WINCHESTER, Va. - An unattended CSX locomotive derailed near a busy downtown intersection Friday afternoon, spilling fuel and complicating preparations for the Shenandoah Apple Blossom Festivals Firefighters Parade, the Winchester Star reports.
It rolled down a section of track a few yards from the corner of Piccadilly and Kent streets, jumped off the tracks, and tore open its fuel tank, losing around 2,500 gallons of fuel.
The incident occurred around 3:30 p.m on a siding off the main track between the OakCrest Cos. headquarters at 126 N. Kent and the Timbrook Public Safety Center at 231 E. Piccadilly.
CSX officials said Friday evening that they couldnt say why the locomotive started to roll. We dont know if it was mechanical error or human error, said spokesman Garrick Frances.
Because the train was parked on a dead-end siding, it couldnt have traveled more than about 50 yards before it was forced off the tracks by a derailer, a safety device installed to stop runaway trains.
The incident occurred slowly, according to witness Bill Eshbaugh, who was in the city to attend the festival.
He said he was walking along Kent Street when he heard a grinding sound. It turned out to be the train engine, without any attached cars, slowly leaving the tracks and plowing into the ground.
I ran up to see if it had derailed, and I noticed the diesel fuel rupture, said Eshbaugh, who called 911.
For several hours after the train ground to a halt beside the OakCrest building, the Winchester Fire and Rescue Department, the Virginia Department of Emergency Management, a Frederick County hazardous-materials response team, and CSX employees worked to stop the dark purple diesel fuel draining from the engine.
Frances said the cause of the fuel tank rupture is unclear, but that the derailer could have punctured it.
When firefighters first arrived at the grounded train car, they began using fire axes and shovels to dig trenches to contain the flowing oil spill.
While firefighters were working on the engine derailment and fuel spill, a fire broke out in this house at 303 N. Kent St. The blaze was quickly extinguished.
Within an hour, a city Public Works backhoe had dug a deeper pit alongside the locomotive. The pit began to fill quickly with fuel from the 3,600-gallon tank.
Officials summoned an Emmart Oil Co. truck to drain the pit, but oil continued to spill from the locomotive.
Firefighters tried to patch the leak with wooden wedges, but met with partial success. Eventually, a large air-filled bag was pressed to the leak, sealing it.
The cleanup was further complicated when a nearby house at 303 N. Kent caught fire. Firefighters who had been digging trenches suddenly ran for their trucks.
The fire turned out to be a small bedroom blaze, which was quickly extinguished. No one in the home was hurt; the only injury reported was a scrape to a firefighters hand.
The combination of incidents which blocked the Kent-Piccadilly intersection created a sizeable traffic problem in downtown Winchester, already gridlocked from the preparations for the Firefighters Parade.
Later Friday night, officials were waiting for a crane to lift the damaged train back onto the tracks.
Frances said efforts to remove the fuel and contaminated dirt from the scene of the accident would continue throughout the weekend, and that CSX would continue to investigate the reason for the locomotives unplanned trip.
(This item appeared May 4, 2009, in the Winchester Star.)
