GILBERT, S.C. - A Norfolk Southern freight train carrying sulfuric acid derailed early Sunday morning in Gilbert. The incident prompted authorities to issue voluntary evacuations in the surrounding area, the WLTX Web site reports.
It was an early morning wake up call Tommy Langston won't forget anytime soon.
"I heard a big boom and about ten minutes later I heard a bunch of sirens,"says Langston.
Around 5:10 a.m. Sunday, the Norfolk Southern freight train left the tracks near Isiah Hall Road and Hayes Crossing Road, just a few yards from Langston's home.
Officials say the train had two locomotives and ten cars. Eight of the ten cars derailed. Six rolled on their side, including a tanker full of sulfuric acid.
Railroad officials say the train was going from Linwood, North Carolina to Savannah, Georgia. There were no injuries reported.
"The concern that we have is the integrity of the tank itself. It's a double-walled tanker," says Thom Berry, a spokesperson for the State Department of Health and Environmental Control. "There are some creases on the outside of the tank and so far it hasn't leaked."
Berry says emergency personnel took precautions to prevent the tanker from rupturing and causing a potential catastrophic situation.
"It's an acid, and as such, it is very corrosive and so you don't want to come in direct contact with it. That is the potential danger here,"says Berry.
Lexington County authorities blocked off the immediate area and issued voluntary evacuations for folks living in Taylor Mobile Home Park. Late Sunday afternoon, a few damaged train cars were upright.
Meanwhile, Langston who's lived on the block for 20 years, says accidents are a part of life along the rails.
"I've seen one or two fender benders with the train but it wasn't the train that ran into them, they ran into the train,"says Langston.
But he says he's never seen anything quite like this. "I'm not too pleased with it but people have to make money,"says Langston.
While railroad officials continue to investigate the accident, they say it could be some time Monday before the freight line is reopened.
Berry notified News19 a little after midnight on Monday morning that after visual and thermal inspections, no leaks were detected on the overturned tanker. He says that the car is back on the track and will be headed to the Norfolk Southern rail yard sometime this morning.
Berry said while there was damage done to the tanker, it was not severe enough to cause any leaks.
(This item was posted on the WLTX Web site Nov. 23, 2009.)
Have any of you seen the book of "commodity codes"? It's the size of the Phoenix phone book. Everything known to man has a commodity code number. Anything from ping pong balls to horse urine and any of the 75,000+ chemicals have a commodity code for shipment on the railroad. I'm glad I live 7 miles from the nearest tracks.
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