(The following story by Rebekah Straub appeared on the Register-Herald website on November 3.)
BECKLEY, W.Va. — Three engines and 14 cars of a Norfolk Southern train derailed Sunday morning in Surveyor just outside the entrance to Lake Stephen.
The cause of the 11:15 a.m. accident has not yet been determined, but the Norfolk Southern personnel are investigating.
According to Richard Glaw, president and chief medical officer at the Trap Hill Volunteer Fire Department, it is suspected that broken rails caused the train to jump the tracks.
Deputy W.J. Crist of the Raleigh County Sheriff’s Department reported that Evergreen Environmental was called to contain a diesel fuel spill, and keep it from spilling into a nearby creek. Very little, if any, fuel reached the creek because a large ditch that was created by the first engine during the crash held most of the spilled fuel.
No major injuries resulted from the accident.
“Luckily, there were no real injuries,” Glaw commented, “There were just a few scratches and abrasions to the engineer’s arm.”
Norfolk Southern has its own special derailment crew that will be coming in to assist with the clean-up. Glaw believes the clean-up will last two to four days, but he assures the wreckage is not blocking any road ways. However, traffic could be slowed.
“The roads are not blocked from the wreck,” Glaw said, “but, there could be some congestion due to machinery blocking a lane while assisting with the clean-up.”
Trap Hill Fire Department & Ambulance, West Virginia State Police, Raleigh County Sheriff’s Department and the Division of Highways responded to the accident.