(The following story by Scott Sloan appeared on the Herald-Leader website on December 8.)
LEXINGTON, Ky. — A train struck a mobile home that got stuck on the tracks this afternoon in Grant County, splitting the trailer in half and spewing the contents of a family’s home along the railway.
The crash occurred shortly after 2 p.m. as the tractor pulled the trailer down Needham Lane near U.S. 25 in Dry Ridge. No one was injured.
The tractor passed the railroad crossing, but the mobile home became stuck, said Trooper Delzie Kelly, who headed the Kentucky State Police response.
The driver of the tractor, who could not be reached for comment, tried unsuccessfully to steer the mobile home out of the crossing and called police, Kelly said.
“Within seconds of the call, the train came through,” said dispatcher Kim Green of the KSP post at Dry Ridge.
The train was traveling at an estimated speed of 20 to 25 mph.
“By the time it stopped, it had split the trailer in half,” Kelly said.
The remains of the mobile home were scattered for more than 40 yards from the site of the impact.
The single-wide mobile home was being moved from the nearby Sherman Mobile Home Park to another mobile home park for a single mother and her children, Kelly said.
“They had all their belongings inside,” Kelly said.
Kelly said he and the mother’s sister gathered as much of the salvageable items as possible.
“It was mainly clothes. Everything else was ruined. There was a little bit of toys but not much. When you get hit by a train, you’re not going to have much left,” Kelly said.
The family was not present at the time of the accident.
The tractor’s driver got out safely before the wreck.
A Norfolk Southern spokeswoman said the company’s train was traveling south to Chattanooga, Tenn., and had six locomotives and 13 cars. Nine of the 13 were empty. It was unknown what the other cars were hauling.
Weighing more than 800 tons, the train was unable to stop before the crossing but did not derail, said spokeswoman Susan Terpay. Terpay said the crash did not cause long delays.