(The Salem Statesman Journal posted the following article by Jody Lawrence-Turner on its website on December 12.)
SALEM, Ore. — Seven train cars and a engine derailed before midnight Wednesday, dumping grass seed and lumber along River Road S and damaging a portion of the track.
Crews using bull dozers and cranes removed the wreckage of the 47-car Burlington Northern-Santa Fe train Thursday. Officials did not know what caused the crash that left the tracks unusable for more than a day.
The derailment, at 3394 River Road S, temporarily blocked Brown Island Road S, said Bill Holmstrom of the Salem Fire Department. The intersection was cleared before dawn. Officials said no one was injured and no environmental damage was done to the area.
The first two cars, carrying the engineer and two crew members, stayed on the tracks while an engine, a box car and six flat cars derailed and snapped a stretch of track.
The wreckage had to be removed before the cause could be investigated, said Larry Phipps, general manager of Portland & Western Railroad, which leases out that portion of the track.
Damage was estimated at $500,000.
Track repairs were scheduled to be completed this afternoon and train service restored, but salvage operations will take longer.
“We will have to begin salvaging all the lumber product that was spilled next week,” Phipps said.
“The lumber was headed to several locations for retail purposes.”
The train was hauling grass seed and lumber from Albany to Vancouver, Wash. Twenty-four cars were loaded with products; 23 were empty, officials said. Crews detached the cars that didn?t derail and returned them to Albany.
Area residents said that they didn?t hear the derailment in the middle of the night, but they saw the mess that it created along River Road on their way into town.
The Portland & Western Railroad operates a 444-mile regional system, providing service to more than 135 customers, Phipps said
Each year it moves more than 60,000 cars loaded with paper, steel, grain, forest products, chemicals, aggregates, fertilizers and consumer goods.
Phipps said that the company has leased the tracks for the past year and it hasn?t had any problems along that stretch.