(The following story by Tom Avril appeared on the Philadelphia Inquirer website on March 10, 2010.)
PHILADELPHIA — Sometimes, getting back on track requires heavy lifting.
Five freight railcars that jumped the track at 23d and Race Streets near the Schuylkill needed two diesel tractors yesterday to lift them back on the rails.
And even they apparently had some trouble.
At 5:30 a.m., one of the freight cars toppled over, spilling loose corn. It was righted within an hour.
The yellow tractors, nicknamed sidewinders, were fitted with sturdy arms and thick steel hooks.
Railroad crews inserted the hooks into steel rings on the platform of each freight car.
The sidewinders turned their winches, and the hooks rose, lifting each car back onto the rails, one by one.
The CSX train had started in Albany, N.Y. The 123 cars were bound for North Carolina when the five cars derailed Monday night. CSX spokesman Robert Sullivan said the company did not know how the accident happened.
No one was hurt, and a Federal Railroad Administration spokesman said the agency was not planning to investigate.
By midafternoon, most of the 123 cars were back on their journey. The five derailed cars, however, were taken to a rail yard for examination, Sullivan said.