in the Burlington Northern Santa Fe train was damaged, she added.
“A battalion chief from the (Boulder) fire department came out and walked the tracks with the engineer just to make sure there wasn’t any damage,” Brooks said.
Still, emergency crews notified nearby businesses of the derailment and the train’s contents, she said.
Gabe East, a salesman at nearby Pollard Motors, 2360 30th St., said he heard the train loudly grind to a stop from about 200 yards away.
“When a train stops, usually it kind of stops slowly,” he said. “This one just stopped.”
The train blocked crossings at Pearl Street and Valmont Road to the north, causing headaches for hundreds of motorists. Emergency crews rerouted traffic on those roads, but rows of cars quickly backed up onto Foothills Parkway.
At the Pearl Street crossing, the flashing red lights and warning bell droned on throughout the afternoon.
Railroad employees in hard hats and reflective vests inspected the derailed engines, whose wheels hung just slightly off the rails.
Several parents who noticed the backup parked their cars and walked up to the train with their kids, giving the youngsters a chance to see a locomotive up close.
The railroad sent two engines to the scene from Longmont and hauled the cars that had not been derailed to the north, allowing traffic to start moving again. The blocked street crossings reopened at 3:25 p.m., Brooks said.
Railroad officials planned to use a crane to lift the derailed engines back onto the tracks, BNSF foreman Don Potter said.