(The following story by Teresa Stepzinski appeared on the Florida The Times-Union website on October 25.)
WAYCROSS, Ga. — Which came first, the chicken truck or the freight train?
Better still, why did the chicken truck try to cross the railroad tracks in front of a train early Wednesday?
The answer came with a bang in a 1:36 a.m. collision that spewed frozen chicken wings for about a block around the railroad crossing at Plant Avenue and Isabella Street in downtown Waycross.
The truck driver and train crew all were uninjured. The crossing and intersection were closed until 8:30 a.m. for the investigation and cleanup.
The trucker, James McGuire, 59, of Lima, Ohio, was driving a 1999 Freightliner truck pulling a trailer packed tight with frozen chicken wings. The truck had been eastbound on Plant Avenue, Waycross police Lt. Tommy Cox said.
The train driven by engineer James Hudson, also 59, of Fitzgerald, was traveling south. The railroad crossing at Plant and Isabella is marked with warning signs, Cox said.
The truck cab cleared the crossing, but the locomotive sliced the trailer in half, sending wings flying, he said.
The demolished trailer came to rest about 100 feet down the tracks from the point of impact, police estimated.
Police cited McGuire for failure to yield at a railroad crossing, Cox said.
Officials at CSX Transportation didn’t return a telephone message seeking comment about apparent damage to the train or tracks.