(The following story by Misty Watson appeared on the Daily Citizen website on June 29, 2009.)
DALTON, Ga. — No one was injured when 10 to 15 train cars overturned Sunday evening on the CSX tracks near Old Chattanooga Road in Rocky Face, officials said.
The cars that overturned were carrying lumber and cotton seeds, said Ron Ownby, assistant fire chief for Whitfield County. There were no hazardous materials on the train, he said. He did not know what caused the train to derail, and CSX officials were not immediately available for comment Sunday evening.
The train derailed in a stretch of the tracks parallel to Old Chattanooga Road, and most of the wreckage spilled into a wooded area. No engines overturned, Ownby said.
The railroad crossing at Beavers Road was blocked for several hours with a section of the train that had not overturned. Ownby did not know when it would reopen.