(The following article by Andriena Baldwin was posted on the Demopolis Times website on May 1.)
LINDEN, Ala. — Traffic was blocked by a train in Linden yet again yesterday, but this time the reason was legitimate.
As a Norfolk Southern train traveled through Linden, headed east toward Uniontown, two of its cars derailed near South Shiloh Street between the stockyard and Gardner Hardware. No one was injured.
“It’s hard to say what happened right now. We just know that two of the cars went off track,” Linden Director of Public Safety Jeff Laduron said. “One car was carrying sodium chlorate and that could be toxic if you get into it or it gets wet.”
The toxic substance is used primarily to bleach paper pulp and it can produce large amounts of heat if it reacts with water. Workers quickly covered the white powder spill with sand, and employees of Gardner Hardware and Caraustar were evacuated, according to county EMA Director Kevin McKinney.
“Hazmat workers are here so they are putting dirt on it now and the railroad has its own cleanup crews,” Laduron said.