FIVE R.R. CARS ON THEIR SIDE AFTER TRAIN DERAILMENT
Loveland, Ohio – Early on the morning of Tuesday, August 31, 2004, five cars from a CSX train that had just passed through Historic Downtown Loveland derailed and ended up on their sides within thirty-five feet of O’Bannon Creek. The last car in the train had just passed West Loveland Avenue when it came to a halt. The train was heading northeast towards Goshen Township and early speculation from firefighters at the scene was that faulty and decayed wooden railroad crossties caused the accident.
It was a tight-lipped CSX official who would say no more than that six train cars were involved and that the cars were not carrying hazardous materials. The derailment began on a curve in the track in the heart of downtown near the historic train depot that is now the Fleet Feet store. The cars came to a halt about one-thousand feet later, just west of St. Route 48 and the automobile bridge over O’Bannon Creek. The official said that the accident was on private railroad property and that no media was allowed to view or photograph the accident. A Loveland firefighter later escorted Loveland Magazine to the scene.
It was later revealed by Loveland Magazine that a tank car full of toluene was only a few cars behind the ones on their sides and was heading into the wrecked cars.
Two tankers and three boxcars were on their side.
Loveland Police Chief Dennis Rees said that at first, the train conductor was very uncooperative and he even had trouble getting the man to give him his name, and then he only offered his first name. Rees said, “They were very secretive.” Rees also said the conductor at first refused to give him the train’s manifest so emergency personnel could tell what dangers emergency responders and the nearby residents faced. Rees then instructed one of his officers to place the train conductor in handcuffs if he didn’t produce the manifest. Rees said the conductor, then handed over the paperwork.
The railroad notified the police department about the accident at 3:39 AM. Personnel from the Atlas Railroad Construction Company was on hand later in the morning measuring and inspecting the track at the point where the damage caused by wheels dragging along the railroad ties was first apparent. Late into Wednesday evening, there was an abundance of heavy equipment at the site working to remove the damaged cars and make track repairs.
According to Miami Township Fire and EMS Chief, James Whitworth, police and fire personnel from Loveland, as well as members of the Goshen, Miami, Union, and Hamilton Township fire departments responded. More than forty, fire and police personnel were at the scene as well as numerous personnel from CSX, the American Red Cross, and an emergency Petroclean Hazmat team.
Only one of the cars was leaking a small, but steady stream of what was described as candle wax, and no injuries were reported.
The train tracks were damaged, when the overturned cars skidded and dug into the parallel tracks along this part of the railway line.
Loveland Magazine reported at the time that the “CSX Corporation was the parent company of a number of subsidiaries that provide freight transportation services across America and around the world. Formed in 1980, CSX Transportation operated the largest rail network in the eastern United States.”
When the different fire departments responded to the scene, they loaded more than 3,000 feet of large-diameter hose on the back of a flatbed truck. They then drove the truck to the overturned cars, turned the truck around, and went back the quarter mile to the fire hydrants on St. Rt. 48, all along, laying out the hose and coupling it together from the back of the truck.
Toluene is extremely flammable and harmful if inhaled or swallowed and is a central nervous system depressant. The vapor may cause headache, nausea, dizziness, drowsiness, confusion, and incoordination. Toluene is a teratogen and can cause malformations of an embryo or fetus. Had this car been full and the contents leaked into the nearby O’Bannon Creek which empties into the Little Miami River, tens of thousands of people would have been affected as drinking water wells for Milford, Indian Hill, and communities south of Loveland that pump drinking water from wells along this river. Loveland’s wells are upstream from where the O’Bannon feeds into the Little Miami River.
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