(The Associated Press circulated the following story on July 27.)
PORTLAND, Ore. — A freight train hauling lumber derailed north of Klamath Falls Thursday, blocking a main line and delaying rail traffic, authorities said.
There were no injuries or hazardous spills, and crews were assessing how to get the 38 derailed cars back on track, said James Barnes, a Union Pacific spokesman.
The 105-car train was taking lumber from Roseville, Calif., to a town 40 miles north of Klamath Falls, Barnes said. The cause of the derailment has not been determined.
An Amtrak passenger used her cell phone to call the (Klamath Falls) Herald and News at 9:45 p.m. Jeanine Day, the newspaper’s business manager, said the Coast Starlight 14 passenger train – headed north from just outside Paso Robles, Calif. – was terminating service.
“They told us it was because of the derailment and they’re pulling us backwards to Paso Robles,” Day told the paper.
She said Amtrak officials said they would bus anyone destined for points as far north as Redding, Calif., and would return others to their points of origin.
The derailed cars tumbled next to North Highway 97. Klamath County Sheriff’s deputies and Oregon State Police were on the scene late Thursday making sure workers were safe from the traffic, the Herald and News reported.