(The following article by Melissa DeLoach was posted on the Joplin Globe website on August 25.)
NEOSHO, Mo. — An 18-wheeler wrapped around the engine of a northbound Kansas City Southern train Wednesday afternoon south of Neosho, triggering a derailment, fire and diesel spill.
The mangled truck and its load of logs were scattered over 1,000 feet of track.
The driver of the tractor-trailer, and the train’s conductor and engineer walked away without injuries.
According to the Missouri State Highway Patrol, the driver of the tractor-trailer, John Burleson, 39, of Wyandotte, Okla., failed to stop at the railroad crossing at the intersection of Missouri Highway 59 and Lark Road. Burleson was hauling a load of logs eastbound across the tracks to a nearby mill when the collision occurred about 1:15 p.m., the patrol said.
“He just pulled in the path of the train,” said patrol Trooper Sam Carpenter. “He didn’t see it coming.”
Kansas City Southern spokeswoman C. Doniele Kane said four locomotives and three cars derailed. The second locomotive caught fire. About 3,000 gallons of diesel fuel spilled, she said.
Northbound traffic on Highway 59 was temporality diverted Wednesday, according to the Newton County Sheriff’s Department. Railroad officials said the main rail line was expected to reopen today.
Mike Eads, deputy chief of the Neosho Fire Department, said the second engine was engulfed in flames when he arrived. The impact of the crash also ruptured the fuel tank of the 18-wheeler, contributing to the blaze, he said.
Eads said it took fire crews about 10 minutes to control the blaze. Crews blanketed the train with a foam to smother the diesel fuel.
“You could see the smoke from five miles away,” Eads said. “The fuel tank erupted into flames upon our arrival.”
Environmental officials from the state and the railroad were working Wednesday to contain the spill.
Fire crews from Neosho, Seneca and Goodman were dispatched, as was the Newton County Ambulance District.
The Highway Patrol cited Burleson with allegedly failing to stop at a railroad crossing for an approaching train, a Class C misdemeanor offense.