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TUESDAY, JULY 25, 2000

11 Railroad Cars Derail

Train dumps soybean meal along highway south of Anderson

By John Hacker Globe Staff Writer

ANDERSON, Mo.  A Kansas City Southern train derailed Monday morning south of Anderson, sending 11 of the more than 80 railroad cars tumbling over one another on the tracks alongside Missouri Highway 59.

Three of the cars dumped their cargo of soybean meal in the ditch between the highway and the railroad tracks.

Bryce Collins, chairman of the Local Emergency Planning Committee in Anderson, said the accident happened about 6:55 a.m.

There was no major bad stuff on the train, Collins said. There were no hazardous materials involved. They had major track and roadbed damage, but there were no injuries whatsoever.

Collins said some of the soybean meal ended up on the highway, but the road was not blocked.

Collins said most of the railroad cars remained on the rails and blocked some railroad crossings on the south side of Anderson. Crews uncoupled some cars within an hour of the accident and cleared the roads.

Doug Sizemore, vice president and chief mechanical officer for Kansas City Southern Railroad, said the cause of the accident was still under investigation as of late Monday.

Jay and Shirley Arnett, who live about a half-mile from the wreck site, said they didnt hear the train derail.

Our landlady had to call us and tell us what was going on, said Jay Arnett.

Crews were on the scene by 11 a.m. to rebuild the tracks and clear away the train cars. Railroad cars were dragged into a field next to the tracks or left in the ditch between the highway and the tracks. Traffic on a half-mile stretch of U.S. 59 was reduced to one lane Monday afternoon to allow crews room to work on the railroad cars.

Sizemore said the company expected to have the tracks repaired and ready to handle train traffic by early today.

http://www.joplinglobe.com/000725/regional/story2.html

-- (Dee360Degree@aol.com), July 25, 2000