An 88 car CSX train made up of mostly tank cars and some box cars put about 30+ cars on the ground near Point of Rocks, MD. last night (4/24). The accident occurred on the Brunswick line of CSX's Metropolitan Division. I heard that Haz-Mat crews were dispatched because one of the tank cars was ruptured and leaking. The train was carrying both potassium hydroxide and molten sulfer. A reporter from WTOP (Washington, D.C.) was at the Point of Rocks station. She said that the derailment was about a mile from where she was, but could see that the middle of the RR ties were shredded for quite a ways - indicating there might have been a problem long before the actual derailment. Here's a few links on the story: http://www.fredericknewspost.com/display.cfm?storyid=12623 http://www.wtop.com/news/news-story.jhtml?NewsId=71473 http://abcnews.go.com/wire/US/reuters20010425_254.html From what I've been picking up on my scanner, it seems that most of the traffic is being re-routed over the Old Main Line. [ 25 April 2001: Message edited by: Lefty ] [ 25 April 2001: Message edited by: Lefty ]
Here's a photo of the wreck: And in an unrelated story: This is a heck of a place to park a car! Actually, this was a getaway car used by a couple of robbers that were nabbed by police after a high-speed chase. The robbers bailed out of the car at a high speed...it kept going...through two people's yards, a pasture, and a wire fence before coming to rest on the RR tracks.
We have a new Metroliner that commutes between Ft.Worth and Dallas that comes across one crossing before the crossing lights start blinking. My wife was almost hit but missed her. She has the good habit of looking both ways anyway before she crosses. No one has been actually hit here yet, but with the malfunctioning lights, it is only a matter of time. Metro said they will look into it, but no change has happened yet.
Want a little wmore money? every time your at that crossing and a train comes, pop out the video cam and let it roll!!!
