Trying to get it to fall on the highway... wonderful.
Do you know why those two trains were stopped and the passengers removed a few days ago???
It just want away.
Posted on 07/10/2004 11:51:58 AM PDT by Libloather
Coal train derails in southern Illinois
Last Updated: 11:26 pm, Friday, July 9th, 2004
By Associated Press
BENTON, Ill. (AP) — A train carrying coal derailed Friday morning as it crossed over Interstate 57 in southern Illinois, causing the roadway to be closed in both directions, officials said.
A truck driver suffered minor injuries when his face was cut by pieces of glass, said Illinois State Police Master Sgt. Michael Hooks. He said there were no other reports of any injuries to anyone else on the roadway or aboard the train.
The derailment of the Canadian National Railway Co. train happened about 9:45 a.m., company spokesman Ian Thomson said.
Thomson said the train of three locomotives and 136 cars loaded with coal derailed as it crossed a bridge over the roadway. He said eight coal cars fell onto the interstate and four others derailed, but those did not fall onto the roadway.
It’s unclear whether the bridge over the interstate gave way or the train simply derailed when it was on the bridge, he said.
Thomson said the train was headed to Paducah, Ky., from East St. Louis.
State police said they rerouted traffic on the road at West Frankfort and Whittington.
An Illinois State Police dispatcher said Interstate 57 remained closed Friday night.
One woman told the (Carbondale) Southern Illinoisan that the scene — train cars strewn across the highway and piles of coal — was unsettling.
“Just the sight of it made me nervous,” said Carla Jones of Benton. “It was scary to think that we could have been underneath all that.”
Trying to get it to fall on the highway... wonderful.
Do you know why those two trains were stopped and the passengers removed a few days ago???
It just want away.
WOW! What a nightmare that could have been.
And none of these AP reporters had a camera?
the amtrak trains were searched after some dude repeated called in bomb threats on his boss's cell phone. the guys arrested were carrying guns on the train.
It'll be sung about in legend: "The wreck of the Old Roscoe P."
There are some pics - try the Southern Illinoisan and WSIL TV sites. There was nothing dramatic though.
We, EMS, were activated when the coal cars tipped over - it happened one county to the north - but we quickly went off alert once the first units were on scene. A few cars fell off the bridge and spilled coal across all four lanes of the highway. Nobody was injured but the one driver with a couple small cuts from broken glass.
We were lucky in that it could have been much worse. But with no injuries and just backed up traffic, it became a non-news story to the press.
He was found in the wreckage with his hand on the throttle, and a volume of the "Holy" Koran. . .
Are the Illinois 'Rats chanting "Bush's Fault" yet?
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