MANSFIELD, Ohio — A Norfolk Southern train engine rolled off the tracks Wednesday afternoon, spilling several hundred gallons of fuel into the ground, the Mansfield News Journal reported.
The GP 8 General Motors locomotive ran off the tracks just south of the bridge over Park Avenue East. A rail punched a dime-sized hole in a fuel tank. The Mansfield Fire Department went to 165 Oak St. on a hazardous materials call at 10:51 a.m. Wednesday and plugged the leak.
A fuel supplier was called and pumped 1,575 gallons of fuel out of the engine.
The engine had a full tank of before the accident, and the supplier estimated 650 gallons of fuel leaked by computing how much was recovered.
The fire department notified the Environmental Protection Agency and called K&D contractors to the scene for cleanup.
“They’re just picking up whatever contaminated dirt there is,” Norfolk/Southern employee Jim Reid said. “Nothing spectacular really, just one of those things.”
He referred further comment to Dan Klette, the district supervisor in Canton. Klette did not return calls seeking comment.