http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,243760,00.html Monday , January 15, 2007 IRVINE, Ky. — Four runaway rail cars struck two parked locomotives in east-central Kentucky on Monday, causing a fire spilling a chemical that prompted a limited evacuation and orders that others stay indoors. The crash released butyl acetate, a flammable liquid, from a burning tanker car, authorities said. The fire produced a huge column of black smoke, and a section of the Kentucky River caught fire. No injuries were reported, authorities said. "Emergency crews are attempting to extinguish that flame," said Kentucky State Police Maj. Lisa Rudzinski. "That is a toxic cloud as a result of that butyl acetate." The burning tanker car contained about 30,000 gallons of butyl acetate, said CSX spokesman Gary Sease. Butyl acetate is commonly used as a solvent or as a synthetic fruit flavoring. Police ordered people in the immediate area to evacuate, and people in others part of Estill County were told to stay indoors, keep their windows closed and to put towels under doors. Four CSX rail cars left their track shortly before noon and went onto a main rail line, traveling several miles before hitting the parked CSX locomotives, Sease said. Both the locomotives and rail cars were unmanned, Rudzinski said.
That aint to far from where i live. Irvine is about 120 miles from where i live. Thanks for the information .
There was a major derailment just outside of Louisville today. Several tankers were on fire. http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/01/16/train.fire/index.html Bad week for CSX and Kentucky
The 4 tank car derailment was purposly done this was a accident. We were told that the CSX parked 2 engines on the mainline to force a wreck for the 4 tank cars due to them rolling so fast that crossing gates didn't even have time to come down before they were through the crossing. Someone made the decision to park 2 engines on the main for the cars to run into. They were wanting to avoid a bigger problem due to heavy populated areas that these cars were getting close to.
