Train derails near Hwy. 41

Published 4:40 am Tuesday, December 6, 2005

VALDOSTA — Coleman’s Crossing is closed after an 85-car train derailed Tuesday near Highway 41.

Piles of grain rested along the tracks on Stanley Circle, and about 14 cars lay on their sides.

The Norfolk Southern freight train, based out of Virginia, was traveling from Macon to Valdosta when the 46th and 59th cars derailed, according to an e-mail sent by Susan M. Terpay, public relations director for Norfolk Southern Corporation.

Jim Fielding, Lowndes County Fire Chief said the wreckage will take about 24 hours to clean up, and track repairs will be made. Fielding is asking residents to please stay away from the scene until it is cleaned up.

Tillman Crossing also was closed for part of Tuesday, but no one was injured.

The train was traveling south along a stretch of track where speed is 50 miles per hour when witnesses say they saw dust and sparks coming from the wheels of the train.

Mike Herndon, one of three Bell South workers who saw the train derail, said it was all in slow motion.

“I noticed something looked funny, and I could see sparks coming up,” Herndon said. “There was a thunderous noise.”

Herndon said the tracks came up in the air about waist height, and he said he thought he was going to get hit by the rocks that were flying through the air.

Fielding said the conductor was given a track warning about two miles up the road but didn’t heed the warning.

“In his benefit, if he heeded the warning it takes five miles to slow the train down,” Fielding said.

Terpay said it would be premature to say the conductor didn’t heed the warning and will investigate the derailing.

Fielding said the county was lucky the train wasn’t carrying chemicals like some of the trains that come through.

“It could have been extremely dangerous,” Fielding said. “We could have had to evacuate the whole area including Stone Creek.”

The last derailing Fielding said he could remember occurred several years ago.



To contact reporter Brianne Sweetland, please call (229) 244-3400, ext. 245.