(The following story by Geoff Cornish appeared on the KOAM website on April 21.)
PITTSBURG, Kan. — More than 30 Kansas City Southern train cars and an engine derailed in Newton County, Missouri near Saginaw overnight. The cars were empty grain cars.
The tracks, part of the only Kansas City Southern tracks connecting Kansas City and Louisiana, were significantly damaged.
Now, dozens of workers are rushing to replace more than 40 sections of rail so the rail line can open again.
Responders say that there was a crew of two on the train, and neither of the crew members were injured.
Their engine remained upright, but hundreds of gallons of diesel fuel leaked out of another engine that became derailed.
“We used a wooden plug and what we call ‘pig puddy,'” says Redings Mill Assistant Fire Chief Steve Coats. “It’s a sealant for hazardous materials to stop the leak. It spilled around 200 to 300 gallons and it absorbed into the ground. It did not leak into any streams or creeks.”
Assistant Chief Coats says that this was the first train incident of this magnitude in northern Newton County in more than a decade.