10/28/2008 25 UP freight cars derail at Maple River
Fifth time in 5 1/2 years that UP cars leave tracks near Carroll
Platform cars carrying cargo containers left the tracks on the north side of Koster Grain and Grinding and the south side of the Merlin Loew residence.
The Ivy Avenue crossing wasn’t blocked, however, wreckage was strewn in an area about 1,000 feet long to the west. (Photos by Jeff Storjohann) click here for slide show
Rob Loew, driving a skid loader, and Don Loew remove the running gear from an old wagon from the site of a derailment at Maple River this morning. The running gear was not damaged in the incident that occurred shortly after 7 a.m., but the Loews were clearing an area for Union Pacific crews to begin the clean-up of the 24 cars involved in the incident.
MAPLE RIVER JUNCTION - Twenty-fiver cars on an eastbound Union Pacific Railroad freight train derailed this morning, rattling homes and businesses in this unincorporated village.
The incident occurred shortly after 7 a.m. No injuries were reported, and damage to property other than the railroad's was minimal.
It was the fifth UP derailment in the Carroll area in 5 1/2 years.
Platform cars carrying cargo containers left the tracks on the north side of Koster Grain and Grinding and the south side of the Merlin Loew residence.
The Ivy Avenue crossing wasn't blocked, however, wreckage was strewn in an area about 1,000 feet long to the west.
The Sheriff's Office, which closed the crossing to enable UP crews to begin fixing rails and cleaning up, said it appeared the cargo containers held various products, including some food and bottles of wine.
The cause of the derailment was not immediately known.
"We've got teams headed there to do inspection," UP spokesman Gene Hinkle told The Times Herald late this morning. "That's about all the information I have at the moment."
Several people who reside and work in this community three miles northwest of Carroll said the derailment shook buildings and rattled windows for a couple of seconds. Some described the sound like an explosion, simply saying "Boom!"
The Koster Grain and Grinding property didn't appear to have sustained damage. Sheriff Doug Bass said some of the train wreckage came close to striking Loew's fence. At least two wheel assemblies from toppled flatbed cars rolled north toward the Loew residence.
UP workers and security officers were on scene by mid-morning. Crews were cutting rails east of the crossing, and cleanup was expected to proceed as soon as possible.
The railroad has rail car-mounted booms and truck cranes to lift derailed cars. Those that can are placed on the rails and pulled out. The UP hires contractors to clean derailment sites. Many of the toppled shipping containers might be able to be hoisted onto trailers and trucked out.
About 70 freight trains rumble through Carroll County each day. The UP's main east-west line, known as the Overland Route, runs through Arcadia, Maple River, Carroll, Glidden and Ralston.
PREVIOUS DERAILMENTS IN THE CARROLL AREA
MAY 6, 2003
Tons of tomato paste, frozen orange juice concentrate, lumber and new Cadillacs and Chevy pickups were strewn along the UP right of way when 34 cars from two freight trains derailed near the U.S. 30 overpass on the west edge of Carroll at 12:40 a.m.
A westbound 75-car train and an eastbound 99-car train were involved.
The westbound train, traveling from Chicago, Ill., to Los Angeles, Calif., was carrying new GM cars and light trucks. The last nine rail cars derailed.
Twenty-five cars from the eastbound train, which was traveling from North Platte, Neb., to Chicago, also derailed. Of those cars, 11 carried canned vegetables, four were hauling lumber, two contained bulk potatoes, two carried frozen foods, one hauled soda ash (used to manufacture glass), one carried bulk salt and four were empty.
At least two of the boxcars were transporting tomato paste that had been packaged in large bladders and labeled for Wendy's restaurants. The dark red product, was squirted onto other rail cars, both sides of the railbed and across nearby Kittyhawk Avenue, giving the scene a strong tomato aroma. The impact also shot tomato paste hundreds of feet onto a nearby residential yard.
About 1,800 feet of track were destroyed on one rail line, about 700 feet on the other.
The UP determined that a connecting rod on a switch became loose, causing one train to derail into the other.
JUNE 30, 2003
Ten cars from an eastbound train left the tracks along West Sixth Street in Carroll, a nearly vacant part of town near the Carroll County Secondary Roads Department shop, around midnight.
The derailment caused 19 cars to detach from the rear of the 93-car train, which was bound from North Platte to Chicago. Nine hopper cars carrying soda ash left the rails but the last 10 cars, also hauling soda ash, stayed on. The 10th derailed car, a reefer carrying frozen potatoes, had wheels leave the rails but remained coupled and upright.
Other cars were hauling sugar, beans, plywood and other lumber, salt, wheat powder, furniture, unidentified agricultural products, other frozen vegetables and liquid corrosive.
The derailment, which damaged about 800 feet of track, was blamed on a defective wheel bearing.
MARCH 26, 2004
Twenty-two freight cars left the tracks along Iris Road a quarter mile east of Maple River Junction about 7:45 p.m.
The 125-car train was traveling from Wyoming to Clinton, Iowa.
The derailment damaged about 2,000 feet of track.
The UP did not announce a cause for that incident.
JAN. 15, 2008
Thirty-three coal cars left the tracks east of the Olympic Avenue crossing at the Carroll Country Club, about two miles east of Carroll, at 6:40 a.m.
The 135-car train was bound from Wyoming to a power plant in Illinois.
